- Cougarsportsline - mailman.xmission.com

Cougar Sportsline, Vol. 28, Issue 11
by hb arnett 15 Oct '07

15 Oct '07

HB Arnett's COUGAR SPORTSLINE 801 372 0819 hbarnett(a)fiber.net and hbarnett@xmission <mailto:hbarnett@xmission.com> PO Box 50424 Provo, Utah 84605 Vol. 28, Issue 11, October 15, 2007 Click <http://www.cougarstreet.com/products/index.php?type-450&PCID=450:0:0:0:0> Here To Order Or Renew Your Subscriptions As a subscriber, you are allowed to access our new blog. You can view it by going to www.cougarsportsline.blogspot.com <http://www.cougarsportsline.blogspot.com/> Just a reminder that we are now sending the newsletter via two separate email accounts to help solve distribution issues that many subscribers experienced last year. That means you may receive two identical letters. If that is the case, please just discard the extra. We Love It When History Helps And We Only Have To Cut And Paste As it says at the top of this week's newsletter, this is our eleventh issue of the current publishing year. It will cover the football game played last Saturday, Oct. 13 between BYU and UNLV. Don't ask us how or why, but before we even started to write this week's issue early this morning, we accidentally accessed our eleventh issue of 2005. It reported on the BYU vs. CSU game played on Oct 15 of that year. It was a Twilight Zone moment. Reading what we wrote almost exactly two years ago was eerie and made this week's writing easy. At least for a few paragraphs, all we had to do was cut and paste the name of Max Hall for John Beck and Harvey Unga for Curtis Brown. We didn't even have to alter the score. Both games were 24-14 wins for the Cougars. The original was written during Bronco Mendenhall's first year as BYU's head coach. It was a season in which he finished with a 6-6 record and furnished big promises of future success. Based on the context of two games almost exactly two years apart and the identical scores, we think this gives a good barometer on Bronco and his ability to back up what he promised. Here is an excerpt of what we wrote in 2005. We only had to add a few different names and statistics. PATIENCE AND POUNDING THE FOOTBALL PRODUCE 24-14 WIN OVER CSU (UNLV) The perception of BYU as a passing football team is not inaccurate. There have been enough numbers put up this season by John Beck (Max Hall) and company to validate that assessment. In BYU's 24-14 win over Colorado State (UNLV) last Saturday night in Provo (Las Vegas), perception took a one-night sabbatical to production and pounding the football. Somewhere in that alliteration you also need to add patience. Behind the 31 (25) carries for 147 (177) yards and two (one) touchdown of Curtis Brown (Harvey Unga) and the 274 (227) yards rushing the ball put up by the BYU ground game, the Cougars literally pounded the Rams (Rebels) into submission and their first (second) conference loss of the season. BYU now improves to 3-3 (4-2) on the year and 2-2 (3-0) in conference play. The Cougar football team (2005) is a lot like living in Laramie only at the other end of the spectrum. Living in Laramie isn't the end of the world, but you can see it from there. BYU's sudden surge of 2 consecutive wins doesn't mean that that the football program (2005) has revived itself to its former level of success, but at least now we can catch a glimpse of the end that Bronco Mendenhall continue to say he has in mind for this team. Improving It is obvious that both the team and coaching staff are improving. We were pleasantly surprised that the coaches had the patience to stick with the running game. We were also delighted to see that the runnig game could be executed so consistently and proficiently. The play of Brown (Unga) and his running mate Fahu Tahi (Manase Tonga), who had 14 (10) carries for 86 (36) yards, was good. Even better was the play of the Cougar offensive line. The ground game produced early and often and more importantly, they produced late and under pressure, when first downs and touchdowns were needed to secure the win. As good as BYU ground game was, however, a little caveat is in order. BYU still needs to be able to pass the football, because the numbers against CSU (UNLV) should not be used to judge how BYU will rush the ball against other teams. Okay, let's fast forward two years to the UNLV victory last Saturday night. The Cougars were on the verge of a major computer crash against UNLV. They had turned the ball over three times in the first half and were nursing a 7-6 lead at the intermission. When a passing and pass protection program isn't working properly, it is time to shut it down and reboot in a safe mode. That is exactly what BYU offensive coaches did in the second half. The restarted the offensive program in a safe mode. It allowed the offensive tackles of BYU to be able to retreat and forget the fact that they haven't been able to handle any speed rusher they have seen this year. Instead, they were able to play to their strengths instead of their weaknesses and start pushing people off the line of scrimmage and opening huge holes for BYU running backs to run through. The running game employed by BYU in the final two quarters also gave Max Hall some time to reboot. Home Town Honks The redshirt sophomore has been extremely good for his first season, but even the home-town honks would have to acknowledge that he struggled throwing the ball against Vegas. He was 21-33 for just 214 yards and one touchdown. More poignantly, he had three picks, all of which cost the Cougars three scores. Hall has now thrown 8 interceptions on the year. More are on the way. Don't panic. We didn't write this, but we did find it in the statistical archives of BYU football. Ty Detmer threw 28 intercetions in 1990. Steve Young had 18 picks in 1982. Robbie Bosco was intercepted 24 times in 1985. Don't expect Hall to be anywhere near that neighborhood this season. The difference is that he has a running game to bail him out when the passing is not as pure as it should be. While the Cougar running game garnered the headlines in this win for BYU, it was the defense that did the dirty work that went mostly unnoticed. UNLV was having success this season running the ball with their talented back Frank Summers gaining 100 plus yards in each of his last three games. BYU put a stop to that streak, holding Summers to just 50 yards on 13 carries. Taking a step back to what we wrote before, in Vol. 27, Issue 34 which was published after one week of spring football this past April, here is what we said about Unga. A lot of names have surfaced in this first week as potential running back candidates for the fall. They are all just background noise. Harvey Unga, who is still being held out of full contact, will be the primary ball carrier for the BYU offense this coming fall. Most people have no idea just how good he is. He will be a redshirt freshman. His size to speed ratio is outstanding. He is the real deal. In case you forgot, he was injured his hip against Boston College last season while playing special teams. All of which made us shiver when we saw him on some special teams situations this past week. Trust us that won't last long. Despite what transpires during the next few weeks of spring drills, when fall comes around and BYU lines up against the Wildcats of Arizona on Sep 1 in Provo, Unga will be on his way to becoming BYU's leading rusher for the 2007 season. For those keeping track, Unga is on track to be a 1000-yard rusher for the Cougars this year. At the mid way point of the season with six games played and another six yet to be contested, Unga has rushed for 539 yards on 110 carries. He is averaging 89.8 yards per game and 4.9 yards per rush. With the win over UNLV, BYU has solidified its role as MWC front runner and the odds on favorite to repeat as league champ. They are currently 4-2 overall and 3-0 in league play. EWU Better Than A Bye No disrespect to the Eastern Washington Eagles. They will be in town this Saturday afternoon to face BYU in LaVell Edwards Stadium. They are playing well and hold a 4-2 record. They are averaging 34 points per game and putting up almost 500 yards of offense per contest. Their two losses have been by a total of 8 points. In one of those losses to Montana, they out gained the Grizzlies 565 yards to 289 yards and still lost 24-23. They are a balanced offense and seem to move the ball well passing and running. The point we want to make is that EWU is a good Division I-AA team. To be more accurate, they are a good Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) team. Based on BYU's current three-game winning streak against MWC opponents, the Cougars appear to be a pretty decent Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) club. There is a huge difference between the two classifications and it should be readily apparent on Saturday when the two teams collide. It was just a few weeks ago that Appalachian State, another I-AA or FCS team shocked Michigan in Ann Arbor. Don't expect a repeat of that upset in Provo. EWU doesn't have the kind of team speed that Appalachian State displayed against the Wolverines. For BYU this game is better than a bye. It is the best of both worlds for Bronco Mendenhall. He can play his first units on both sides of the ball for two quarters to allow them to stay sharp and work on specific aspects of their game that he deems necessary. He can even rest and not play personnel that are still dinged up. Best of all, he should get the chance to play second and third unit players for at least two quarters and reward them for their hard work all fall. It will allow him to acknowledge those players for their full investment in the program with a payout in playing time. We will let you call the score on this one because nobody knows how many minutes BYU starters will log or how intensely BYU backups will play. We will simply call it a BYU win. The only way the Cougars lose in this one is if a key player goes down with an injury. FOOTBALL FLUFF AND STUFF In the past we have criticized Bryce Mahuika for a non-descript career as a kick and punt returner. He was anything but non-descript last Saturday against UNLV. He had his career-best outing against the Rebels. He returned four kickoffs for 104 yards and put the Cougars in good field position on each kick. UNLV punted five times during the game, but Mahuika fielded just one for a fair catch. C.J. Santiago and BYU punted just once during the contest. The punt was 37 yards. There certainly weren't any style points awarded for BYU's field goal and point after attempts. All were successfully made by Mitch Payne, but they were anything but artistic or airborne. We still maintain that the BYU kicking game at its present level, will likely cost the Cougars a win this season. As good as Harvey Unga has proved to be this season, he may end up hurting BYU in the recruitment of running backs this season. If you were somebody like Sausan Shakerin, whom BYU has offered, would you want to come and play for a team that will have a premier and go-to back for the next three seasons? That is why the Adam Timo's early commitment is so valuable. The junior tailback from Snow Canyon HS in St. George has already said that he will be signing with the Cougars in 2009. That puts a minimum of two years between Timo and Unga in eligibility. Throw in a redshirt year for Timo and a potential LDS mission and the two talented tailbacks could never even cross paths at BYU. Timo rushed for over 200 yards in each of his last two games. We should have never said never. That is what we thought about Matangi Tonga. We never thought he would be back in the BYU football program after some serious off-the-field problems last year. It now appears that if all goes well for the sophomore defensive tackle, he will be back on the Cougar roster this coming January. Tonga is currently enrolled as a student at UVSC and apparently is on track to resolve all of his legal problems. GLOSSY IS GOOD, BUT BEATING UTAH IS BETTER Sooner or later, the message is received by all BYU coaches. Regardless of how you paint your program, you eventually have to prove that you can beat Utah. For the most part, when it comes to coaching, we have laid off the women's side of the BYU athletic equation. Now it is time to take on soccer. Let's start with the positives. BYU has established a very good women's soccer program. They are perennially a contender for the league title and almost annually get an invite to the NCAA post season tournament. The coach, Jennifer Rockwood, has an amazing coaching record. She is currently 204-62-20 in her career at BYU. She has earned many conference and national accolades for her program. She almost always has her team nationally ranked. You can't ask for more. Well actually you can. You can ask that she beat Utah and the Ute's coach Rich Manning. Manning was hired at Utah in January of 2002. Since an initial loss to BYU in his inaugural season and before he could recruit and get his system in place, he has dominated the Cougars. Even when it appears that BYU has superior talent, they can't whip the Manning coached Utes. In six seasons Manning is 4-2-1 against the Cougars. In the last three years, he has not lost to BYU. The latest loss came in Provo Saturday night. BYU was ranked No. 15 in the nation by Soccer Times and undefeated on the season with an 11-0-2 record. The Utes were 9-2-3 on the year. They came away with a 1-0 win. It only took Bronco Mendenhall one loss to Utah during his first season on the job to draw criticism for losing to the Utes. Dave Rose figured it out very early in basketball. Since Manning took over the Utes five years ago, maybe it is time BYU administrators and fans finally started to pay attention to how he has manhandled the Cougars. TELEVISION TIMETABLE BYU vs. Eastern Washington Saturday, Oct. 20 at Provo Kickoff: 3:30 Mountain Time TV: Mtn BYU vs. San Diego State Saturday, Oct. 27 at San Diego Kickoff: 7:30 Mountain Time TV: Mtn BYU vs. Colorado State Saturday, Nov. 3 at Provo Kickoff: Noon Mountain Time TV: Mtn

