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PROVO -- Although it ended as an 18-17 overtime thriller in favor of the white team, BYU's spring Blue and White Game can be summed up as primarily a defensive battle.
Freshman defensive back Jordan Johnson helped fire up the Blue team with an interception off of a tipped pass by Jason Munns, taking it all the way to the house for six.
Although the two teams are split down the middle with offense and defense on both sides, the defense tends to get excited regardless of the color.
Related:
BYU offenses struggle, but show potential in spring game
The blue and white team offenses only combined for 35 total points in BYU's spring scrimmage, but blame the weather and an over-aggressive defense, not a lack of big-play ability."I'm always going for the defense. Every day in practice we're defense against offense. I was happy when Jordan made that pick," said junior defensive back Robbie Buckner. "I'm always on the defensive side, but I'm glad the white team won today."
Buckner, as you can guess, represented the white team, and although he kept up with his man on three specific occasions, was called for pass interference all three times.
"I was there; I might give them the first one, but maybe not those other two. The second one I even broke up the pass," said Buckner.
The defense had four sacks total, which were divided equally between junior defensive lineman Eathyn Manumaleuna, and freshman defensive lineman Travis Tuiloma.
Cougar Tracks:
White-Out
Snow fell before game, and late in the game, but 5,500 BYU Football fans were treated to an enjoyable 2011 Blue/White spring game."Coach (Bronco) Mendenhall has us on a higher level, set us on a higher standard this year," said Tuiloma. "We're just trying to meet that standard and get better every day, work hard and a full effort."
Two sophomore defensive backs Chase Pendley, and Daniel Sorensen combined for an impressive 10 tackles, and two pass breakups from Sorensen.
"We talked as a defensive staff; I told them that the one that we'll be most impressed with at the end of spring will be Daniel Sorensen. Daniel's done great; he makes a lot of plays for us," said Mendenhall. "Through Andrew Rich we have big shoes to fill, and he's currently the heir apparent for that."
Senior defensive lineman Hebron Fangupo and freshman linebacker Sae Tautu teamed up to force a fumble for the blue team with freshman linebacker Alani Fua quick to jump on it.
The linebacker crew teamed up for a total of 19 tackles and one tackle for loss with Seth Probert, Preston Hadley, and Brandon Ogletree all coming away with four each.
Sophomore linebacker Spencer Hadley in particular was making the show stopping plays with his hard hits.
"An interception gives us the ball with a chance to make some points," said Hadley when asked if he prefers a hard hit over an interception. "If the hit causes a fumble I'd go with a hard hit."
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