BYU surprises with unexpected captains

PROVO — BYU named their football captains on Monday: linebacker Uani Unga, safety Daniel Sorensen on defense and on offense and wide receivers JD Falslev and Skyler Ridley. All four are seniors and three were walk-ons — Sorensen was a scholarship player from the beginning.

"I think all are really unselfish, really committed to the team," Bronco Mendenhall said. "I think they're all team-first and I think our team elected strong people and strong leaders."

I don't have a problem with who was chosen, I have a problem with who was not. I would love to climb into the collective football minds and hear the rational for not naming Kyle Van Noy and Cody Hoffman as their official leaders.

In two of the most selfless acts I've seen at BYU, both players decided to spurn huge money in the NFL and return for their senior seasons. Those decisions single handedly saved the 2013 season, which owns the most difficult upcoming schedule in school history.

My crystal ball isn't the sharpest picture, but without those two players, the talent doesn't match the schedule. With them, BYU has a fighting chance to turn in a pretty great season.

I love Gruden Camp on ESPN. Jon Gruden's Andrew Luck episode is in the pantheon of sports television. He teaches a lesson to the best college quarterback in the nation, and it's something that the BYU football team could take to heart.

Sitting in his video room, Gruden has Luck stand at a white board and diagram a play.

Gruden:

Green Right Slot Spider 2 Y Banana. Let's not make this real confusing. What is Spider 2 Y Banana?

It gives you an insight into the complexity of football when Luck's simple answer is this:

Luck:

Play action fake, front side reverse out. It's made to look like Power, get that fullback looking like he's kicking out, but slip the guy and get over on the back and cut the guy. Full slide by the line. Z's got an under, he's not stopping, he's running around 5-yards. (X has a) 9-yard alert, over here. (The fullback) is No. 1 (option) all the way.

Yeah, let's not make this real confusing.

Gruden:

Who's No. 1?

Luck points to the fullback.

Gruden:

And why do you have to think No. 1 all the time ‐ fullback?

Luck:

Because he's always open until they take it away. You can't go broke taking a profit.

Words we should all live by. You can't go broke taking a profit. Luck almost blew a game against USC by ignoring the easy play. Instead of throwing to a wide open fullback for a nice 10-yard gain, he tried for the big hitter. He threw the "backside Venus". USC turned the pick into six and nearly cost Stanford the game.

Gruden:

Never throw the Venus on a Spider 3 Y Banana. Don't over-think things. Don't over-think a good thing. That's a huge lesson sometimes. You great players can sometimes be your own worse enemy.

The football team forced the "backside Venus". They over-thought not just one good thing, but two.

Just because Hoffman and Van Noy were the easy choice, doesn't mean they weren't the right choice.

An open showing, by the team, of support for their two best players. Electing them as captains would have been a sign of respect and appreciation for putting their team first and returning for their senior years.

Van Noy — who has been projected by many pundits as a Top-10 pick in next year's NFL draft — once again, humbly put his team first. "It's a team decision and I'm happy for the captains we have. They're really good players and they're really good leaders. I think it will help out our team."

"I'm still a leader. It doesn't mean I have to be a captain to be a leader," said Van Noy.

To ease the tension, Van Noy deflected the snub with humor, "It's just going out and flipping a coin toss. I don't think I have the best luck in the world anyway. I think I'll enjoy running out the tunnel and being a leader that leads by example."

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