1 0

Cougar Sportsline, Vol. 28, Issue 10
by hb arnett 08 Oct '07

08 Oct '07

1 0

Cougar Sportsline, Vol. 28, Issue.9
by hb arnett 01 Oct '07

01 Oct '07

1 0

Cougar Sportsline, Vol. 28, Issue 8
by hb arnett 24 Sep '07

24 Sep '07

1 0

Cougar Sportsline, Vol. 28, Issue 7
by hb arnett 16 Sep '07

16 Sep '07

1 0

Cougar Sportsline, Vol. 28, Issue 6
by hb arnett 10 Sep '07

10 Sep '07

1 0

Cougar Sportsline, Vol. 28, Issue 5
by hb arnett 03 Sep '07

03 Sep '07

HB Arnett's COUGAR SPORTSLINE 801 372 0819 hbarnett(a)fiber.net and hbarnett@xmission <mailto:hbarnett@xmission.com> PO Box 50424 Provo, Utah 84605 Vol. 28, Issue 5, September 3, 2007 Click <http://www.cougarstreet.com/products/index.php?type-450&PCID=450:0:0:0:0> Here To Order Or Renew Your Subscriptions As a subscriber, you are allowed to access our new blog. You can view it by going to www.cougarsportsline.blogspot.com <http://www.cougarsportsline.blogspot.com/> Just a reminder that we are now sending the newsletter via two separate email accounts to help solve distribution issues that many subscribers experienced last year. That means you may receive two identical letters. If that is the case, please just discard the extra. HALL AND UNGA ROUT AND RATE IN 20-7 WIN OVER ARIZONA It really was as easy as it looked. With questions galore surrounding this 2007 BYU football team, the Cougars had most of the answers in a 20-7 opening day win over the Arizona Wildcats last Saturday afternoon in LaVell Edwards Stadium. Was Max Hall going to be as good as the hype that has trailed the redshirt sophomore for the past two years since he arrived on the BYU campus? So far, so good. He didn't have a top-ten passing performance against UA, but it was good enough to get your attention, when considering the opening performances of the pantheon of past BYU quarterbacks. Completing 26-39 passes for 288 yards, 2 touchdowns and no picks, was a pretty commercial outing for a BYU quarterback, but it definitely ranks in the top ten of opening debuts for a Cougar signal caller. Can he get better? You bet. That was the beauty of it all. Hall has plenty of room for improvement, but he also appears to have plenty of ability to do just that. Geographically Good? We watched Harvey Unga play in high school. There was no question that he definitely passed the Timpview test when he prepped for the Thunderbirds. We heard rumblings from BYU coaches on how special Unga was projected to be, but we also heard rumblings from Cougar fans who wondered just how good can a Utah County running back really be? Geographically speaking, he is very, very good. The redshirt freshman rushed for 67 yards on just 15 carries. He also caught 9 passes out of the backfield for 127 yards. Did we mention that he also scored two touchdowns? That was two more than any tailback from Tucson. While Unga's rushing numbers weren't staggering, it was impressive. There were numerous times when he was just a half step away from breaking off some serious runs. Arizona's defense is very good and loaded with some big-time athletes. The same can be said about UCLA's defense. Once Unga and BYU get back to Mountain West Conference defenses, we expect much bigger numbers from him. His rushing yardage should be special. Give him another year under his belt and his numbers could not only someday be special, but maybe Staleyesque. More Impressive As impressive as the numbers were for Hall and Unga in their first official Cougar outing, here is a number that is even more impressive. The BYU offensive line allowed only one clear shot at Hall from the Wildcat defense. That was when All-American Antoine Cason came off a corner blitz in the first quarter. Other than that, BYU's offensive front played extremely well in allowing a Cougar running game to materialize and a pass rush on Hall to evaporate. This was a very good UA defense that BYU was able to move the ball against. The BYU defense also turned in a nice performance. They totally dominated the Arizona offense. They only allowed a total of 255 yards of offense to the Wildcats and only three first downs until the start of the fourth quarter. While he didn't have any sacks, we were impressed with the outside speed rush of Chris Bolden. BYU has not had a speed rush option in their defense for as long as we can remember. Overall it was a nice get-out-of-the-gate performance by the Cougars. Concern There was one area of concern, however. BYU's special teams play was spotty and the Cougar kicking game was extremely shaky. Adjustments and improvements have to be made in these areas, or it will come back to cost the Cougars some wins. With the win over the Wildcats, Bronco Mendenhall now has won his first opening game since taking over the BYU program. Bronco's Borg Assimilates Arizona's Offense According to Wikipedia, the on-line interactive dictionary, BYU's defense and the Borg, have a lot in common. Here is the Wikipedia definition of the Borg: The Borg are a race of cyborgs in the fictional Star Trek universe, first introduced in the Star Trek: The Next Generation TV series. They are characterized by relentless pursuit of targets for assimilation, their collective consciousness that enables rapid adaptability to almost any defense, and the ability to continue functioning properly despite seemingly devastating blows. They have become a powerful symbol in popular culture for any juggernaut against whom, "resistance is futile." Here is the Cougar Sportsline definition of the BYU defensive effort against Arizona and any and all other offenses BYU has faced since Bronco Mendenhall buried his 3-3-5 baby a year ago: Bronco's Borg is a roster of defensive players that exhibit maniacal effort, exactness of execution and mastery of assignments. They are characterized by the relentless pursuit of targets for assimilation, their collective consciousness that enables rapid adaptability to almost any offense, and the ability to continue at a high level of play despite seemingly devastating blows due to unexpected injuries to key players. They have become a powerful symbol in BYU lore for reflecting the personality of their defensive coordinator and head coach. Like The Borg, they are a defensive juggernaut against whom "resistance is futile." Latest Episode The latest episode of Bronco's Borg, which played out in LaVell Edwards Stadium last Saturday afternoon, saw BYU dominate Arizona with the final credits rolling on the scoreboard showing a 20-7 victory. For the Wildcats of Arizona, resistance really was futile. Just how futile, was exhibited in the stats of the first two quarters. Bronco's Borg held UA to just one first down and only 41 yards of total offense. Going into the fourth and final fifteen minutes, the BYU defense had only allowed 3 first downs. The fictional TV Borg is not known for their on-screen attractiveness and flashy facade. They just keep marching forward against any and all that opponents can throw against them. Ditto for the BYU defensive Borg. They don't have the most athletically attractive assets of speed, agility and strength, but like the Borg, the parts are interchangeable and they just keep coming after offensive foes. We admit that we didn't start out being a Star Trek fan when it first came on the air. It eventually grew on us. Past Issues You can go back and read issues of our newsletters for the past two seasons and document the fact that Bronco Mendenhall wasn't our defensive darling either. Jean Luc Picard and Star Trek was an acquired television taste and so were Mendenhall's defensive philosophies. We thought his mantras of "fully invested, band of brothers, higher bars etc, were more fantasy than football fundamentals. We were wrong. This third-year coach is obviously on to something real and rewarding for Cougar fans. As Arizona found out, so did we. "Resitance is futile." Count us on board with the Bronco Borg defensive show. While schemes and athletic abilities may be subject to debate and discussion, the scoreboard