Camp Cougar, Day 1


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BYU's already dicey depth situation at cornerback is even more so after day one of training camp in Provo.

Veteran defensive back Mike Hague, and junior college transfer DB Sam Lee did not take part in the camp opener, both dealing with injuries that are expected to keep them out through camp and into the season.

About Hague (knee), head coach Bronco Mendenhall said "I don't know what his estimated return is, but I don't anticipate him for (the season-opener at) Virginia." The coach said he is looking at an "early-season return" for the sixth-year senior.

As for Lee, Mendenhall says the College of the Canyons product suffered a back injury, "so he's an early-season return as well; we just don't know how early."

With junior college transfer CB Trenton Trammell out for the season after an ACL tear suffered on the first day of spring camp, and with Jacob Hannemann having left football to sign with the Chicago Cubs, BYU is now down an additional two players expected to compete for the boundary corner position vacated by Preston Hadley.

On Saturday, true freshman Dallin Leavitt and juco transfer Robertson Daniel rotated with the ones at boundary corner; Mendenhall said he was "really impressed" with Leavitt on day one.

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Meantime, preseason All-American linebacker Kyle Van Noy was dressed but barely broke a sweat under the summer sun, held out of practice while he recovers from what Mendenhall called "a slight hamstring tweak in conditioning prior to coming to camp."

"He'll be coaching younger players; he'll be conditioning on his own," said Mendenhall, "then possibly two weeks from now we'll ramp him up, give him maybe the last week of camp then game week, and he should be ready."

Citing "the risk versus the return right now," Mendenhall said "hamstrings take a long time, and I'd rather not make it worse if possible."

Van Noy, for his part, said of the hamstring: "I'm not nursing it, by the way. I'm fine. We're just taking precautions right now. I'm healthy to go; we don't want to push anything. I'm not injured at all; we're just taking precautions."

Veteran running back Michael Alisa was also dressed but not participating in the bulk of practice, as he recovers from recent surgery as part of his recovery from last season's broken forearm.

Alisa has the arm wrapped; offensive coordinator Robert Anae says the back has a "no-contact clause" for camp. Mendenhall says "Mike is expected to play (in) the Virginia game; two more weeks with a non-contact cast on, then he'll be ready to go. He'll probably have ten days (of practice) before we play."

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Including time that the newcomers spent on the field ahead of the returners, Saturday's practice lasted in the neighborhood of three hours under a pounding sun and with very little breeze.

Both offensive and defensive units ran an extended series of Mendenhall's "pursuit" drill--an exercise known to historically bring players to their knees, especially on opening day.

"They fought through a lot of rust," said Mendenhall of the day one performance overall. He said players were "certainly not used to the pace, even though they were asked to remember through the summer, what it was going to be like."

"They were willing, but rusty--that would be the way I would describe today. It was a long, hard practice, and I was impressed that they could sustain the pace. The execution wasn't as clean as I would have liked, but I thought their conditioning looked strong."

Running back Jamaal Williams may have spoken for a number of players when he said "I'm tired; like you want to pass out. (My) lips were white; you know when your lips get white you are tired--you need water. Not water; wah-ter!"

Of the newcomers in particular, Mendenhall said they were "stunned, dazed, confused, tired, wondering what they've committed to, but (they have) enough ability...they made it" through day one.

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Offensive coordinator Robert Anae positively assessed the performance readiness of his players, saying "I could tell, the guys had done really good work over the summer. That's obvious. They did due diligence in conditioning."

BYU RB Jamaal Williams on the run.
BYU RB Jamaal Williams on the run. (Photo: Jaren Wilkey, BYU Photo)

"We're at a much better starting point, conditioning-wise, and with much more familiarity with the schemes. They kind of knew where to go. The majority of the guys were right on the money with going fast and going hard."

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Injury developments notwithstanding, Mendenhall said that on the defensive side of the ball, "two-deep right now, I feel pretty confident. (My) main objective for the defense this fall camp is to solidify the nose tackle position--make sure we get a starter and a backup. I see some candidates that are likely, but a lot of the focus will be there. The rest of the depth isn't really that much of a concern...possibly finding a backup field corner."

Asked about redshirt junior Marques Johnson as a potential contributor at nose, Mendenhall said the 6'2", 305 lb. lineman "has had a transformation."

"He was one of the players who at the end of spring, when he was told exactly where he stood and what he had to do...from what I saw today, he has worked very hard."

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Among the day one standouts was wide receiver Mitch Mathews, who hauled in a nifty back-corner touchdown pass from Ammon Olsen and later made a one-handed snag of a pass thrown behind him in traffic.

Mathews said day one was "just another day. This isn't like, a daunted scary fall camp; this is just another day, because we've been doing it every day in the summer, so it wasn't scary for anybody."

"I feel like we're way ahead of other teams, ourselves, from a first day standpoint of fall camp."

