HB Arnett’s
COUGAR SPORTSLINE
801
372 0819
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West 800 South –
Vol. 32,
Issue 36 – March 26, 2012
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IS THERE ANY ROOM FOR FAT IN
FOOTBALL?
Finally, after what has to be one of the dullest spring football camps
in BYU history, we have some fat to chew on.
Thank you Brandon Doman.
The second year BYU offensive coordinator sparked some interest in BYU
football during this annual spring rite of passage and preservation. If you
haven’t noticed, if a player is any good and proven, he is preserved and
doesn’t play in the spring.
No squabble with that. You don’t put out the best china for hot
dog eating contests.
Speaking of high caloric intake, Doman said last week that BYU’s
offensive linemen were too fat.
Here is his actual quote:
“One of the biggest weaknesses we’ve had, particularly on
the offensive line, has been their fitness level. They’re big and
they’re strong, but they’ve been carrying too much weight. I
don’t mind saying that. Their fitness level hasn’t been where I
would like to see it as offensive coordinator. There’s a concerted effort
to help the fitness level of those guys while they’re gaining strength.
They’re older. We should be really strong. They’ve got more time to
be in the weight room and their bodies are more mature. But I also want them to
be lean, with lean muscle mass and be fit. We’re getting close to that
… Hopefully we can build that fitness in and we’ll see less injury
in years to come.”
That is an interesting concept. Can you be a good football player
generally and a good offensive or defensive lineman specifically, if you are
overweight?
Speaking as one who has eaten his share of hot dogs, Oreos, ice cream
and cheese cake, and as one who has seen all different body types on the
gridiron, I consider myself pretty well versed in all things fat and football.
Fat is certainly not healthy, but when it comes to football, I would
rather have a fat guy that can play and produce than a fit guy who can’t.
Football isn’t about physique. Fat, or more specifically, too
much fat is overrated…on the football field. It’s about making
plays and production.
Generally, Doman’s thoughts when it comes to those fat
aspirations on the team to which he referred are sound. But making plays and
finding players who can make those plays regardless of paunch and pounds is
more important, especially on the offensive and defensive lines.
Can you be fat and athletic at the same time? Ask Gilbert Brown and
Nate Newton of NFL fame and fortune.
They likely weren’t doing themselves any health favors in
carrying big time weight, but you certainly can’t disparage their productivity
on the field.
In defense of overweight offensive linemen everywhere, if they were
big, strong, sleek and quick, they would be defensive ends instead of guards
and tackles on the offensive side of the ball.
Fat and or fit is all about the final score. If you can make plays and
produce wins, then nobody cares.
Was
Speaking of fat, or more to the point, cutting the fat, that is what
Doman intends to do this coming season with his offense. He says he is going to
simplify it. Click
here for details.
Wasn’t simplifying the offense what caused Bronco Mendenhall to
remove Robert Anae as offensive coordinator and replace him with Brandon Doman?
Just wondering.
Anae‘s big deal was execution. He openly stated that he
didn’t have a big playbook, but they were going to win by executing those
few plays to perfection.
Summer Sustainment
As I have stated many times in this letter before, my two favorite
sporting events are the Ryder Cup and the Breeders Cup. I love golf and horse
racing at its competitive best.
I am not a big fan of Greyhound racing, but for some reason it reminds me
of BYU football this coming fall.
In my opinion, Greyhound racing is all about sandbagging and sand
paper. It isn’t unusual for some dogs to have their paws sand papered to
make their feet tender and unable to run at full throttle.
When the odds on a dog get high enough, the paper is put away and paws
are allowed to heal just in time to see a long shot dog pay out big at the
pari-mutuel window.
This spring, BYU football has been a lot like sandpaper. There are
plenty of sore knees, feet, shoulders and other ailments.
The good players are back in the kennel getting ready and staying
healthy for the fall. A year ago, it was just the opposite.
Bronco Mendenhall was full throttle in his assessment of BYU as a very
good team.
This year, because of injuries and getting burned by his optimism last
year, he has the sand paper and sand bags out in full force this spring.
If BYU was a greyhound, I would be looking for a big payout at the
pari-mutuel window this fall.
This is not a dog team. Bronco has players and play makers.
A year ago, we thought we had the big dog in the race in Jake Heaps. He
has since clicked his heels and gone to
Bronco has the ultimate alpha-male in Riley Nelson. He also has the
alpha-male heir in freshman Taysom Hill.
Like a good greyhound, it all starts with their feet. Both Nelson and
Hill can make plays with their feet. Heaps couldn’t. It made all the
difference in the world last year.
It doesn’t hurt that Nelson will have guys to throw to.
Specifically play maker supreme, Cody Hoffman.
The offensive backfield will never be NFL flashy, but it will be better
next season. The tailbacks will be about the same, but the fullback position
will have a major upgrade with Iona Pritchard returning from his sand-blasted
ankle injury of last fall camp.
Kyle Van Noy is still the premier play maker on defense. He rested and
recuperated from shoulder surgery this spring. He has help on defense this
fall.
There are more playmakers in the secondary this coming season than last
year. There are young players like Manoa Pikula at linebacker, waiting to get
to the gate.