doesn't lie or light up. In almost three decades of doing this, we never thought we would ever use the term dominating defense and BYU in the same sentence. That is twice now that Bronco Mendenhall has proved us wrong. UCLA WILL BE A BETTER TEST Despite the decisive 20-7 win over Arizona, we really don't know much until we find out just how good or bad Arizona turns out to be. The same can be said for the Cougars' upcoming opponent. The UCLA Bruins are coming off a decisive win of their own. They slapped Stanford around last Saturday in Palo Alto. The final score was 45-17. The Bruins racked up 624 yards of offense against the Cardinal. What we don't know is if UCLA is that good or if Stanford is that bad. All of those questions should be answered next Saturday when the Cougars travel to the Rose Bowl to try and win their second game of the young season. The Bruins are a balanced offense that will test the BYU defense. Against Stanford, they rushed for 338 yards and passed for 286 yards. Those passing stats were accumulated by former BYU qb Ben Olson. He was 16-29 for 286 yards, five touchdowns and no interceptions. BYU's defense can give up those kind of passing numbers to Olson and still win this game, but only if they can control the ground game of UCLA. That will be the deciding factor here. BYU has to at least limit the effectiveness of the Bruins rushing attack. Conversely, they have to be able to maintain at least a threat of a ground game to have a chance in this game. We don't expect that to happen. We like UCLA in this spot and call the Bruins to put a damper on the early enthusiasm of this season. The early odds makers feel the same way, but they think the game will be more competitive. They have established UCLA as an 8.5 point favorite. The game will be televised live on the Versus network. Kickoff is set for 4:30 pm Mountain time. We call it UCLA 31 BYU 17. FOOTBALL FLUFF AND STUFF Final roster cuts for the NFL took place this past weekend. Only two BYU rookies made the grade. John Beck will be on the Miami Dolphins roster and Daniel Coats made the Cincinnati Bengals roster as a tight end. Cut were Zac Collie from the Eagles, Cam Jensen from the Seahawks, Jake Kuresa from the Saints, Curtis Brown from the Bengals and Jonny Harline from the Colts. Jacob Bower, the former BYU quarterback, who opted to transfer from the Cougar program last January, got his juco career off to a nice start at Bakersfield JC in California. The Renegades defeated Reedley JC and Bower threw for 436 yards in his first start. Two names that were on BYU's recruiting radar last year were Houston Cassita, a running back from Jordan HS, and Simi File, a big defensive nose guard from Cottonwood HS. Fili signed with Oklahoma State, but he and Cassita are currently on the roster of Eastern Arizona JC this season. Fili is listed at 379 pounds on the EA roster. Is Bronco Mendenhall mellowing with old age? We doubt it, but he has softened. We actually saw him smiling in the game against Arizona. Normally, nary a smile will cross his lips until the final second has ticked off the clock, but we did see a significant smile shared with his defensive players as they were coming off the field with just over a minute to go in the game against Arizona. What's next?. Will Mendenhall and Tom Kirkland, the host of the coach's show, share courtship stories on the air and both be seen smiling at each other? In recruiting reviews, junior running back Adam Timo of Snow Canyon HS in St. George, rushed for 91 yards on 22 carries this past Friday. Snow Canyon was defeated by Canyon Springs of Las Vegas 42-35. Timo has already committed to play for the Cougars and will sign with Bronco and BYU in 2009. Sausan Shakerin, the top running back is Utah, is still being recruited by BYU. Because of a knee injury, he has only played in two games, the most recent, a 28-12 win over Clovis East of California. Shakerin is not putting up big numbers, but is averaging around 70 yards per carry in his limited action. After an opening week of Mountain West Conference action, it looks like there might be some teams that were overrated and some that were underrated. Based on what we saw last weekend, we think there are two teams that likely won't win the conference title, certainly could determine who does. Colorado State and Wyoming appear to be much better teams than they were last season. It still looks like TCU and BYU will be the top dogs in league play, but either Wyoming or CSU could pull an upset against either team. Wyoming gets BYU in Laramie in November and TCU also must travel to Laramie for a game the first week in October. The Pokes thumped Virginia this past week in Laramie 23-3. Basketball Briefs The Tyler Haws recruiting sweepstakes is already starting to amp up. Haws is the 6-4 guard from Lone Peak HS in Highland, UT. He is already considered one of the premier shooting guards in the west for the class of 2009. Haws and his Lone Peak teammates dominated the Roy Williams North Carolina team tournament in June, but his play on the summer AAU circuit was limited because of a wrist injury. When he finally made an appearance in the Las Vegas Summer Classic in late July, he was spectacular. Haws averaged 35 points per game in Las Vegas. He is the real deal and the top recruiting priority for BYU and Utah. Dave Rose and Jim Boylen, the head coaches from both schools, were at all seven games Haws played in Las Vegas. The talented guard has already made several unofficial visits to both campuses. The latest we saw was when he was at BYU with his father, former BYU player, Marty Haws. BYU was practicing in the field house for their trip to France and Haws and his dad were seated in the field house stands observing practice. Every BYU coach, made a point to visit with the pair. You would expect it for coaches when they get a free and legal chance for contact with their top recruiting priority for 2009. You know it is a special recruit, however, when hugs were given the pair by the coach's wife during that same visit. Haws is also on the UCLA recruiting radar and on the verge of becoming a serious national caliber recruit. Many local Cougar fans have seen Haws play during the televised state playoffs in Utah last spring. Out of state fans can get a glimpse of him in December when Lone Peak will be in Albuquerque for the T-Mobile Invitational national high school tournament. The tourney will take place Dec. 28-29 and will be televised on the Versus network. In addition to La Cueva HS, the host team for the tourney, national powerhouse programs St. Anthony HS from New Jersey and Centennial HS from Roswell, GA., will participate. Here's a note from a subscriber who has been active on the local AAU basketball scene for the last few years and closely associated with the Utah Pump 'N Run team. He indicates that BYU may have a big-time sleeper on board with the commitment of Charles Abuou, the 6-5 wing from Logan HS. Here is what he said: "It should be noted that at two of the largest tournaments the Pump 'N Run attended this year, I was told by numerous coaches of opponents and observers from other teams alike that they felt that Charles Abouo was either the best player or at least one of the two best players in the whole tournament that they watched play. That is really saying something since the tournaments we are talking about had 172 teams in them! No one could tell who the 5-star recruit was versus a virtually unknown (Charles) when matched up against each other. The kid really has made great strides in his game and has what can't be coached...athleticism galore!" Abouo will play this coming season for Brewster Academy, a prep school in New Hampshire. TELEVISION TIMETABLE BYU vs. UCLA Saturday, Sept. 8 at Pasadena Kickoff: 4:30 pm Mountain Time TV: Versus Network BYU vs. Tulsa Saturday, Sept. 15 at Tulsa Kickoff: 7:00 pm Mountain Time TV: CSTV BYU vs. Air Force Saturday, Sept. 22 at Provo Kickoff: 1:00 pm Mountain Time TV: Mtn Network

