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PROVO — Monday brought wintry weather in the form of a cold blast of wind to BYU football's spring camp; and the changing weather conditions may have been a precursor toward the Cougars' upcoming season.
While there will always remain a focus on the basics and fundamentals of football, a BYU team that is returning 88% of last year's production has begun taking steps toward the fall and getting a jump on the next phase of development. The program will return starting quarterback Jaren Hall, most of the same offensive line from a year ago, and a running back race with Cal transfer Christopher Brooks entrenching himself further into a loaded room.
The Cougars opened the penultimate week of spring camp Monday by moving toward what assistant head coach Ed Lamb calls "situation football," getting a jump on what is to come over the summer and into the fall as BYU moves toward its final season of independence before jumping to the Big 12 in 2023. That includes things like "football IQ" measures, the former Southern Utah head coach said, including drills revolving around varying down-and-distance scenarios, and situation play calls on offense, defense and special teams.
"Some of these veteran guys need to be pushed a little bit with their game awareness," Lamb said.
With week four of practice underway and the spring-ending alumni game scheduled for a week from Thursday, there's a palpable sense of "what's next?" for the Cougars. That includes coaches setting up the players' offseason workouts and conditioning, player-run practices where the coaches aren't allowed to observe or supervise due to NCAA regulations, and getting a jump on the fall season.
But before jumping to "what's next?" it's time to take a look at "what happened?" after a full month of spring ball. And it starts with the quarterbacks.
While Hall remains entrenched as the starter, as he was for most of last year, one of the biggest questions entering the spring was on the backup position. And to that effect a three-way quarterback derby emerged between backups Jacob Conover, fellow freshman Sol-Jay Maiava-Peters and Boise State transfer Cade Fennegan to be named the clear No. 2 in the pecking order.
No quarterback has fully pulled away from the pack, head coach Kalani Sitake said. But it also has seemed clear through limited media-viewing portions of practice that Conover's progression has taken perhaps the biggest step forward in the process.
The Chandler, Arizona, product and former four-star recruit who played in two games a year ago in relief of Hall took the majority of reps with the second-string players Monday, including hitting wide receiver Chase Roberts for a spectacular grab down the left sideline on the team's practice field.
Coaches haven't revealed a full pecking order, and offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick said the competition will likely extend through the summer. But the quarterbacks have seen some of the most improvement since opening camp a month ago, Lamb added.
"The depth of our quarterbacks is starting to take shape," he said. "That's something that we needed to see and have develop."
Ditto for the running back room, where Brooks saw the bulk of the media-viewed reps with Hall and the first-team offensive line, but Lopini Katoa and fullback Houston Heimuli continued to see their fair share of reps, as well.
"I see really good progress with our running backs; I think we're going to have a very deep running back room," Lamb said. "I also think the defensive line, which started out with a lot of guys who were young a year ago, but they're playing well together now. Their situational awareness has probably risen more than any other position group on the team. They're playing at a high level with a lot of awareness of what the offense is trying to do, and what they should be doing."
The quarterback progression has not only fallen to the backups, though.
"Jaren is really starting to own the offense," Sitake said. "He has been talking to the other players and giving advice just like another coach out there. He is making great decisions and I am excited for this fall for him."
Lamb also pointed to a deep stable of offensive linemen, led by 10-game starter Connor Pay at center, as a potential strength of the team. The former all-state lineman from Lone Peak has been joined in a starting rotation by All-American guard Clark Barrington and Joe Tukuafu, with Blake Freeland, Kingsley Suamataia and Harris LaChance also rotating at tackle.
Barrington's brother Campbell is also expected to see significant playing time on the line, as are Brayden Keim and Sam Dawe, the Idaho State transfer from Spanish Fork who also saw time at center behind Pay and Tukuafu.
They'll see more of that rotation in the fall, when Snow College transfer Lisala Tai adds his 6-foot-7, 310-pound frame to a stable of linemen that already numbers 22 deep and includes a dozen players 305 pounds or larger. But the fall camp rotation is starting early, too.
"I feel like spring ball's been a mini fall camp, and that's how you have to treat it — with the mindset and a will to work every day," LaChance said. "We've got a lot of veteran guys and new players who are learning really fast, so it's definitely that vibe. Everyday is just coming here, having fun, and working."
The journey continues 🤙🏾#GoCougspic.twitter.com/ZgVQwPpFkE
— Gabe Jeudy (@GabeJeudy) March 22, 2022
SEC ➡️ Provo
The Cougars picked up a commitment Monday from Vanderbilt transfer Gabe Jeudy-Lally, who announced his intent to sign with BYU on social media.
The 6-foot-1, 186-pound cornerback from Charlotte made 63 tackles, including 45 solo stops, in three seasons with the Commodores, adding two tackles for loss, four pass breakups and two interceptions.
Jeudy graduated from Vanderbilt in three years and will join the Cougars this fall as a graduate transfer with up to three years of remaining eligibility because of the NCAA's granting of an extra year due to COVID-19.
He joins fellow defensive back transfer Roman Rashada, who committed to BYU out of Diablo Valley College in California, to add to a deep cornerback room that also includes Kaleb Hayes, D'Angelo Mandell, Isaiah Herron and Jakob Robinson, among others.
Pro Day prep
The Cougars will host a coaching clinic for area high school coaches on Thursday, a day before Pro Day inside the team's Indoor Practice Facility on Friday morning.
Former BYU running back Tyler Allgeier has returned to Provo in anticipation of Friday's annual "underwear Olympics," and he'll be joined by recently graduated seniors Samson Nacua, Neil Pau'u, Uriah Leiataua and James Empey.
Former BYU quarterback Baylor Romney, who recently retired from football and accepted a job with Adobe, will also return to campus to throw to Nacua and Pau'u during situational drills, as well, a BYU spokesman told KSL.com.
Pro Day will be televised by BYUtv, with a special broadcast from 10-11 a.m. MDT originating from the IPF.