Camp Cougar, Day 4

The media didn't see much of BYU's Wednesday afternoon practice in Provo, but in the 13 observed minutes of 11-on-11 action, the Cougars' new "Ride and Decide" offense dominated, scoring three touchdowns in four drives, with a handful of long plays peppering the period.

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Taysom Hill and the first-string offense drove the field for a score in a series that included a 44-yard completion to sophomore walk-on Eric Thornton, a third-down connection with Skyler Ridley, and finally a 14-yard TD toss to Ross Apo. The PAT from Justin Sorensen was good.

The second series saw Ammon Olsen find Mitch Mathews for 43 yards, and later Kurt Henderson for a 25-yard touchdown; Moose Bingham converted the point-after.

Following a Jason Munns drive that resulted in a punt, Hill took the field for the final drive of the day, and capped it with a 42-yard scoring strike to Mathews. Practice ended on that high note for the offense.

A nice defensive play was earlier turned in by freshman corner Dallin Leavitt, who ripped a ball away from Apo on a would-be scoring pass.

Of his TD reception, Mathews said when lining up wide outside of Taysom Hill, he glanced at the QB and saw that "he looked at me, smiled, gave me a wink and a nod (for a streak route), and I was like 'it's game on.' I got lower than I ever had, and I sprinted faster than I ever had this spring...I made sure I got it for him. I wasn't ready just to run a go-route, I was ready to score."

"It was cool to end practice that way."

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You can hear post-practice interviews with head coach Bronco Mendenhall, Mathews, WR Ross Apo, RB Adam Hine, OL Ryker Mathews and PK Justin Sorensen, in "Cougar Cuts," above left.

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Noting "a nice change of weather for today's practice" (clouds, nearby storms, cool winds, some late light rain), Mendenhall said his team was "fresher, faster...we shortened practice just a hair, but I think it was more competitive, I think it was more physical, and probably the best we've thrown and caught the ball in (11-on-11) team settings in four days, so that was encouraging."

"It's fun to see balls being thrown and caught downfield."

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Saying "it won't change the practice format," Mendenhall said his players will be in full pads for the first time tomorrow, after going the last two days in shells (helmets/shoulder pads). Thursday's single (morning) session will be closed to the media; the team will take part in a photo/video shoot and media availability in the afternoon at the Indoor Practice Facility.

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While the media observation opportunities have been reduced this summer, the Cougars' placekickers have performed generally very well when we've had the chance to watch them at work.

Mendenhall said today that on Tuesday, "we didn't miss a field goal or a PAT, between any of the three kickers (Sorensen, Bingham, and Trevor Samson). It wasn't just one kicker, it was all three, where there wasn't a miss the entire day. I was encouraged by that."

"Volume of kicks is way, way up," said Mendenhall, "but also, it's three kickers, and so the competition is very close, and pretty fierce."

"To this point, it's fun to see the ball go through the uprights at a higher level than it probably has in quite a while."

Sorensen says of the competition that "I love it; I think with any position you want to have, you want to be competing for a job. When you're out there by yourself, it's hard; where's the motivation, where the guy you can to turn to?"

"(The other kickers) are competition, but I think I'm confident that I can win that competition. At the same time, whoever wins it is obviously the man that helps us win the most games."

Parenthetically, referencing his position players, Mendenhall reiterated his stance that "if you don't start on a special team, you won't start on offense or defense."

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Notes and quotes:

The offensive line depth during 11-on-11 action looked like this on Wednesday:

LT: Ryker Mathews/Brad Wilcox/Thomas Shoaf

LG: Solomone Kafu/Tui Crichton/Quinn Lawlor

C: Terrance Alletto/Brayden Kearsley/Manaaki Vaitai

RG: Brock Stringham/Kyle Johnson/Andrew Crawford

RT: Michael Yeck/De'Ondre Wesley/Cole Jones

That means that of the four juco offensive linemen brought in for 2013, only one is in the current three-deep--or at least the three-deep that has been on display for the media at the end of the last couple of observation-day practices.

JC transfers Tim Duran and Josh Carter both saw Day 1 action on the second and third teams, respectively, but in the last two observation periods, have not been on the field.

The fourth juco lineman, Edward Fusi, has not yet been admitted to school. Mendenhall says there are "still a couple more tests that he has to take," and that when Fusi will join the team is "hard to predict at this point. Any time you're talking about a junior college player and grades...you can just kind of fill in the blank after that."

Mendenhall calls the offensive line a "work in progress, with a lot of work still to go"; left tackle Ryker Mathews says "we're obviously a young group, but we have the confidence that we can still be a great offensive line."

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WR Ross Apo, on if he found motivation from being listed as a backup coming out of spring ball:

"Definitely; every day I just try and run, run, run, and try to run myself off the field. That's the thing that coach said; he said I need to get my conditioning up. I used to run three plays and I'd be done. Now I'm able to sit out there and run, run, run, and it's been good so far."

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Mendenhall said his top receivers have played well in camp, noting "Skyler Ridley is doing great, Ross Apo is doing great, Mitch Mathews comes back, Cody (Hoffman) kind of re-emerged today, Eric Thornton, JD Falslev...to this point, I'm pretty confident."

Mathews says in Robert Anae's up-tempo attack, "we need six guys...right now (the position battles are) pretty equal, because we need guys fresh, all the time."

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Mendenhall, on Ridley: "He's so precise. A few (NFL) scouts have come in to look at Cody, and have kind of left asking 'who was that?' (Ridley). He's quick, he's fast, he's tough, he just goes one speed, and he never drops the ball."

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RB Adam Hine on if he feels like this finally his year to contribute:

"I feel like wherever they have me, I'm gonna do my best to contribute. If it's just on special teams or if it's running the ball; that's my expectation always, to contribute."

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QB Taysom Hill on the biggest difference from last year's offensive coaching to this season:

"I would say maybe the biggest difference that's noticeable is the expectation. I think Coach Anae has big expectations for us as an offense the thing I really love about Coach Anae is we'll have a good practice, then the expectation is that tomorrow we go out and do better than we did today. We'll continue to reach higher and higher."

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Mendenhall was asked if he saw any benefit to DE Bronson Kaufusi having played basketball for BYU after the 2012 football season's conclusion, and he said "285 pounds, and he runs like a deer, so basketball probably had something to do with that."

Mitch Mathews memorably performed in a pregame dunk exhibition before the BYU-Gonzaga game last season, and I asked him if he ever teases Kaufusi about hoops coach Dave Rose having picked the wrong football player to cross over. Mathews said "if I ever got on the court with Bronson, he'd fold me in half and dunk me. That's why I don't step on the floor with those guys."

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Mendenhall says "While Kyle (Van Noy) is out, probably the most impressive defensive player to this point in camp has been (OLB) Alani Fua...possibly there might be a way that we put Spencer (Hadley), Kyle and Alani all on the field at the same time."

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Outside linebackers coach Kelly Poppinga and his wife Rebekah welcomed the birth of a third daughter on Wednesday; Mendenhall said Van Noy "stepped in and coached the outside backers."

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BYU will hold a public practice and scrimmage Saturday morning at LaVell Edwards Stadium (10:00 a.m.); Mendenhall says the objectives will be "talent evaluation, get some depth established, and then some scheme evaluation."

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