1 0

Cougar Sportsline, Vol. 28, Issue 4
by hb arnett 27 Aug '07

27 Aug '07

HB Arnett's COUGAR SPORTSLINE 801 372 0819 hbarnett(a)fiber.net and hbarnett@xmission <mailto:hbarnett@xmission.com> PO Box 50424 Provo, Utah 84605 Vol. 28, Issue 4, August 27, 2007 Click <http://www.cougarstreet.com/products/index.php?type-450&PCID=450:0:0:0:0> Here To Order Or Renew Your Subscriptions BYU WILL NEED TO MANAGE ARIZONA GAME BYU coaches are not expecting Max Hall, BYU's new starting quarterback, to win the upcoming season opener against Arizona, when the Cougars open the year against the Wildcats in Provo, Saturday, Sept. 1. He is simply too green and inexperienced to make enough plays against a quality defense and do it all by himself. What coaches are expecting, however, is for Hall to not lose the game. That means he will be expected to protect the ball and give his teammates a legitimate chance to come away with a win. Hall is a gunslinger. He is used to being the big gun on the field. That is how he played in high school and how he has tried to play this fall. He is used to being a star that makes plays that lead to wins. We expect that same thing to happen at BYU, but not anytime soon and especially not in Hall's first two games against the legitimate Pac 10 defenses of Arizona and UCLA. If Hall was running the show, he would come out in full gunslinger mode. That is just who he is. He is not running the show. You can expect BYU coaches to put Hall's gun in the holster for the next two games. If you are hoping for a BYU offensive explosion coming out of the gate against Arizona, you will likely be disappointed. The NFL Way We expect Bronco Mendenhall and his staff to try and win this game the way most NFL coaching staffs do. They will try and win with field position, kicking and defense. It makes sense to us. The BYU defense is the strength of this team. Expect Mendenhall to try and let them win this game for him. Arizona returns 10 starters from a defense that held BYU in bay last year in Tucson and only allowed one touchdown. Yeah, we know that another touchdown was nullified by a suspect call by a Pac 10 crew, but in the books and on the scoreboard, BYU couldn't muster enough offense for a win. That was with John Beck, a seasoned and talented quarterback, who is now in the NFL. We would be surprised if Max Hall is allowed to throw the ball against Arizona more than 25 times. If he does throw it more than that, it will be because most of those throws will be while he is dumping the ball off to his running backs and adhering to the low risk, protect the ball mode Cougar coaches want. The BYU passing game will not be vertical against the Wildcat defense. Running Game For BYU to win they will have to have a productive outing from their running game. It will be required to take the opening game pressure off Hall and to create and maintain the field position that will be vital to producing a win. That means that Harvey Unga will have to live up to his preseason billing and Fui Vakapuna will have to be healthy enough to return to his early-season physical form of last year. Manase Tonga, a returning starter in the BYU backfield, will not play against UofA. He will be fulfilling his one-game suspension imposed by Mendenhall earlier this summer. While Hall's job is to protect the ball and not make any dumb decisions and ill-advised throws resulting in turnovers, it will be the job of Unga and Vakapuna to rush for at least 100 yards between them. If they can't, BYU can't win. We expect the Cougar defense to do their job. Arizona is bringing a new spread offense to Provo, but they are also bringing the same quarterbacks from last year to run that pass-happy offense. Scheme and Talent Despite some devastating injuries on the defensive side of the ball, BYU has a good enough scheme and enough talent defensively to disrupt this new Arizona scheme. We expect BYU's offense to do its job. They should be able to protect the ball and not commit an extraordinary amount of turnovers. They should have a good enough offensive line and running game to deflect the heat from Hall in his first outing. They should also be good enough to not lose the field position war between the two teams. The defense under Mendenhall is a proven commodity. Don't expect Arizona to light up the scoreboard with their new offense against this BYU unit. In the three-part formula for a win, the BYU offense should give the Cougars good field position and be able to run the ball enough to keep the clock running and the chances of a win real. The Cougar defense will give up an occasional big play to Arizona, but they won't allow them to run up and down the field. Kicking Game That leaves the BYU kicking game as the final piece of the game-plan puzzle. Winning the field position game requires that you have a decent-to-good punter. It also implies that you have a kicker that can give you decent field position on kickoffs. But most importantly, it implies that you have a consistent kicker that can make field goals from 40 yards in. We don't know if BYU has that and neither do the BYU coaches. C.J. Santiago will be the punter after transferring into the program this summer from Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, CA. Mitch Payne will handle the kicking duties. The redshirt freshman is the younger brother of former Cougar kicker Matt Payne. Quite frankly, the Cougar kicking game was spotty during fall camp. There was some improvement made in the late going of camp, but it should still be a concern for coaches. An even bigger concern should be how these two key guys perform when the "lights are on" and the game is on the line. Explosion With a new quarterback at the BYU helm going up against a veteran and talented Arizona defense, we would consider anything over 17 points, an offensive explosion for the Cougars. We expect this game to be a defensive battle and a game that will be decided by turnovers. While we expect this to be a defensive game, we also expect the BYU offense to shake the ground just enough to get a win. We call it BYU 20 Arizona 13. BINOCULAR BONUSES Most football fans focus on the ball when watching a game. Nothing wrong with that. Here are a few binocular bonuses that we suggest you watch and think will provide you with some insight to the match up this Saturday when Arizona comes to town to face BYU. Find Antoine Cason on the Arizona defense. He wears #5. See where he lines up and against whom. He is a legitimate lockdown corner for Arizona and a projected first round NFL draft pick for next April. Who he takes on will tell you whom the UofA defensive coaches want to take out of the game. We expect them to have Cason defending Austin Collie for most of the afternoon. Now find #32 for BYU on offense. That would be sophomore tight end Dennis Pitta. See how Arizona is going to match up with him. It should be interesting to see if they try to line up against him with a safety or linebacker. BYU is hoping this will be a season-long mismatch for defensive coordinators. They are assuming that because Pitta is 6-3, 250 pounds and can run and catch, that linebackers won't have the speed to cover him, and defensive backs won't have the size to win the one-on-one battles. Put your binoculars on wide angle when BYU is on offense and focus on the line of scrimmage. This is where the game will really be decided with the match up of the Cougar offensive line versus the Arizona defensive front. Seven or Eight We think you will be seeing at least seven, and maybe eight, future NFL draft picks battling against each other. BYU is thinking this is their most talented offensive line in some time. Arizona is banking on its defensive line's size and speed to wreak havoc with opponents. If BYU can run against this Arizona defensive front, they can run against anybody else on their schedule. The key for the BYU passing game will be the match up of BYU's two offensive tackles, Dallas Reynolds and David Oswald, against the outside speed rush of Wildcat defensive ends Louis Holmes and Jonathan Turner. These match ups won't show up on any highlight reels or news clips, but they will more than likely specifically determine the outcome of the contest. Here's another one. Look for #62 on BYU's defense. That is Eathyn Manumaluena, the true freshman nose guard. He is forced into play early in his career because of the devastating injury to Russell Tialavea. If you want to know how the untested freshman is performing, middle linebacker Kelly Poppinga will let you know. If Poppinga is making plays around the line of scrimmage, that means that Manumaluena is doing his job and plugging gaps and eating up blocks. If Poppinga is making most of his tackles downfield, it means that UofA offensive linemen are getting to the second level and getting a helmet on Poppinga. That will take him out of the action until he has to make tackles downfield after the Wildcats have picked up nice yardage. Recruiting Reality It is the nature of football recruiting that fans expect every BYU recruit to see action as a true freshman because of the talent they exhibited on high school playing fields. We all get caught up in the hype. It is good for selling subscriptions and keeping fan interest alive during the off season. The reality of recruiting, however, is that very few true freshmen contribute unless they have freakishly good abilities or freakishly bad depth charts forces them into action. Bronco Mendenhall is hoping that he eventually gets a handle on his depth chart and LDS missions so he doesn't have to play true freshmen. BYU's latest recruiting class is indicative of just how subjective the terms "Can't Miss" and "Four Star" really are. If was just a few months ago that Cougar fans were sure that at least four or five Cougar high school signees would be starting for BYU this fall. It comes with the fun of following recruiting, but it isn't reality, at least the way Mendenhall wants to make it. Here is the official signing list of BYU from last February and where they are now. This will give you a more accurate picture of the talent and time frame from which the Cougars have to work in recruiting. Famika Anae, OL...Will Serve LDS Mission before enrolling. David Angilau, DL...Will redshirt this season and be on Scout team Tyler Beck, LB...Good enough to make travel and special teams. Is a player. Brannon Brooks, DB...Will redshirt and participate on Scout team. Braden Brown, TE...Will Serve LDS Mission before enrolling. J.J. Di Luigi, RB...A can't miss, who is missing the year with foot injury. Even healthy, he would be a spot player this season. Will now redshirt. Scotty Ebert, DB...Didn't qualify academically and is now at Snow College. Kaneakua Friel, TE...Will redshirt and see scout team action. Austen Jorgensen, LB...Will play this season, but sparingly. Ryan Kessman, WR...Was an internet legend, but will now be a redshirt and scout team participant at BYU. Star Lotulelei, DL...Didn't qualify academically. Levi Mack, OL...Juco who is now injured and will redsirt. Devin Mahina, TE/DE...Will serve LDS mission first. Eathyn Manumaleuna, DL...Was just considered a throw in by recruiting pundits a few months ago, but now is the key guy of the entire class because he is the only one of the signees that will be a starter. That status was precipitated by injury, but he would have played this year anyway. Marcus Mathews, WR...Serving an LDS mission before enrolling. Jason Munns, QB...Big and talented, but will redshirt and qb the scout team. Gary Nagy, DB...Redshirting and on scout team. Jordan Pendleton, DB...Is on the depth chart because of rash of injuries to other safeties. G Pittman, DB...Will play because he has shown that he has the ability to play at this level without redshirting. Houston Reynolds, OL..Now serving LDS mission in Germany. Jordan Smith, WR...Could redshirt, but will dress early in season to see how receiver injuries shake out. Has some ability because of 6-4 size and speed. Steven Thomas, DB...Should redshirt, but still tentative because of DB fall camp injuries. Manaaki Vaitai, OL...Will redshirt. Aveni Leung Wai, LB...Is serving LDS mission first. Out of the 24 players BYU signed last February, only one will see significant minutes and six still have a chance to see spot action. Other scholarship players that will be redshirting this season include: Matt Reynolds, OL and Matt Putnam, DL. Walkons also redshirting include: Blake Morgan, Spencer Wolfley, Steve Fendry and Matt Shirley. Can't Help But Drool Despite the disclaimer that most of recruiting is hype and that at BYU recruiting is a four year wait because of missions, we still can't help our self. BYU commit Justin Sorensen, a kicker extraordinaire, hit field goals from 59 and 51 yards last week in a battle of the two top high school teams in Utah. Sorensen and Bingham defeated Alta and star running back Sausan Shakerin 23-20. Sorensen has a huge leg. Because he can put the ball out of the end zone on kickoffs, he will be a huge asset at the next level now that the NCAA has added an additional five yards to all kickoffs beginning this season. The ball will now be spotted at the 30-yard line instead of the 35-yard line for kickoffs. MOUNTAIN MESS...BIG HAT, NO CATTLE The Mountain Network is the perfect drug store cowboy. They are now wearing a big hat extolling MWC fans to call their satellite companies, but they still have no cattle or significant cable distribution in place. The talk and excuses are big, but without a satellite deal in place, the actual distribution of the Mtn network is small and limited. That means, barring a last-minute surprise, watching BYU football and basketball on TV for Cougar fans will be the same as it was last year. You can't watch the majority of BYU games unless you have access to the Mtn. TELEVISION TIMETABLE BYU vs. Arizona Saturday, Sept. 1 at Provo Kickoff: 3:30 pm, Mountain Time TV: Versus Network BYU vs. UCLA Saturday, Sept. 8 at Pasadena Kickoff: 4:30 pm Mountain Time TV: Versus Network BYU vs. Tulsa Saturday, Sept. 15 at Tulsa Kickoff: 7:00 pm Mountain Time TV: CSTV As a subscriber, you are allowed to access our new blog. You can view it by going to www.cougarsportsline.blogspot.com <http://www.cougarsportsline.blogspot.com/> Just a reminder that we are now sending the newsletter via two separate email accounts to help solve distribution issues that many subscribers experienced last year. That means you may receive two identical letters. If that is the case, please just discard the extra.

