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by Jillian Williams, BYU Athletic Communications
PROVO, UT (August 9, 2007)--Two-a-day practices began Friday for the Cougars with a typical hard-hitting workout in the morning and an equally intense, non-contact practice in the afternoon.
Both the offensive and defensive execution was consistent as the team prepared for Saturday's workout at Edwards Stadium.
"We're trying to get ready for tomorrow," BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall said. "We will be looking to get more snaps in for the quarterback, and work on our timing and execution, offensively."
Max Hall went 10-of-12 during the morning practice, passing for a combined 130 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. Hall started the team drill completing eight-straight attempts before missing his first target. His most notable passes included a 50-yard touchdown pass to Byrce Mahuika and a 28-yard touchdown completion to Austin Collie.
The offense was able to experiment with the running game as well, which will be an emphasis during Saturday's practice. Freshman J.J. Di Luigi had the longest run of the day when he picked up seven yards on an inside run.
The defense also displayed their strengths during the 11-on-11 team drill. The first-team defense had three consecutive tackles for loss, totaling a loss of six yards for the offense.
Special teams saw an increase of time on the practice field today, including field goal attempts in the morning session and kick-cover work in the afternoon. Kicker Mitch Payne put several attempts through the uprights and had success kicking deep with the new field-position rule. Mendenhall said both kicking and punting will be emphasized during the scrimmage, but mainly to work on snaps.
"We are raising the bar for every position and expect more from every position than we saw last year," Mendenhall said. "We are working on establishing more depth everywhere."