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Quarterback Taysom Hill saved his best for last, making a 20-yard connection with JD Falslev and following that up with a 45-yard strike to Skyler Ridley, in the final 11-on-11 session of the day.

Taysom Hills throws a pass in Saturday's opening session of BYU football camp.
Taysom Hills throws a pass in Saturday's opening session of BYU football camp. (Photo: Jaren Wilkey, BYU Photo)

"Everything we did this spring and summer has transformed into fall camp," said Hill after practice. "It's a different feel."

Anae said "Taysom has done hid work; his body is a machine. That guy looks like an NFL safety. Conditioning test was no problem; he's fast, he's mobile, has a nice little touch on the ball."

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Also on Saturday, walk-on wideout Eric Thornton made perhaps the most impressive grab of the day, stretching all of his 5'9" inch frame to the end-zone sideline for a score.

Daniel Sorensen, Skye PoVey and Matt Relei recorded interceptions in live action, while Remington Peck was credited with a pair of "whistle" sacks.

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BYU did a lot of kicking on day one--more than in past camp openers, with three separate special teams sessions held.

"We intend to add more focus to it like we did today," said Mendenhall, who noted that the team has three placekickers in camp. Of Justin Sorensen, Trevor Samson and Moose Bingham, Sorensen was the most effective on Saturday, drilling pretty much every one of his kicks through the uprights. Word is he had a very strong lead-up to camp, and BYU could use his resurgence in 2013 after two spotty and injury-plagued kicking campaigns.

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Junior college offensive lineman Edward Fusi was not dressed on Saturday; he is getting some paperwork wrapped up.

Freshman nose tackle JonRyheem Peoples sprained an ankle before camp and was kept out of practice for conditioning today, while juco defensive lineman Kalolo Utu was hampered by soreness on day one.

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Mendenhall, on the recently-announced departure from TCU of former Cougar lineman Tayo Fabuluje: "I can't talk about it...and I don't know anything about it anyway."

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The offensive line will receive a great deal of attention during camp, with Anae saying of the group that "we do not have one bona-fide starter. This is the beginning of camp, and we're going to try a bunch of different rotations."

"Hopefully by the end of camp," says Anae, "we'll have a pretty good idea of who our top eight, ten guys are up there. Shoot, there were years at Texas Tech where I rotated ten guys all year, and man, we were killer because they were always fresh."

On day one of camp, offensive line depth looked like this:

LT: Brad Wilcox or Ryker Mathews (Mathews somewhat limited after hip surgery)/Cole Jones/Thomas Shoaf

LG: Solomone Kafu or Kyle Johnson/Brayden Kearlsey/Quinn Lawlor

C: Terrance Alletto/Manaaki Vaitai/Josh Carter (also Tim Duran, Brayden Kearsley)

RG: Brock Stringham/Tim Duran/Andrew Crawford

RT: Michael Yeck/De'Ondre Wesley/Addison Pulsipher

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BYU defensive end Bronson Kaufusi.
BYU defensive end Bronson Kaufusi. (Photo: Jaren Wilkey, BYU Photo)

On the defensive line, it was:

LE: Bronson Kaufusi/Logan Taele/Tomasi Laulile or Austin Holt

NT: Marques Johnson/Tuni Kanuch/Meti Taliauli/Parker Dawe

RE: Eathyn Manumaleuna/Remington Peck/Theodore King or Michael Doman

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Linebacker rotation was a bit of a jumble with Van Noy, Spencer Hadley and Uani Unga seeing few if any live reps on Saturday; Alani Fua, Jherremya Leuta-Douyere, Sae Tautu and Joey Owens were top rotators outside, while Austen Jorgensen, Tyler Beck, Manoa Pikula and Toloa'i Ho-Ching were the primary options to handle the inside.

Top corner duos were Jordan Johnson/Dallin Leavitt and Adam Hogan/Robertson Daniel, while the top safety pairings were Daniel Sorensen/Craig Bills, Blake Morgan/Skye PoVey and Michael Wadsworth/Drew Reilly.

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A first look at potential kick/punt returners saw JD Falslev, Cody Hoffman, Adam Hine, Skyler Ridley, Eric Thornton, Dallin Leavitt and Jordan Johnson all back to handle kicks during practice.

Punter Scott Arellano uncorked a cannonading blast midway through practice that earned Bronco Mendenhall's vocal appreciation; as impressive was JD Falslev tracking back about 25 yards to handle the punt on the fly.

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After a day off on Sunday, the Cougars return to the practice field for a late-Monday afternoon session; practices are closed, but media will be allowed to observe the final 30 minutes of the workout, with interviews conducted afterward.

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As always, you can hear post-practice interviews with players and coaches in "Cougar Cuts," top left.

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Photos: Jaren Wilkey, BYU Photo

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Greg Wrubell

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