HB Arnett’s
801
372 - 0819
1391
West 800 South –
Vol. 33,
Issue 39 – June 3, 2013
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Larry Graham is the Football Model
for Mendenhall
Unless you are a hard core soul/funk music aficionado, you probably
have never heard of Larry Graham, especially if you are under the age of 50.
Here is a quick synopsis of who Graham is.
Larry Graham, Jr.
(born August 14, 1946) is an American bass guitar player, both with the popular
and influential psychedelic soul/funk band Sly
and the Family Stone, and as the founder and front man of Graham Central Station. He is credited
with the invention of the slapping technique, which radically expanded the tonal
palette of the bass, although he himself refers to the technique as
"Thumpin' and Pluckin'."
Graham is relevant to BYU football because his music career parallels
the history and future of Cougar football.
Graham went from performing hard core soul/funk early in his career (click for video) but
then transitioned into becoming a love ballad singer (click for video). He is
now back performing and producing the music of his early career (click for video). His
fans, of which I am one, appreciate the return to what made him good.
BYU football started their own brand of hard core/funk football with
the passing offenses years ago of LaVell Edwards and Doug Scovill. (watch video)
It worked and was well received for years. Then came the transition of
a few seasons ago from a “thumpin’ and pluckin” unstoppable
offense to a more subtle and stoppable love ballad/ feel good offense. (watch video)
It had its moments over the last two years, but was more feel good
emotionally than foot on the throttle good.
Now BYU football, and its offense in particular, appear to be headed
back to its hard core passing offense of old. Insert “hard and
fast” for pickin’ and thumpin’ and this coming season looks
promising. (watch video)
BYU football fans, of which I am one, are appreciative of the apparent return
to the offense that made BYU football good.
To help ramp up that enthusiasm for a return to the offensive good old
days, here’s a note to stuff in your back pocket.
The Cougars scored 50 touchdowns last season. Of those scores, 47 were
produced offensively and 3 by the defense. Of those 50 touchdowns, only
two had players participating in the score, either running or catching the ball
that will not be back this coming season. James Lark and Riley Nelson both had
a rushing touchdown apiece.
The two touchdown machines for the Cougars last season were Jamaal
Williams and Cody Hoffman. Both will be back on the field in the fall. Williams
tallied 13 touchdowns. (12 rushing and 1 receiving). Hoffman accounted for 11
touchdowns, all receiving. His big output came against
Here is a video of all of BYU’s touchdowns from last season. (click to watch)
MENDENHALL, MONEY AND HONEY
Bronco Mendenhall and the BYU athletic department, (Tom Holmoe) are
currently negotiating an extension of Mendenhall’s current coaching
contract which expires at the end of this calendar year.
Mendenhall has changed his tune from his early days as BYU’s head
coach when he would always say that he wasn’t sure that he wanted to
coach a long time at BYU.
Recently the message he is now promoting is that he has loftier and
lengthier goals and wants to be at BYU as the coach for more than a few more
years.
I have a good idea why he has changed his tune. It has to do with money
and honey.
I personally have wanted to quit publishing this newsletter for at
least the last 15 years. I wanted to pursue higher vocational goals that would
be more beneficial to society in general.
Instead of publishing this two-bit rag, I had loftier literary
aspirations such as writing a new version of the driver’s instruction
manual for the Department of Motor Vehicles.
My wife (she calls me Honey) brought me down from my lofty publishing
perch to which I aspired by reminding me that as long as there were enough
crazies out there continuing to send me checks for the newsletter, I
should stay with the newsletter until the crazies found the right medication or
I ran out of mine. I call it the “Honey and Money” syndrome.
It’s likely the same for Mendenhall. He is experiencing the same
“Honey and Money” deal. His wife is likely telling him that he
should stick with his current gig with its good salary until BYU either runs
out of money or the Cougars go 5-7 two consecutive years. If that should
happen, there won’t be enough medicine on the market in which BYU
football fans can wallow and swallow.
The contract extension is a done deal. It will happen and when it does,
it will be a feel good story for Mendenhall and BYU fans.
BYU BASKETBALL IS CURRENTLY A REALITY
REBUILD SHOW
If you think you weren’t happy with the outcome of last
basketball season, neither was Dave Rose.
Despite a nice little run in the NIT, BYU’s final record and
results screamed ordinary and mediocre.
The adage of “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”
certainly didn’t apply to last season’s BYU basketball team.
Dave Rose’s actions since the end of last season screams,
“It was broke and I am going to fix it”. Fixing it means that of
all the roster spots from last season, only five of those players will be back
for the new version of BYU Basketball in 2013-2014.
Those five players are Tyler Haws, Matt Carlino, Josh Sharp, Nate
Austin and Anson Winder. Bronson Kaufusi’s BYU basketball career is still
in limbo. That decision won’t be made until Rose is finished recruiting
for this year and Kaufusi is done playing football for the coming season. Even
if he does play again, his scholarship is counted as a football grant in aid
and not against the basketball allotment of 13 scholarships.
Three players from last year were seniors and ran out of eligibility.
That would be Brandon Davies, Craig Cusick and Brock Zylstra. In Rose’s
current engine rebuild project, the only guy he will miss from that trio is
Davies.
