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After what he called a "great" Monday morning practice, BYU head football coach Bronco Mendenhall looked ahead to his team's Friday night season-opener at Connecticut, noting that "it's always difficult to tell exactly where you are going into the opener."
Reflecting on last season's 19-16 loss at Virginia to start the season, Mendenhall said "I was shocked that we didn't score a bunch of points in our opener last year, based on how our offense had moved it against our defense."
"I'm more cautious," said Medenhall on Monday, "and maybe less accepting of exactly what I see and then trying to predict what that will really look like."
"In the opener, there is always uncertainty, and I think that's the takeaway. I didn't think there was much (uncertainty) a year ago, and there ended up being a lot."
BYU is 6-3 in season openers under Mendenhall; last year's loss at Virginia snapped a six-game season-opening win streak.
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Monday saw the release of BYU's game notes, including a depth chart (see below).
While the chart is official, it may not be permanent, relative to the starting lineups BYU will put on the field Friday in East Hartford.
"As of today, that's the depth chart," Mendenhall said after practice. "We'll see how it ends up by the time we play."
BYU DEPTH CHART - CONNECTICUT - FRIDAY, AUG. 25
QB: Taysom Hill/Christian Stewart
RB: Adam Hine/Algernon Brown
HB: Paul Lasike/Algernon Brown
WR: Mitch Mathews/Kurt Henderson
WR: Jordan Leslie/Ross Apo OR Keanu Nelson
SLOT: Terenn Houk/Colby Pearson
TE: Devin Mahina/Bryan Sampson
LT: Ului Lapuaho/Brad Wilcox
LG: Kyle Johnson OR Edward Fusi
C: Terrance Alletto OR Tejan Koroma
RG: Brayden Kearsley OR Tuni Kanuch
RT: DeOndre Wesley OR Brock Stringham
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LE:Graham Rowley/Tomasi Laulile
NT: Travis Tuiloma/Logan Taele
RE: Remington Peck/Tanner Balderree
SLB: Alani Fua/Fred Warner
MLB: Zac Stout/Harvey Langi OR Austin Heder
BLB: Manoa Pikula/Jheremmya Leuta-Douyere
WLB: Bronson Kaufusi/Michael Alisa OR Troy Hinds
FC: Jordan Johnson/Michael Davis
BC: Rob Daniel/Jordan Preator
Kat: Dallin Leavitt/Kai Nacua
Free: Craig Bills/Skye PoVey
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PK: Trevor Samson
P: Scott Arellano
LS: Kevin O'Mary
H: Scott Arellano
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PR: Jordan Leslie OR Keanu Nelson
KR: Adam Hine and Paul Lasike
--
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With regards to the offensive line, Mendenhall referenced the number of either/or assignments, and said that "I'd love one or two or three to of those 'ORs' to come off by Friday, if possible. Hopefully I can get (ten offensive linemen) down to about eight, once a couple of those 'ORs' go off. I don't think we need ten; I hope we don't."
"I'd be leery of the two-deep, and say 'that's Monday's depth chart.' I'm not promising that's going to be Friday night's depth chart."
Mendenhall did acknowledge that true freshman Tejan Koroma "probably will be" BYU's starting center on Friday night.
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About the Huskies, who opened last season 0-9 before winning their last three games of the 2013 campaign, Mendenhall said "it's hard to say" what to expect from them on Friday.
"They finished on a strong note," said Mendenhall. "(They have a) brand new (coaching) staff on both sides of the ball. What that will look like, in terms of chemistry, in terms of effort, in terms of what they do with personnel, even with schemes, it's hard to know."
"That makes me more reserved also, in terms of predicting the opener. They're certainly capable; I've seen their personnel. I think the focus has to go more back to us, because we can control that. I'm not quite sure what we'll see from them."
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BYU will hold two more in-state practices before leaving for Connecticut on Wednesday--an extra day earlier than for previous Mendenhall-led trips to the Eastern time zone.
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You can hear post-practice interviews with Mendenhall, WR Ross Apo and RB Adam Hine, in "Cougar Cuts," top left.