1 0

Cougar Sportsline, Vol. 28, Issue 3
by hb arnett 20 Aug '07

20 Aug '07

HB Arnett's COUGAR SPORTSLINE 801 372 0819 hbarnett(a)fiber.net and hbarnett@xmission <mailto:hbarnett@xmission.com> PO Box 50424 Provo, Utah 84605 Vol. 28, Issue 3, August 20, 2007 Click <http://www.cougarstreet.com/products/index.php?type-450&PCID=450:0:0:0:0> Here To Order Or Renew Your Subscriptions IT'S STILL A PLAYER'S GAME We love Bronco Mendenhall's creed and code of coaching. What's not to like about his core values he has installed in the BYU football program. He has certainly established himself as unique in his approach to being a head coach. That said, he still has to adhere to the basic coaching principle of football. After all is said and done, your best chance for winning games is still about getting your best football players on the field for as long as possible and hoping your best is better than your opponents. With Arizona less than two weeks away as BYU prepares to open its 2007 season, here is how BYU's best shakes out. Quarterback...If all goes according to plan, Max Hall is the guy BYU coaches think is ready to lead the Cougar offense. We will buy that, but what happens if BYU has a Ben Longshore moment against Arizona? Longshore was the LDS redshirt freshman starting qb at California who broke his leg against Cal State Sacramento in his opening game a few years back and was lost for the rest of the season. If Hall is hurt early, his backup, Brenden Gaskins will still be nursing an injured finger on his throwing hand. Head for the exits early if that scenario ever plays out because despite having some very talented quarterbacks behind Hall and Gaskins, neither James Lark, Jason Munns nor Sam Doman are anywhere close to being ready to play now. Running Backs...Three guys will get almost all of the carries. Manase Tonga, Fui Vakapuna and Harvey Unga will be the triumvirate toting the football for the Cougars. All are big and tough. Unga, despite being just a redshirt freshman, is the most talented of the trio. It may take a few games and no injuries, but he has a chance to be special. We know what Vakapuna and Tonga can do. They run over people. Unga can do that too, but he can also run around them and run from them. He has just enough shake and speed to be scary good. Wide Receivers...There have been several new names mentioned making wide receiver waves during fall camp, but those waves will never make it to shore. It is still the big four. Austin Collie, Matt Allen, Michael Reed and Bryce Mahuika will be the guys making plays and scoring touchdowns. If you are looking for the fifth guy in the rotation, by mid season, our money is on incoming freshman Ryan Kessman. Tight Ends...There won't be many other teams in the nation that have three quality tight ends on their rosters. BYU does. Cougar offensive coaches can mix and match with their tight ends against any team on their schedule and not miss a beat. Dennis Pitta, Vic So'oto and Andrew George are all extremely talented and all will see action, but it will be Pitta that grabs the headlines because he will be scoring the touchdowns. He is the ultimate mismatch for linebackers and safeties because he has great size and speed for a tight end and can catch the ball better than most wide outs. Offensive Line...This is a group that won't get a lot of accolades, but they are the heart of the offense. New offensive line coach, Mark Weber, is one of the best in the business at teaching technique and he has eight guys that can play. Depth will not be a problem this year. The top eight guys include starters Sete Aulai at center, Travis Bright and Ray Feinga at guard and Dallas Reynolds and David Oswald at tacke. Garrett Reden, Tom Sorensen and R.J. Willing are next in line. Defensive Line...The loss of Russell Tialevea at noseguard is a crushing blow to this group. Despite having two returning starters at defensive end in Jan Jorgensen and Ian Dulan, the rest of the depth chart is totally unproven and extremely thin. Another injury here and you can turn out the lights. Linebackers...It is exactly the opposite at this position. BYU is loaded. Once suspensions and injuries run their course, the depth chart is in excellent condition. With lots of guys who can play, it will still be the big three that gets most of the attention. Bryan Kehl and David Nixon are big-time playmakers on the outside. Kelly Poppinga will open some eyes and shut others with his hard hitting style of play. If the defensive line can just keep blockers off this unit, they will be extra special. Defensive Backs...There is no question that the loss of Dustin Gabriel and David Tafuna to season-ending injuries will hurt. Their experience will be missed. Corby Hodgkiss will now play in that spot. With the injuries grabbing the headlines, what shouldn't be forgotten is that the other safety, Quinn Gooch, is still a major talent. Ben Criddle returns from injury to reclaim his starting boundary cornerback job. It looks like Jaime Hill, the BYU secondary coach, has found his replacements for Justin Robinson, who graduated. Kayle Buchanan and Brandon Howard are neck and neck in this battle for playing time at field corner. Buchanan has more experience but Howard has more talent. He also has three more years to play and you can expect him to get most of the playing time as the season moves along. Kicking...Early signs from fall camp show that this might be something that is average at best. It certainly won't be great. Mitch Payne will do the kicking and incoming juco transfer C.J. Santiago will handle the punting chores. We hope our assessment is wrong and that Payne turns out to be a productive and consistent kicker. He certainly will have plenty of opportunity to prove himself because we expect a lot more offensive drives to end in field goal attempts this season instead of touchdowns. WE CAN'T PREDICT THE SCORE OF THE BYU- ARIZONA GAME, BUT WE GUARANTEE THAT MAX HALL WILL THROW AT LEAST ONE INTERCEPTION We freely admit that Max Hall, BYU's new starting quarterback, has been better than we thought he would be during fall camp. The real question is will he be good enough to beat Arizona in his first collegiate start on September 1? Okay, a guarantee is a little strong. How about, we are extremely confident that there will be at least one or more interceptions thrown by Hall against the Wildcats. We don't base that prediction on what we have seen of Hall in fall camp. We base it on the first game histories of the most recent BYU quarterbacks. Here's the list: John Beck, Matt Berry, Brett Engemann, Brandon Doman, Kevin Feterick, Steve Sarkisian, John Walsh, Ty Detmer, Robbie Bosco, Steve Young and Jim McMahon. All, except one, threw at least one interception in their first full start (where they played four quarters) as a qb for BYU. The lone exception was Kevin Feterik. He was 13-20 with no picks in his first collegiate start as a Cougar. Most Talented? Feterik certainly wasn't the most talented BYU qb, but he was still the only recent qb to avoid turning the ball over through the air in his Cougar pigskin premiere. Some of the numbers are interesting. Ty Detmer, who had rock star status as a backup to Sean Covey, opened his starting career with a bomb, and we aren't talking touchdowns. Against Wyoming in Laramie, Detmer was a miserable 9-26 for 133 yards and 4 interceptions. The Cowboys defeated BYU 24-14. Steve Young also had four picks in his opener against Georgia. Robbie Bosco never lost a game in 1984, but he did open his