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PROVO — Like a veteran politician, or at least a fifth-year senior whose college football career has spanned both coasts, Kedon Slovis stayed neutral when asked about the results of BYU's training camp scrimmage held behind closed doors Saturday morning at LaVell Edwards Stadium.
Highlighting the play of freshman running back LJ Martin and second-year wide receivers Parker Kingston and Dom Henry, Slovis said the offense "had a lot of great plays," but that both sides ended up with their fair share of "wins" on different drives, drills and situations.
BYU linebacker Ben Bywater was a little less diplomatic.
"I would give it to the offense," the junior linebacker said. "Obviously, you want to go compete and win, but those guys played really well. With the defense, there's some stuff we need to improve upon. I know over the next three weeks, we'll take care of that."
That's not to say the defense didn't have its moments, Bywater noted. One of those involved Talan Alfrey, the sophomore safety from Auburn, Washington, who had a highlight-reel interception amid a gaggle of defenders that will probably find its way on to his Instagram page, somehow.
Bywater said the defense started slow, but Slovis added that both sides won different competitions and scrimmage portions, including during red-zone packages and two-minute drills.
"In certain periods, one side won the drill, but we did a lot of different stuff," he said. "I thought it was pretty balanced. It's kind of awesome when the defense tells us that it's hard to play against us, and I know I always appreciate the defense going against us. I do the same thing. I think we're trying to get better every day."
One challenge that both Bywater and defensive coordinator Jay Hill noted were defensive logistics, such as substitution patterns and sideline mechanics, that led to the delayed energy at the start of the scrimmage.
The Cougars were as live as they've been through the first two weeks of fall camp, including live-hitting for several quarterbacks, not including Slovis, the presumed starter, coaches said. But in a live game, the team won't have several drives to warm up, Bywater said.
"We started very slow with that stuff early on," added Hill, the former all-time winningest coach at Weber State in his first season at BYU. "I thought we got better as the day went on, but the ability to start fast is critical in college football … and quite frankly, today we needed to start faster. All of those things are learning lessons for us. Players will get better at it, coaches will get better at it. We've got a lot to clean up."
The Cougars put in 105 snaps of live — or at least, mostly live, in the case of players like Slovis — head coach Kalani Sitake said, an extended practice that caught even several staff members off guard after the duration stretched nearly an hour longer than expected.
Sitake agreed that there's plenty of work to do in the three weeks before BYU's 2023 season opener against FBS newcomer Sam Houston State (8:15 p.m. MDT, FS1). But that wasn't a bad thing, and Sitake said that while a few players were "banged up," none were enough that he expects a lengthy injury report from the athletic training staff.
"You saw guys that want to compete," he said. "We had some players who wanted to play every snap, which is a good sign."
nothing like football at LES 🤙 pic.twitter.com/x75y5TEw1U
— BYU FOOTBALL (@BYUfootball) August 12, 2023
BYU's offense had its own issues to work out, including what offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick has called the most important question of training camp: finding five starters along the offensive line a year after losing Blake Freeland and Harris LaChance to the NFL, and Clark and Campbell Barrington to Baylor.
The work continues.
"We're still moving guys around," Slovis said. "But for me, I didn't notice a ton of difference … depending on who's in."
Hill was impressed by several players. He noted veteran linemen Tyler Batty, Atunaisa Mahe and Jackson Cravens. He also told local radio that Snow College defensive lineman David Latu was also cleared to join the team and practiced for the first time Friday.
But Hill was also impressed by the other side of the line of scrimmage, a side he has grown to respect as he matches wits with Roderick every day in practice.
"I'm glad that we have this offense on our side," Hill said. "I really love the stuff that coach Roderick and his staff are doing. They do a great job with substitutions, with tempo. They do a lot of things that are hard on you."
