Cougar Tracks: Camp Cougar, Day 8

For the first time in eight days of camp, clouds graced the outdoor practice fields in Provo, cooling things off for the second second day of BYU's two-a-days.

With players in shells (helmets/shoulder pads), the morning session featured the team ending practice with some 11-on-11 blue zone work, and plays were made on both sides of the ball.

QB Riley Nelson was 7-for-9 passing for 65 yards, with three touchdowns and an interception (Craig Bills). Scoring tosses went to Cody Hoffman (20 yards and 10 yards) and Mitch Mathews (10 yards). JD Falslev scampered in on a 20-yard score. In addition to Bills' pick, DB Preston Hadley recorded a pass break-up in the end zone.

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BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall has now conducted nine practices, with only one in full pads--that being Thursday's stadium scrimmage. Additionally, the contact has been very limited, with no tackling allowed, except in the scrimmage. In my view, it is the biggest storyline to come out of the 2012 camp, and Mendenhall sounds inclined to make the new regimen a regular occurrence moving forward.

"Really, really efficient. Really, really effective," said Mendenhall of the new system. "It's a step in the right direction, and an improvement for our program...and may be even integrated more than what we're doing. It's a great start."

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You can hear all of Mendenhall's post-practice comments in "Cougar Cuts," above left. You can also hear WR Cody Hoffman, and get Jason Shepherd interviewing OLB Alani Fua and RB David Foote, who is now on scholarship after joining the program as a walk-on.

Foote, on going from walk-on to scholarship player: "It has been a long ride, and you've really gotta love the game to stay with it that long. It's been a real blessing...it's awesome to kind of see the fruit of your labors. It has been a great ride, and I'm just trying to go out having fun and enjoying my senior year."

Foote says when Mendenhall gave him the good scholarship news, "it was awesome. I gave him a big hug; I can't express all of the emotions that were going through my head at that time. It was a great feeling, that hard work is paying off, not that it's done by any means. Now it's even more incentive for me to go out and perform and work hard and help our team win."

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Hoffman's comments were the first to the media since his four-day sit-down for disciplinary reasons. He says "I feel like I picked up where I left off; feels good to be back out here with the team. I hate (having to) miss practice, but it feels good to be back."

"I made a mistake, they handled it accordingly, and now I'm back."

Of Mendenhall's reference to "personal contracts" that he has with some of his players, Hoffman was asked if he likes that relationship, and he said "I really do; I feel like if there's ever anything wrong, that I am able to keep in contact with him and tell him what's going on."

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Mendenhall did some more reflecting on Thursday's scrimmage, saying the team got done "exactly what we hoped to accomplish."

"The volume we got for young players, to evaluate exactly where they were...we were able to get more (depth chart) clarity that way. We'll probably do one more of those similar-type scrimmages, before we move on to Washington State work at the end of next week. Only one ankle injury (to OL Brock Stringham) with a ton of volume for players we needed to learn more about, so I really liked it."

Mendenhall said he will look for depth chart projections from position coaches after this afternoon's practice. He says as for tomorrow's two-deep, "that's not permanent; we'll have another scrimmage and give guys a chance, depth-wise, to move one more time."

Mendenhall initially projected that he would have an updated two-deep after Thursday's scrimmage in time for Friday's practices. With the coach moving his depth update into Saturday, I am going to wait until tomorrow to provide a new depth chart.

Today, a number of players anticipated to be in or pushing for the two-deep were not practicing:

DL Ian Dulan (back)

DL Russell Tialavea (ankle)

DL Tui Crichton (quad)

DL Romney Fuga (graduation ceremonies)

OL Braden Brown (ankle)

OL Brock Stringham (ankle)

OL Ryker Mathews (awaiting update; unknown at present)

OL Houston Reynolds (shins)

TE Marcus Mathews (sick)

TE Devin Mahina (hand)

WR Dallin Cutler (hamstring)

K Justin Sorensen (back)

As you can see, a lot of main-line offensive linemen were missing; they are essentially in the "bumps and bruises" category, with Stringham's ankle sprain perhaps a little more long-term with the re-injury during Thursday's scrimmage.

The coach said the O-line situation is "kind of typical this time of year...what I've learned is if you can make it through Saturday (practice # 11), then things start to heal and (the body) starts regaining momentum. So there's a light at the end of the tunnel, but right now, they're just trying to make it."

With all of the o-line absences, today's first-string offensive line consisted of Solomone Kafu, Ryan Freeman, Blair Tushaus, Terrance Alletto and Michael Yeck, from left to right. Of those five, Tushaus is the safest bet to remain at today's spot in the opening-night first-string alignment.

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Mendenhall says DB Micah Hannemann was originally going to grayshirt this season, but "is on scholarship, and will play if he is needed this year." The coach says Hannemann (a Lone Peak HS product) is young enough that he will be available for both this season and the 2013 season (through fall semester of 2013) before he departs on an LDS mission.

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Corners Jordan Johnson and Preston Hadley are usually on the field in field/boundary mode, but they are also learning to play each other's position, allowing them to play left/right when needed, which reduces pre-snap relocation, and gives Bronco the option of deploying either as a high-caliber replacement on the player's opposite side.

The top-level talent at corner and safety is perhaps the best it has been in the Mendenhall era, but those two spots are also the thinnest on the roster, so this is a smart call by the coach, utilizing gifted and intelligent players.

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Saw some kickoff return tandems, today, led by 2011's top duo:

Cody Hoffman/Mike Hague

Joe Sampson/JD Falslev

Dylan Collie/Alex Kuresa

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Punt returners today:

JD Falslev

Dylan Collie

Cody Raymond

Alex Kuresa

Walk-on Scott Arellano uncorked a couple of nice punts. It will be interesting to see how Justin Sorensen bounces back, and then depending on that, how Riley Stephenson and Arellano will be deployed this season.

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