Camp Cougar, Day 13

BYU on Friday night held its second training camp scrimmage--an exercise that actually produced fewer points than the first scrimmage six days ago, but had head coach Bronco Mendenhall optimistic about a team he said is "more explosive, faster, and more dynamic" than previous versions.

The offense accounted for two touchdowns and a field goal in 12 series. The estimated LaVell Edwards Stadium crowd of 12,000 fans saw quarterback Taysom Hill lead seven series, with backup Christian Stewart getting five sets of snaps.

Hill threw a 21-yard touchdown pass to Kurt Henderson on his second series of the night; his other six series ended in five punts and an interception.

Stewart ran in for a two-yard score and led a field goal-scoring drive. His remaining three series ended in two punts and an interception.

"Certainly (we have) a ways to go on consistency," said Mendenhall of the uneven offensive outing. "Being penalty-free, sustaining drives...those kinds of things can be worked on. In terms of having enough tools to work with, that's really clear to me."

"We were too sloppy offensively," said Hill after the scrimmage. "I was disappointed in the way that we played as a whole...I wasn't as sharp as I needed to be."

At one stage of the scrimmage, the Hill-Stewart alternating-series pattern was interrupted as Hill led the offense in three consecutive series. Asked if it was he or the coaches that prompted the modification, he said "it was a combination of both." All three series ended in punts.

"Just not enough guys making plays when we needed it," said Hill, who added that he's "not overly worried," with the season opener at UConn only two weeks away.

"We're really good offensively. Our defense played really well (tonight). We'll come back and I've got no worries coming into UConn. We'll come in and we'll be sharp."

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Backup QB Stewart was sharp enough for Mendenhall to say that the understudy's play "might have been the brightest spot from today."

The coach said he turned to one of his staffers during the scrimmage to remark that "'Christian is going to be really good,' that means as our backup quarterback, knowing the way teams are going to come after Taysom and the volume (of plays) he's going to take."

"I feel a lot better now, after what I saw from Christian tonight."

Asked if he could envision a scenario in which Stewart might play in the season opening game, Mendenhall said "probably not."

"A lot of it just depends on how the game goes," Mendenhall said. "That's really hard to predict. My intent is to have Taysom go as long as he can go...that's within reason. If he's exhausted, if he's beat up, if he's tired, if there's a huge lead maybe or a huge deficit, possibly then Stewart...but probably not from the beginning in terms of 'he'll get the third series,' or 'he'll get a series in the third quarter,' something like that. I don't see that happening."

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After the first scrimmage of camp, Mendenhall judged the offense to have "won the day," if only barely (the offense scored three touchdowns in 13 series).

On Friday night, he said the defense held the edge, "if you base it off of points scored."

"While there were glimpses of the explosiveness of our offense, ultimately the defense made enough stops to keep points off the board."

The evening's two interceptions were recorded by Garrett Juergens (off Hill) and Michael Alisa (off Stewart).

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Kicker Trevor Samson made a 30-yard field goal during the live scrimmage; in a special-teams segment afterward, he was good from 28, 36, 43 and 48 yards, while also missing from 48. He also made his lone PAT try.

Moose Bingham hit from 28, 36 and 43 yards, but missed his longer attempts. He was 1-for-1 on PATs.

Kickoff-return tandems were Adam Hine and Paul Lasike, backed up by Devon Blackmon and Jordan Leslie. Both Hine and Blackmon muffed and recovered kickoffs.

The punt-returners on Friday were Blackmon, Keanu Nelson and Michael Shelton. All punts (from Scott Arellano and Chasen Brown) were handled cleanly.

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Mendenhall and Hill mentioned the numerous penalties that slowed down the offense and created a sort of choppy evening overall. At one stage of the scrimmage, Hill was penalized for softly flipping the ball at an opponent, while later, freshman center Tejan Koroma was ejected for consecutive personal foul and unsportsmanlike conduct infractions on the same play.

I was told by a player that he believed the officials were brought in from the Big 12; Mendenhall said he "asked them to call it exactly as they would in their first game, and they took that literally."

