Camp Cougar, Day 9


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For the second time in as many weeks, a BYU football player has been lost for the season with an injury suffered in training camp.

Last week, backup linebacker Colby Jorgensen was sidelined with a neck fracture; on Monday of this week, first-string tight end Steven Richards injured his knee while running a pass route and has been declared out for the year.

"No one touched him," head coach Bronco Mendenhall said of the injury when he spoke to reporters after Tuesday morning's practice.

"Anytime something like that happens," quarterback Taysom Hill said, "but especially to a nice guy like that, it's hard to see."

"We have a fair amount of depth at that position, so in terms of scheme I don't think it's going to change how we play and how we call a game. But it's tough to see, and he was certainly one of those guys who came to the offensive side of the ball that added some toughness."

Richards, Tanner Balderree and Theodore King all moved from defensive line to tight end after the 2014 season. Mendenhall says Bryan Sampson will compete with Balderree and King as candidates to fill the hand-on-the-ground TE role in the BYU offense.

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Media observed a concluding portion of Tuesday's practice; the 11-on-11 session featured a 55-yard touchdown run from receiver Mitchell Juergens, who is being included in some sets as a running back.

"It gives us another facet to our offense that makes us even harder to stop," said Hill of getting the ball to Juergens via hand-offs out of the backfield.

Mendenhall said the ninth day of camp saw players "starting to get a little bit tired of each other, a little more chippy and a little more intense...a little more aggressive, (with) a few more things after the play than what has happened up to this point in camp."

The coach noted that "day by day, momentum is swinging back and forth between the offense and defense."

"I like where our team is. Still a ways to go before we play (at Nebraska), but I think we're on track."

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Defensive back Micah Hannemann has joined his teammates on the field after sitting out the first week of camp with an undisclosed medical issue. Whatever the situation, it was resolved with consultation assistance from a physician at the Huntsman Cancer Institute in Salt Lake City.

"Their evaluation was just really clean," said Mendenhall of the Hannemann assessment. "(It) put everyone else at ease, just gave him a clean bill of health and everything's good. I don't know exactly what (the situation) was...other than there was a doctor who is super credible and that put to rest everything."

Hannemann was projected to be a starting corner coming out of spring ball, but was observed playing free safety during Tuesday's media-observation period.

"We're training him at both (corner and safety)," said Mendenhall. "Some of our corners are starting to play a little bit better than what we had anticipated, and we have a little bit more depth there. If that happens, our nickel-slash-dime package could benefit."

While Hannemann moved from corner to safety, presumptive starting safety Kai Nacua was seen playing boundary corner on Tuesday.

"If we have Micah and Kai, who know multiple positions, that doubles our depth, basically," Mendenhall said, "so it's a great chance right now to train them both at both (spots)."

Also moving around were linebackers Jherremya Leuta-Douyere and Rhett Sandlin, who were seen having switched from inside to outside and vice-versa.

"We're looking to have our best eight backers on the field and in different positions," said Mendenhall of the shift, "and right now (the change) gives us a chance to do that."

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Taysom Hill on Tuesday met the media for the first time since Saturday's stadium scrimmage, and said "we need to be better," when assessing the offensive performance during the 80-play exercise.

"It's difficult as an offense," said Hill, "when you hold out your starting center (Tejan Koroma) and you move your starting left guard to center, when he's never played center--and you bring in someone at left guard. Chemistry-wise, and (lack of) continuity up front made things difficult. It was hard to get enough time to stretch the field."

"With those things in mind, I thought we saw some good things. I thought we could have been a little bit cleaner up front, but I understand why we weren't. It's a good start...but I wasn't particularly happy with the way we played."

Hill noted the absence of not only Koroma, but running back Algie Brown. Additionally, Hill was off-limits and not taking off on his signature scampers downfield.

"Algie makes a big impact," Hill acknowledged. "Coach Mendenhall kind of hindered us a little bit; he was a little 'whistle happy', but I totally get that, too--being smart and being protective and all those things...but it was in the favor of the defense, that's for sure."

Hill said his surgically-repaired ankle "has held up really well through camp; (I'm) just staying on top of it with treatment."

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Projected starting left guard Kyle Johnson was not seen in practice on Tuesday. In his absence, the number-one offensive line saw Ryker Mathews at left tackle, Parker Dawe at left guard, Koroma at center, Ului Lapuaho at right guard and Brad Wilcox at right tackle.

Second-stringers (left to right) were J.J. Nwigwe, Manu Mulitalo, Jacob Jimenez, Jaterrius Gulley and Austin Hoyt.

Asked about a number of snaps that have hit the ground during camp, Hill said "that needs to be cleaned up; it's certainly a concern."

"Tejan typically does a pretty good job. He had a few errant snaps today, but I really don't worry about Tejan. Behind (him), it's a worry."

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Hill said the pace of camp is noticeably different from his previous August experiences, observing that "typically we start light and then build as we move forward, but we kind of started extremely heavy and now we're starting to lighten the load."

"I feel like we've responded well and the coaches have listened to our bodies really well...and have been able to keep us healthy for the most part," said Hill on Tuesday.

Mendenhall said his camp concern is "sustainability, to where you're peaking going into the first game rather than laboring into the first game."

"(It's) something I think most teams make a mistake with, so we're trying to have enough (work and two-a-days) to make sure it's a well-rounded experience and we're gaining momentum rather than just enduring."

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Former BYU defensive back Derwin Gray visited campus and spoke with players on Tuesday; Mendenhall said Gray--the last BYU defensive back selected in the NFL Draft, in 1993--"really talked about the stories of BYU football and he shared a lot of them with us so the players were grasping tradition that comes alive with stories."

"He kind of challenged them to write their own paragraph or their own sentences and he talked about the BYU history and tradition, and those stories running through them as they are part of this program. It was really powerful and, man, it was a great day."

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You can hear Tuesday's post-practice interviews in "Cougar Cuts," below.

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Greg Wrubell

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