BYU's secondary situation gets primary camp focus

Heading into spring ball, BYU first-year defensive coordinator and secondary coach Nick Howell thought his cornerback spot had never looked better.

Field corner Jordan Johnson was returning for his junior season after breaking up 15 passes in 12 starts last year. Junior college transfer Trent Trammell was expected to immediately compete and likely replace Preston Hadley at boundary corner. Football/baseball cross-over Jacob Hannemann was penciled in to push for playing time. Veteran corner/safety combo players Mike Hague and Skye PoVey were projected to contribute, juco recruit Sam Lee boosted corner depth, while freshman Dallin Leavitt was another standout addition from the recruiting Class of 2013.

"We, I believe, had more depth than BYU has ever had at corner," said Howell this week. "Healthy bodies, good players...and now, things change fast, so you've gotta adjust on the fly and you've gotta go--that's what happens."

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What happened was this:

Trammell tore an ACL on the first day of spring practices; surgery ended his season before it began.

Johnson tore his ACL on Monday of this week; he will undergo surgery and is also out for the season.

Hannemann was drafted by the Chicago Cubs and earned a million-dollar signing bonus. He left the sport of football and moved into the outfield for the Cubs' minor-league affiliate in Boise.

Hague suffered an IT (knee) band injury and has been thus far held out of live action in camp.

PoVey continues to recover from 2012's foot-injury issues and and has been off-and-on in camp.

Lee injured his back before camp began, and is expected out until up to the third game of the 2013 season.

Leavitt showed well in the first week of camp, only to strain his hip flexor early this week; he's supposed to be back by early next week.

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After the injury to Trammell, coaches brought in late signee and JC transfer Rob Daniel, and as of today, he's an opening-game starter at field corner. Following the Johnson injury, WR Eric Thornton was moved over to corner, and he is quickly learning the defensive ropes in an effort to contribute.

For Howell, it's all hands on the defensive deck.

"Those guys, they love Jordan, I love Jordan, and he loves us and he knows we've gotta move on," Howell said on Wednesday. "Our mindset is, we're getting ready for the fight and...we're gonna walk out there and fight. We'll be ready, i can guarantee you that."

With Leavitt currently on the sidelines, Howell says he would start Daniel Sorensen and Craig Bills at safety, with Daniel at field corner and PoVey on the boundary.

"I think Skye has a lot of experience," said Howell, "and Dallin is coming along--not that it can't change, but I would see Dallin right behind Skye,"

As Hague gets closer to readiness, he will be able to step in at either corner or safety, and that goes for PoVey, too.

"The way that I see it right now is that those guys can play all five positions (including nickel)," says Howell, "and I tell them that every day. You've gotta be ready to play any position at any time."

"I trust those guys wholeheartedly with anything, and they try hard, they know exactly what to do...so to say 'where are we going to put them?'...it could be a number of combinations of different guys in different places."

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Thornton, meantime, was making camp noise as a reliable slot receiver who had already come up with a number of acrobatic and tough-minded catches and put himself solidly in the two-deep inside.

Thornton said he was surprised with the request that he switch sides of the ball, but the sophomore with "quick-twitch, change-of-direction recovery speed" has already impressed his new position coach.

"It's not in concrete yet," said Howell, "but from what I've seen in two days, if he were playing corner and I was recruiting him, he has everything that I would look for to recruit a guy."

"His zero-to-60 speed is really fast; he's aggressive, and he's really smart. I think he can pick it up...so that will provide some help for us right there."

Howell says Thornton's willingness to switch over is indicative of "what anyone on our team would do. You ask Cody Hoffman; he would come over. I think if you asked Kyle Van Noy to play quarterback, he would do it."

"Our team is very unselfish; they're really mature and this is a team game. It takes all 22 guys and we put our best product on the field--that's our team's mindset right now."

Howell says for Thornton, "it's cramming for a final. It's staying late, coming early, it's him living off his iPad when he's away from me--all the information that I need him to see. And then when he's with me, I've gotta put all my attention on him."

"The lights are gonna be on in the DB room here 'til late for the next couple of weeks, and we're gonna get ready. We're gonna be ready, we're going to play good...we're gonna play great and we're just going to get those guys ready, so I'm confident."

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In 2012, with Johnson and Hadley manning the corners, BYU was third in FBS total defense, 10th in pass yards allowed and 19th in pass efficiency defense. Having now lost six starters from last season's group, and dealing with personnel attrition in the defensive backfield, BYU probably has some observers wondering if the Cougars can approximate 2012's defensive performance in 2013.

Howell would (calmly) bristle at such a suggestion.

"The expectations to play defense here aren't going to change with anything," Howell said this week. "They're just going to keep going up--no matter who it is. We expect to play great--not good, great--and we expect our guys to make plays and we expect to win."

"There is no other expectation, so that's what we train them for and that's what we're going to get. I hope (Thornton) is ready. I hope he's really good and he can go out there and intercept five passes for us. I hope the best. I hope he's awesome, because that helps our team--that's my mindset."

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