career against Pittsburgh with 2 interceptions. Before Brandon Doman had his miracle 2002 season, his first start the previous year saw him go 7-17 with 2 picks against Colorado State. John Walsh opened with a 17-28 night and two interceptions. Brett Engemann was 35-54 with one aerial miscue. Matt Berry was 14-27 and also threw a pick. John Beck was just 22-45 and two interceptions in his first real start against Stanford. Fall Camp Fall camp is what it is. It is all about hope. The good news is that we actually have seen concrete signs that the hope may be warranted. We have also been around long enough to know that it usually takes some time before the hoopla that naturally surrounds every new BYU starting quarterback comes to fruition. BYU coaches have hooked their wagon to a horse named Max Hall. He may well be a big-time thoroughbred, but historically speaking, he will more than likely stumble a few times coming out of the gate in his first few starts. That is the way it has always been and we see no reason for that to change. An isolated interception, in our opinion, will not be the determining factor for BYU and Max Hall winning or losing games. What will be critical in the Cougars' eventual win-loss record for 2007, is the frequency of interceptions in games. Based on what we have witnessed, Hall and BYU can likely survive at least one and sometimes two interceptions against everybody they play, including Arizona, and still win. Exception The lone exception is UCLA. Their defense is too good to allow BYU to squander any offensive possessions and hope to survive. The BYU defense is not the same caliber as UCLA, but the Cougars are good enough defensively and have a good enough ground game to control the clock and still squeak out wins against the other teams on their schedule, despite being a little sloppy in protecting the ball. We understand why, at this stage of Bronco mania, some would think that anybody that Mendenhall designates as his guy at qb is destined to be a star. There are even some who may think Hall and the Heisman are appropriate alliteration. Unfortunately, history doesn't corroborate it. Give the guy some time. It was what all other good BYU quarterbacks required. The more serious question should be, what if Hall never is the guy, despite having been anointed as the next great QB by BYU coaches two years ago? What if he isn't? How long does BYU go with him if he doesn't perform? And what other options do they even have for this year if he doesn't meet expectations? 0-3? What if the Cougars are 0-3 to open the season and lack of adequate quarterback play is the reason? We certainly aren't expecting that to happen, but we have been around the football block enough times to know that there are plenty of sure-fire-can't-miss quarterbacks that do. And Hall isn't the only guy that needs to prove himself this season. The same can be said of Brandon Doman and Robert Anae. We don't subscribe to the theory that if a coach is hired by Bronco Mendenhall or BYU, they are automatically good coaches. Like Hall, in our opinion, these two BYU offensive coaches still have something to show us. Their first two seasons, they inherited an NFL caliber quarterback in John Beck. In Beck's senior season, the only coaching required was to let Beck know that the opponent was in a third and long situation and he should get ready to get back on the field. Now Doman and Anae will have to earn their money and reputations with a quarterback that may have potential, but has zero Division I snaps. Not Same It won't be the same; especially in the early going of the season. We still like this BYU football team, but not as much as we would if we had a seasoned and proven quarterback and an offensive coordinator and quarterback coach who had actually worked with a new unproven quarterback before. We certainly hope that we will be singing the praise of all three come October and November, but despite what we all want to believe, breaking in new quarterbacks is always a scary proposition. A TEN PERCENT LOSS OF ASSETS WOULD CERTAINLY DRAW SOME ATTENTION When it comes to a bank account or balance sheet, a loss of ten percent would certainly be reason for some serious concern. The same applies to college football teams. A ten percent reduction in assets would certainly get your attention. That is basically what has happened to Bronco Mendenhall and his team. Every Division I football team is only allowed 85 scholarship players per year with which to compete against other Division I teams. Sometimes, because of NCAA recruiting sanctions, scholarship numbers are reduced. There could be other legitimate reasons why a school isn't at the full 85 grant in aids. At BYU, they still have 85 scholarships allocated, but only 77 of those scholarships can be used this season because of an inordinate amount of season-ending injuries that have plagued the program this season. Before fall camp even started, juco offensive line transfer Levi Mack was lost for the year because of surgery required to repair an injury coming out of spring ball. The same can be said of Nate Hutchinson, Kyle Luekenga and Jeff Rhea, three other scholarship players. Jadon Wagner, a walkon, also is gone for the year with a foot injury. Worse Once fall camp got underway, it got worse. In the last two weeks, BYU has lost Russell Tialavea, a starting noseguard, Dustin Gabriel, a starting safety and David Tafuna, another safety, who was going to start in place of Gabriel. J.J. DiLuigi, a promising freshman running back, didn't last past the first scrimmage of fall camp before requiring surgery to repair a broken foot. By our math, that is eight scholarship players not available this year due to injury. That is actually 9.4% of operating capital that BYU will have to do without this season. Unlike the NFL, you can't scan any waiver wires in hopes of picking up players and you can't go back and offer scholarships to players that you originally passed on. Fortunately for BYU, they have a dynamic walkon program that may not provide the same caliber of talent that was lost, but will fill the numbers void and help facilitate practice and play. The key injury that will be the hardest to overcome this season is the loss of Tialavea. The defensive line was extremely thin to begin with and both of his backups, true freshman Eathyn Manumaleuna and redshirt juco transfer, Mosese Foketi, have never played a down of Division I football. Moved BYU coaches moved offensive lineman Rick Wolfley over to the defensive tackle spot in order to try and help, but he too has never played a down in his career. He certainly has the body type of a noseguard at 6-3, 340 pounds, but if we are going to worry about the lack of experience at quarterback, we should be absolutely panicked when it comes to noseguard. TELEVISION TIMETABLE BYU vs. Arizona Saturday, Sept. 1 at Provo Kickoff: 3:30 pm, Mountain Time TV: Versus Network BYU vs. UCLA Saturday, Sept. 8 at Pasadena Kickoff: 4:30 pm Mountain Time TV: Versus Network BYU vs. Tulsa Saturday, Sept. 15 at Tulsa Kickoff: 7:00 pm Mountain Time TV: CSTV As a subscriber, you are allowed to access our new blog. You can view it by going to www.cougarsportsline.blogspot.com <http://www.cougarsportsline.blogspot.com/> Just a reminder that we are now sending the newsletter via two separate email accounts to help solve distribution issues that many subscribers experienced last year. That means you may receive two identical letters. If that is the case, please just discard the extra.