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A number of would-be starters or projected members of the two-deep did not play in the scrimmage; among them were WR Ross Apo, OL Brayden Kearsley, OL Tuni Kanuch, NT Travis Tuiloma, NT Marques Johnson, NT Kesni Tausinga, LB Alani Fua, LB Bronson Kaufusi, LB Manoa Pikula, LB Harvey Langi, S Skye PoVey and CB Rob Daniel.

Mendenhall said any players held out were dealing with "some form of bump or bruise"; he said only WR Nick Kurtz (foot fracture) is a long-term injury casualty from camp.

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Some of the highlight plays on Friday night included a couple of nice first-down gaining catch-and-run efforts from Jamaal Williams, a 25-yard Williams run, a 41-yard Adam Hine scamper, a 29-yard catch-and-run burst from Trey Dye, a 21-yard take-off from Hill, and a long Blackmon haul-in from Stewart.

"We have enough running backs to give the football to, that's clear," said Mendenhall. "The quarterbacks are very mobile, and (we have) more speed at receiver."

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Noting that some projected front-liners were not playing on Friday night, here are my depth-chart observations. As always, keep in mind that receiver positions are subject to the most variance. More than 11 positions are listed on offense, accounting for different formation requirements.

QB: Taysom Hill/Christian Stewart

RB: Adam Hine/Nate Carter

RB: Jamaal Williams/Algernon Brown (no carries for Paul Lasike on Friday)

Inside WR: Jordan Leslie/Terenn Houk or Keanu Nelson

Inside WR: Trey Dye/Jake Ziolkowski or Mitchell Juergens

Outside WR: Devon Blackmon/Colby Pearson

Outside WR: Mitch Mathews/Kurt Henderson

TE: Devin Mahina/Bryan Sampson

LT: Brad Wilcox/Ryker Mathews

LG: Kyle Johnson/Solomone Kafu/Chase Larsen or Parker Dawe

C: Tejan Koroma or Edward Fusi or Terrance Alletto

RG: Brock Stringham or Terrance Alletto/Manu Mulitalo or Chase Larson/Parker Dawe

RT: DeOndre Wesley/Quinn Lawlor

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LE: Remington Peck/Tomasi Laulile/Bracken El-Bakri

NT: Logan Taele/Theodore King/Jaterrius Gulley

RE: Graham Rowley/Tanner Balderee/Adam Ingersoll

OLB: Fred Warner or Jheremmya Leuta-Douyere/Jordan Egbert or Tyler Cook

ILB: Zac Stout/Toloa'i Ho Ching or Sione Takitaki

ILB: Austin Heder/Jheremmya Leuta-Douyere/Teu Kautai/Va'a Niumatalolo

OLB: Michael Alisa/Troy Hinds/DJ Doman

CB: Jordan Preator/Michael Shelton/Garrett Juergens

S: Craig Bills/Harvey Jackson/Grant Jones

S: Kai Nacua/Chris Badger/Kavika Fonua

CB: Michael Davis/Trent Trammell/Jordan Johnson

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PK: Trevor Samson or Moose Bingham

P: Scott Arellano/Chasen Brown

PR: Keanu Nelson or Devon Blackmon or Michael Shelton

KR: Adam Hine and Paul Lasike

DS: Kevin O'Mary/Chase Larson

H: Scott Arellano

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SCRIMMAGE STATS

(unofficial; passing/receiving yardages may not match precisely)

PASSING

Hill: 9-for-18, 89 yds, TD, INT

Stewart: 11-for-16, 128 yds, INT

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RUSHING

Williams: 7 att, 42 yds

Stewart: 7 att, 20 yds, TD

Carter: 6 att, 33 yds

Hine: 4 att, 59 yds

Hill: 4 att, 23 yds

Brown: 3 att, 9 yds

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RECEIVING

Blackmon: 5 rec, 47 yds

Henderson: 3 rec, 33 yds, TD

Pearson: 3 rec, 17 yds

Dye: 1 rec, 29 yds

Nelson: 1 rec, 10 yds

Leslie: 1 rec, 4 yds

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The next scheduled media-observation and interview periods are scheduled for Tuesday morning.

You can hear post-scrimmage interviews from Friday night in "Cougar Cuts," top left.

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