Shown the door, whether by injury, injustice or just inability to
produce were Ian Harward, Agustin Ambrosino and Raul Delgado.
That, ladies and gentlemen is more than a new paint job, it is a total
overhaul of the engine and transmission.
Motor makeovers require new parts. Here they are.
You need horsepower up front. That will be supplied by two freshmen,
both of whom will surprise Cougar fans with how good they are and how soon they
will contribute.
Eric Mika is the real deal. He can rebound, run the floor and score.
With a summer of seasoning with big man coach Mark Pope, he should come up with
the start of a post up back to the basket game. Meanwhile, BYU will be fine
with his athleticism and open court game.
Luke Worthington is a motor that Rose has been wishing for.
Rose is still looking for one or two more front court players. We will
detail that later.
BYU’s transmission was faulty last year on the guard line. There
was no reverse or neutral option available to Rose when driving the BYU bus.
Carlino was great at times in the open court, but in the half court
game, he was spotty.
Now Rose has some other options with the return of LDS missionary Kyle
Collinsworth and newcomer and juco transfer Skylar Halford. Throw in new
freshman prep school guard signee Frank Bartley and the options are much more
plentiful for Rose and his coaching staff.
Bartley is 6-3, 205 pounds and played last year at Future College Prep
in
With Collinsworth, Bartley, Halford, Mika and
Rose has had Kentwan Smith, a 6-7, 200 pound juco
forward on campus late last month for a recruiting visit. He is from Otero JC
in
The spring signing period expired in the middle of
May. Prospects can now only sign financial aid agreements between themselves
and schools where they want to play.
We keep hearing that Rose still has at least another
big man on his radar for next season. I keep hearing it will be a current
Division I player who has graduated and has a degree from his current school.
That would allow that player to transfer and play immediately.
Most other schools are finishing up their school year
in the first week of June, so if this turns out to be something, we should know
by the middle of the month.
While Rose is rebuilding most of the parts of his
Cougar car, he is keeping the same chassis on which to build. That would be the
reliable and talented Tyler Haws.
Rose isn’t they only coach who thinks Haws is
somebody to build around. The following is a release from BYU announcing that
Haws has been selected to attend the training camp for the USA Basketball Men’s
World University Games team
Haws is
one of 29 collegiate athletes selected to the training camp roster. Twelve
athletes from the training camp will be chosen to represent the
"It's
an awesome opportunity for any BYU athlete to wear a team
A 2012-13
All-West Coast Conference selection, Haws finished the season ranked seventh in
the nation in scoring at 21.7 points per game. Haws’s scoring average and
780 total points are BYU sophomore records. The Alpine,
Attending
training camp will be: Eric Atkins (Notre Dame/Columbia, Md.); Markel Brown
(Oklahoma State/Alexandria, La.); Deonte Burton (Nevada/Los Angeles, Calif.);
Quinn Cook (Duke/Washington, D.C.); Bryce Cotton (Providence/Tucson, Ariz.);
Spencer Dinwiddie (Colorado/Woodland Hills, Calif.); C.J. Fair
(Syracuse/Baltimore, Md.); Yogi Ferrell (Indiana/Indianapolis, Ind.); Davante
Gardner (Marquette/Suffolk, Va.); Treveon Graham (Virginia Commonwealth/Temple
Hills, Md.); Jerian Grant (Notre Dame/Bowie, Md.); P.J. Hairston (North
Carolina/Greensboro, N.C.); A.J. Hammons (Purdue/Gary, Ind.); Luke Hancock
(Louisville/ Roanoke, Va.); Joe Harris (Virginia/Chelan, Wash.); Tyler Haws
(BYU/Alpine, Utah); Andre Hollins (Minnesota/ Memphis, Tenn.); Rodney Hood
(Duke/Meridian, Miss.); Josh Huestis (Stanford/Great Falls, Mont.); Cory Jefferson
(Baylor/Killeen, Texas); Sean Kilpatrick (Cincinnati/Yonkers, N.Y.); Alex Kirk
(New Mexico/Los Alamos, N.M.); Devyn Marble (Iowa/Southfield, Mich.); Doug
McDermott (Creighton/Ames, Iowa); Adreian Payne (Michigan State/Dayton, Ohio);
Chasson Randle (Stanford/Rock Island, Ill.); Will Sheehey (Indiana/Stuart,
Fla.); Aaron White (Iowa/Strongsville, Ohio); and Kendall Williams (New
Mexico/Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.).
Even in Softball
IT'S ALL ABOUT PITCHING
Take a look at the teams that have made it to the Women’s College
World Series in
They all have dominant pitching.
BYU didn’t have that luxury this past season. They very seldom do
have it.
Gordan Eakin, the women’s softball coach has already inked two
prominent high school pitchers for the coming season. They are Ashley Thompson
of
Now he will also have the chance to hire a pitching coach that can help
them reach their potential and BYU eventually reach the WCWS. (Click
here to see coaching change for softball)
CONSOLIDATION TO
EITHER SAVE CASH OR MAKE MORE CHAPIONSHIP APPEARANCES IN NCAA MEETS
You can make up your own mind on they recent move by the BYU track
programs to consolidate. Read
the story here.
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