1 0

Cougar Sportsline, Vol. 28, Issue 2
by hb arnett 13 Aug '07

13 Aug '07

HB Arnett's COUGAR SPORTSLINE 801 372 0819 hbarnett(a)fiber.net and hbarnett@xmission <mailto:hbarnett@xmission.com> PO Box 50424 Provo, Utah 84605 Vol. 28, Issue 2, August 13, 2007 Click <http://www.cougarstreet.com/products/index.php?type-450&PCID=450:0:0:0:0> Here To Order Or Renew Your Subscriptions HOPE NOW HIGHER WITH HALL'S FIRST WEEK OF CAMP We still maintain that BYU's 2007 football season will be in direct correlation to Max Hall's first-year performance. What you get from Hall is what you will get from BYU as a team this coming year. If he is ordinary, count on BYU being the same. If he is below average, ditto for the Cougars. With the talent surrounding him at running back, offensive line and wide outs, all he has to do is protect the ball and BYU will win 8-9 games minimum. If Hall can make plays when the game is on the line, he will be very good and so will BYU. It really is that simple. We have to admit that we have been skeptical of Hall as a first-year quarterback. We still have some serious reservations that won't be removed until he has at least a year of experience under his belt, but his performance in the first week of camp has given us hope. He was better than we anticipated. He has the pedigree for performing, but we still want to see him with the "lights on" against another opponent's defense. Sun Out He wasn't bad, however, when the "sun was out" Saturday against the Cougar defense in the first real scrimmage of fall camp. Hall completed 11-14 passes for 171 yards and two touchdowns. He had offensive help. The BYU ground game had 120 yards. Harvey Unga, the redshirt freshman, is more than capable of replacing Curtis Brown, and he showed it in the scrimmage. He is bigger than Brown and has more shake and open-field speed than Brown, who currently is vying for a spot on the Cincinnati Bengals' roster. Unga is also the reason BYU didn't pursue Matt Asiata out of Snow College. Both are talented, but Unga will have four years to play and Asiata only two years. If you can't wait to see Unga in action against Arizona, we currently have video of him from high school up on our blog at www.cougarsportsline.blogspot.com <file:///C:\Documents%20and%20Settings\HB\Desktop\www.cougarsportsline.blogs pot.com> . Defensively, the Cougars have had their moments during this first week of camp. We like the linebackers. They will be the playmakers. How it will all shake out personnel wise for this season is still to be determined, but after five years of Mendenhall running the defense, we think we can trust him to deliver the goods. Remember, he has lined of with some very good players before and some "athletically challenged" defenders on the field and still consistently produced results on the field. Kicking Game We like BYU's kicking game. It will be very good...next year. That is when Riley Stephenson, the kicker from Pine View HS in St. George, should be back from his LDS mission. Until then, BYU is fully invested in a scholarship with Mitch Payne, the redshirt freshman from Ogden. Payne is the younger brother of former BYU kicker Matt Payne. Describing his first week of kicking as erratic is euphemistic at best. If there isn't some serious improvement, the kicking game will end up costing the Cougars some games. INJURY BUG CONTINUES TO HURT DEFENSE Just two days into fall camp, backup quarterback Brenden Gaskins injured a finger on his throwing hand and hasn't practiced since. The prognosis for him is that a special splint will get him back on the field as early as this week. The injury news was more bleak on the defensive side of the ball for the Cougars. First it was starting Katback, Dustin Gabriel, who was lost for the season and now it is starting defensive tackle Russell Tialavea who appears to be gone for the year. Gabriel was scheduled to have four surgeries to repair nagging injuries - after this season - but additional pain and problems with his feet, was the straw that broke the camel's back. Gabriel's timetable for surgery has now been moved up and he will miss the entire year. In BYU's first full scrimmage of fall camp, Russell Tialavea, the starting defensive tackle, injured his knee. The early prognosis is not good and he also will likely miss the entire season. Options While the loss of Gabriel is big, BYU at least has some viable options for replacing the senior from Allen, TX. David Tafuna and Corby Hodgkiss, are seniors and both have seen playing time before. There are other options also available, in our opinion, if Tafuna and Hodgkiss can't get the job done. Senior Kayle Buchanan and sophomore Brandon Howard are neck and neck for securing the field cornerback job. If both are very close, then why not move Ben Criddle from the boundary corner to Katback and let both Howard and Buchanan play the two corner spots? It remains to be seen how it shakes out in replacing Gabriel, but there are plenty of bodies to work with to remedy this situation. That isn't so with the loss of Tialavea. This one will sting. Going back to Bronco Mendenhall's first recruiting class, there were many, including us, who wondered why there wasn't more attention given to recruiting defensive linemen. Obvious It has been obvious now for three years that this was an extremely thin spot for the Cougars. To be fair, Mendenhall has said that it would take a few more recruiting classes to completely fill his defensive pipeline. The question we have is, if that was the case, why not plug a few leaks in that pipe with some jc linemen? We are not questioning the high school recruiting of defensive linemen for BYU under Mendenhall. His first year, he brought in Tialavea and Jan Jorgensen. Both redshirted as freshmen. The next year he signed Matangi Tonga and Romney Fuga. Both are gone now. Fuga is on an LDS mission and Tonga still has some serious legal issues to resolve. We don't expect him to ever don a BYU uniform again. This past recruiting year, two good prep defensive tackles were signed in Star Lotulelei and Eathyn Manumaleuna. Lotulelei didn't qualify academically. It will be up to Manumaleuna to pick up the pieces now. You can't second guess the Cougar coaching staff on their recruiting. They have signed some nice high school defensive linemen, but they are still at least two years away now from having any kind of depth in that area. Painful The injury to Tialevea and the legal issues of Tonga, now make the defection of early commit, Sealver Siliaga, even more painful. As you know, he committed to the Cougars and then changed his mind and now says he will sign with Utah. This guy is extremely talented. Under the previous staff at BYU, they were always mining the juco ranks for defensive tackles. While Bronco's effort in that area seems to have been a little weak to date, BYU already has one jc defensive lineman committed for next year in Tevita Hola, a 6-1, 310 pound tackle from Snow College. In hindsight, BYU probably should have pursued Hola's teammate, David Tufuga, much more aggressively. BYU obviously thought he wouldn't be eligible to play this year because he still had classes to take this summer, but Texas A&M stayed on top of the situation and Tufuga, who is LDS, is now enrolled at College Station. You can count on BYU and Bronco getting control of this defensive line recruiting situation and getting the pipeline filled, but that doesn't do anything to solve the situation now. No Waiver Wire Unlike the NFL, you can't go looking for players off the waiver wire or sign free agents. You have to play the hand you have. Maybe it is time to look at the other hand available on the offensive side of the ball. BYU already has eight guys who can play and contribute on the offensive line. Besides those eight, they