Camp Cougar, Day 16

Head coach Bronco Mendenhall called it "one final chance to get a look at a few situations," after watching his team go through a Wednesday morning scrimmage at LaVell Edwards Stadium.

With most first-stringers held out, Mendenhall said the exercise had as its primary objective the identification of personnel depth, "to see if we could solidify any extra players that we might want to take with us when we go to Virginia (for the season-opener on Aug. 31)."

You can hear post-scrimmage interviews with Mendenhall, Offensive Coordinator Robert Anae, QB Taysom Hill, DE Eathyn Manumaleuna, and LB Spencer Hadley, in "Cougar Cuts," left.

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Media observed the final 30 minutes of the scrimmage, with quarterbacks Taysom Hill and Ammon Olsen getting all of the snaps during that time.

Scrimmage stats were as follows:

PASSING

Taysom Hill: 6/9 passing, 81 yds

Ammon Olsen: 2/4 passing, 27 yds, TD, INT (R. Daniel)

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RUSHING

Taysom Hill: 2 rush, 39 yds

Algie Brown: 3 rush, 33 yds

Paul Lasike: 5 rush, 24 yds, TD

Michael Alisa: 3 rush, 11 yds

Adam Hine: 3 rush, 6 yds

Nate Carter: 2 rush, -5 yds

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RECEIVING

Devina Mahina: 1 rec, 20 yds (TD)

Brett Thompson: 1 rec, 56 yds

Skyler Ridley: 1 rec, 8 yds

Michael Alisa: 1 rec, 7 yds

Paul Lasike: 1 rec, 7 yds

Mitch Mathews: 1 rec, 5 yds

Adam Hine: 1 rec, 5 yds

Algie Brown: 1 rec, 0 yds

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DEFENSE

Interceptions: Robertson Daniel

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SPECIAL TEAMS

Justin Sorensen: 2/3 FG (made 20, made 37, missed 37); 1/1 PAT

Moose Bingham: 1/1 FG (made 37); 1/2 PAT

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The final two series of the scrimmage featured the offense needing to move the ball 60 yards for a touchdown, with a two-minute clock.

The first series, led by Hill, got to a 4th down near mid-field, when the QB found Brett Thompson downfield for a 56-yard completion. The play set up a short Paul Lasike touchdown run. The PAT from Justin Sorensen was good.

Hill said afterward that "I'm confident; I worked hard this offseason. I rehabbed hard and I trust my knee; that's not an issue."

"I trust my preparation," Hill said, "I trust the preparation of the coaches in me and the preparation of the guys around me. I don't think there's anything that I need to second-guess or anything like that. I worked hard, and I'm not afraid to say that. I'm excited to see the preparation meet the opportunity and see what happens."

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The second two-minute series featured Ammon Olsen leading the offense down field, the drive highlighted by a 27-yard Algie Brown run in which he bulldozed multiple defenders, causing an eruption of cheers on the offensive sideline. Olsen then found Devin Mahina for a short catch that he turned into a 21-yard TD after wrestling free from a would-be tackler. Moose Bingham missed the PAT, before making good on the mulligan.

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Offensive coordinator Robert Anae said the offense was "sluggish" to start the scrimmage; Mendenhall agree with that assessment "through the majority of the day, until we gave the ball to Algie at the end."

"Paul Lasike had some nice runs," said Mendenhall, "but until the very end, in two-minute--that last two-minute drive--is where there started to be a player (Brown) emerge with physical presence."

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Mendenhall addressed various depth issues, starting at nose tackle, where senior Eathyn Manumaleuna has moved back inside as the No. 1 nose, ahead of Marques Johnson and JonRyheen Peoples, who Mendenhall says is earning reps "almost just by sheer size, and what he occupies in there".

Bronson Kaufusi and Remington Peck are the top two defensive ends, with Manumaleuna also included in the top three at that spot. Mendenhall said Austin Holt is in a group of players vying to win a spot as the fourth DE.

"We're getting there," said Manumaleuna when asked about the progress of the defensive line, "we're getting close. I don't think we've shown up just yet. I think after this scrimmage, (we) took a good step forward; we're still trying to get to where we need to be for that first game."

At field corner, Mendenhall lists Robertson Daniel as the starter, backed up by either Michael Davis or Eric Thornton (both wide receivers until last week).

At boundary corner, Mendenhall listed Mike Hague, Skye PoVey and Dallin Leavitt his top three at that spot, in one order or another.

At Kat safety, Daniel Sorensen is spelled by Michael Wadsworth and Kai Nacua.

At free safety, it's Craig Bills, playing in front of Blake Morgan and Drew Reilly.

Bills, by the way left the field with what Mendenhall said was a shoulder injury picked up on a tackle late in scrimmage. There was no word as to the severity of the injury.

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Mendenhall said coaches began cross-training LB Spencer Hadley at Buck linebacker last week, "with the intent to put the best four linebackers on the field at the same time."

"That would look like Alani (Fua) at Sam, Uani Unga and Spencer Hadley at Mike and Buck, and Kyle (Van Noy) at Will."

Hadley, who played inside linebacker before and after his mission, said of the transition that "it's been good."

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Today's scrimmage represented the de facto end of camp, with game-planning for the season-opening game at Virginia next on the agenda.

Mendenhall said that "we'll spend our entire day tomorrow, as a coaching staff, shifting to Virginia, and then we'll practice the following day, Virginia-specific."

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Schedule news: BYU has confirmed a home-and-home series with San Jose State.

The teams will meet at Spartan Stadium in San Jose, Calif., on Nov. 7, 2015 with the second game being played at LaVell Edwards Stadium on Oct. 28, 2017.

The Spartans have won 10 the 16 all-time meetings between the two schools; SJSU beat BYU 20-14 last year in San Jose.

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