have a surplus of legitimate players, who won't see any time this year. If anybody is asking, we would immediately move at least three players from the offensive line over to help shore up the numbers on the opposite side of the ball. Even if these guys can't play, they would at least facilitate practice sessions over there. For what it is worth, we think it is a slam dunk that Matt Reynolds is the next John Tait as a left tackle for BYU. Regardless, as a true freshman, he won't be playing much this season. He is so talented that we can't see why he couldn't be used as a defensive end for this season and allow either Jan Jorgensen or Ian Dulan to try their hands inside at tackle. Others Available Also available from the offensive line side of the ball are guys like Rick Wolfley, a 6-3, 325 pound redshirt freshman, who won't see any offensive action this year. Manaaki Vaitai is a true freshman that tips the scale at 6-3, 300. In BYU's defensive scheme, the linemen are not required to be playmakers. Their job is to hold gaps and eat up blocks so the BYU linebackers can make plays. In our opinion, borrowing players from the offensive side of the ball to temporarily patch the defensive line leaks until some more serious plumbing and recruiting can take place down the road, certainly seems like a viable option.. NFL ROSTERS There are still a couple of more cuts remaining before the start of the NFL season, but we checked the rosters of NFL teams on Saturday for players with BYU ties and here is what we found: Buffalo Bills...C.J. Ah You, defensive end. He ended his college career at Oklahoma, but he started at BYU; Ryan Denney, DE. Miami Dolphins...John Beck, QB. How could you not know he is on the Dolphin roster?; John Denney is the brother of Ryan and is a deep snapper with Miami; Brian Soi, DT, signed with BYU out of high school. New England Patriots...Garrett Mills, TE. BYU passed on this LDS player when he came out of Oklahoma. He was a four-year starter at Tulsa. Baltimore Ravens...Haloti Ngata, DT. BYU fans think this talented player commited to BYU and then flew the coop to Oregon. Actually it was his mother that commited to Gary Crowton that her son would sign with the Cougars, but Ngata himself, never gave a verbal to BYU. Cincinnati Bengals...Curtis Brown, RB. Picked up by the Bengals a week ago when they needed bodies. Actually may have a chance to stick; Daniel Coats, TE; Jonathan Fanene, DE. Signed with BYU, but couldn't get in. The next year he signed with Utah. Houston Texans...Scott Jackson, OL. Pittsburgh Steelers...Chris Hoke, DT; Brett Keisel, DE; Shaun Nua, DE; Marvin Philip, Center. Tom Holmoe recruit at Cal. Returned LDS missionary. Indianapolis Colts...Rob Morris, LB; Jonny Harline, TE. Philadelphia Eagles...Scott Young, OL; Zac Collie, WR. Chicago Bears...John Tait, OL. Green Bay Packers...Brady Poppinga, LB. Minnesota Vikings...Fahu Tahi, FB. New Orleans Saints...Ben Archibald, OL; Jake Kuresa, OL. Arizona Cardinals...Aaron Francisco, DB; Todd Watkins, WR. San Francisco 49ers...Colby Bockwoldt, LB. Seattle Seahawks...Cameron Jensen, LB. Not On NFL Rosters...There are at least four ex-BYU players who were on NFL rosters last season that aren't this year. That would include Itula Mili, TE, who last played at Seattle; Reno Mahe, RB, Philadelphia; Doug Jolley, TE, Tampa Bay and Gabe Reid, TE, Chicago. Roster Scoreboard For those who like to keep track of the NFL roster race between BYU and Utah, it is currently a dead heat. There are 22 BYU players and 22 Utah players on NFL rosters. Those numbers will change when final cuts are made and we will re-tally the totals again. Here are the Utes in the NFL: Steve Fifita, Dolphins; Brett Ratliff, Jets; Sione Pouha, Jets; Andred Dyson, Jets; Mike Anderson, Ravens; Jonathan Fanene, Bengals; Chris Kemoeatu, Steelers; Quinton Ganther, Titans; Lavale Sape, Titans; Josh Savage, Titans; Spencer Toone, Titans; Jesse Boone, Raiders; John Madsen, Raiders; Barry Sims, Raiders; Eric Weddle, Chargers; Cliff Russell, Lions; Kelly Talavou, Falcons; Jordan Gross, Panthers; Maake Kemoeatu, Panthers; Steve Smith, Panters; Parris Warren, Buccaneers; Alex Smith, 49ers. FOOTBALL FLUFF AND STUFF BYU now says that they likely won't be signing a high school quarterback for this coming recruiting year. That decision was made easier when the Cougar's number one qb prospect apparently turned down BYU for UCLA. Kevin Prince is LDS and preps at Crespi HS in Encino, CA. He made a couple of trips to BYU this summer, but when UCLA said that he could have a scholarship if he would go on an LDS mission before enrolling at Westwood, BYU was basically out of the picture. Prince's father is an alumnus of UCLA. Speaking of quarterbacks that won't be at BYU, we hear that Cade Cooper, the apparent backup coming out of spring until he hurt his foot, may end up at Oregon. Jacob Bower, also left the program and is projected as the starter for the Bakersfield College Renegades. They are rated as the No. 5 juco team in the nation. As for the current BYU qb, Max Hall, he gets the pleasure of opening his college career against two projected NFL first round draft picks. Arizona will feature Antoine Cason, a 6-1, 185 pound cornerback and Louis Holmes, a 6-6, 270 pound defensive tackle, on their defense. Holmes' playing status is up in the air because of an arrest earlier this summer, but we fully expect him to be on the field against the Cougars. Arizona does have an LDS qb on their roster. Jimmy Bevell is an invited walkon for the Wildcats. He is a 21-year old freshman and arrived mid year after serving an LDS mission to Argentina. His brother Darrell was a four-year starter at Wisconsin and is now the offensive coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings. The Wildcats also have another LDS player that is a three-year starter. Spencer Larsen will be at inside linebacker for UofA. BYU is recruiting several players from Kahuku HS in Hawaii and also Bingham HS in Utah. The Cougars already have verbal commitments from Austin Holt, a tight end from Bingham and Shiloah Te'o, a safety from Kahuku. Both teams will face each other on September 1 in a game that is set to be played in Cedar City at SUU. BASKETBALL BRIEFS BYU will leave for France this week for a series of exhibition games. One player who won't be going is Jimmer Fredette. He can't go because of NCAA rules that restrict new recruits from traveling with the team on summer trips abroad. Apparently we didn't make it clear in our latest newsletter that Fredette is a scholarship player who signed with the Cougars last November and will be a true freshman this season. BYU will also sign Charles Abouo to a letter of intent this coming November. The 6-4, wing from Logan HS, was recruited and evaluated by BYU coaches last spring, but they decided to back off. After a stellar summer of AAU play, BYU is back on his doorstep. Abouo, who is originally from the Ivory Coast, will play this coming season at Brewster Academy, a prep school in New Hampshire. We will have video of Abouo up on our blog later this week. TELEVISION TIMETABLE BYU vs Arizona Saturday, Sept. 1 at Provo Kickoff: 3:30 pm, Mountain Time TV: Versus Network BYU vs UCLA Saturday, Sept. 8 at Pasadena Kickoff: 4:30 pm Mountain Time TV: Versus Network BYU vs Tulsa Saturday, Sept. 14 at Tulsa Kickoff: 7:00 pm Mountain Time TV: CSTV As a subscriber, you are allowed to access our new blog. You can view it by going to www.cougarsportsline.blogspot.com <http://www.cougarsportsline.blogspot.com/> Just a reminder that we are now sending the newsletter via two separate email accounts to help solve distribution issues that many subscribers experienced last year. That means you may receive two identical letters. If that is the case, please just discard the extra.

1 0