While it is a pretty sound bet that Van Noy will end up in the NFL, the
intriguing exotic bet for us would be Ezekial Ansah. The 6-6, 270 pound senior
from
He just needs time to learn the game. His time in eligibility at BYU is
running out, but bet on this. Pro Scouts will go ga ga over him next spring at
BYU’s pro day.
Depending on what he shows as a pass rusher this season in spot play at
defensive end, he could be a late round draft pick, but for sure somebody will
sign him as a free agent.
He will be the perfect practice squad player for an NFL team. He
won’t cost much and his upside is so big, that he will be worth the
gamble for some club.
It might be too much to expect another Jason Pierre-Paul of the New
York Giants, but Ansah has that same type of athletic ability. He just needs
more time to learn how to play the game.
Blame it on BYUtv and Boredom
I confess.
I had never watched an entire BYU softball game until this past
weekend. I was forced into it.
My options for the weekend were burning the back field, tilling the
garden or watching BYU softball. Golf would have trumped all three, but I have
a sore shoulder that I am waiting on to get better.
I chose softball and was pleasantly surprised. It was entertaining and
occasionally riveting. A three game sweep against
It was good enough on Friday that I tuned in again for both games of a
doubleheader on Saturday.
It was the opening of WAC play for the Lady Cougars who are now 3-0 in
league action and 19-8 overall.
She is no Barry Bonds… she is much better looking, but Delaney
Willard, the senior from Camarillo, California, put the team on her shoulders
offensively in this series.
She hit three home runs in the three games. The last was a walk off game
winner. The Cougars swept the Aggies, 3-2, 9-1 and 6-3.
Volleyball
We were taken to task last week for
not giving a BYU volleyball update. We repent. Here are the latest two stories
from BYU concerning the weekend split with
LONG
BEACH, Calif. - To extend its winning streak to seven matches, the No. 4 BYU
men's volleyball team swept (29-27, 25-11, 25-16) No. 9 Long Beach State on the
road, Friday.
Freshman
Josue Rivera led all players with a career-high four service aces while also
contributing eight kills, six digs and two blocks.
Three
Cougars recorded double-digit kills in the victory, led by senior Robb
Stowell’s 14. Taylor Sander and Futi Tavana contributed 13 and 10,
respectively. Tavana also added a match-high six blocks.
With
Stowell's 14 kills in the win, he moves into fourth place all-time in BYU
history for total kills and is just four away from third place.
The 49ers
jumped to an early 3-0 lead in the first set and continued to lead until a kill
from Russ Lavaja tied the score at 8-8, and a Rivera ace gave BYU it's first
lead. The Cougars held onto the lead through the rest of the match despite
BYU took
sets two and three in commanding fashion behind a blistering .750 team attack
in the second set and .452 in the third. The Cougars' 25-11 victory in the
second set is the largest margin of victory this season and a 25-16 win in the
third would give them the match.
Taylor
Sander led all players with 25 kills to tie his season high.
Teammates Robb Stowell, Russ Lavaja, Josue
Rivera and Futi Tavana joined Sander in double-digit kills with
14, 11, 10 and 10, respectively.
Tavana
led all players with eight blocks while Rivera led the squad on 11 digs.
The 49ers
took set one, 25-17, after a 5-2 run to finish out the play. The set was tied
at 9-9 early on but two-straight points for
BYU
bounced back in the second set, winning 25-22, and tied the match at 1-1.
Riding the momentum, the Cougars took set three 25-23 and a 2-1 lead in the
match.
Set four,
similar to the first three, was back-and-forth all the way to the end but the
49ers pulled out the 25-21 win to send the match to a fifth set.
In a
competitive fifth set, the teams traded points for the first few possessions
until BYU went on a 4-0 run to take the lead at 10-8.
The
Cougars return to
BYU Baseball
The BYU Cougars took two of three games over the weekend from WCC foe
Vance Law’s club came back on Saturday to take a 7-4 extra inning
game from the Pilots. The Cougars are now 9-9 on the year and 4-2 in WCC play.
That is good enough currently to put BYU in second place in the conference
standings.
Here is BYU athletics’ report on the Saturday game.
BYU (9-9)
improves to 4-2 in the West Coast Conference battle for first place and several
Cougars helped keep them there as they won the three-game series over the
Pilots (14-5 overall, 1-2 WCC).
While
three unearned runs in the 10th inning provided the BYU victory, the impetus
started in the third inning when relief pitcher Desmon Poulson took the mound
and promptly retired the Pilots in order. Poulson repeated that feat in the
sixth and eighth innings. Among the seven Pilots fanned by Poulson were key
strikeouts in the fifth, sixth and eighth frames.
While
reliever Chris Howard got the win by virtue of throwing four pitches in
two-thirds of the ninth inning and 5-foot-8 freshman Mason Marshall picked up
his third save, Poulson’s pitching helped keep the score knotted at
four-all for the final five innings of regulation.
“Our
pitchers kept us close and right in the ball game,” said BYU coach Vance
Law. “Our team has ground it out and they never give up, they
weren’t going to give in as long as our pitcher was keeping us in the
game.”
Three BYU
defensive plays in the seventh and ninth innings extinguished
The first
came when right fielder Jaycob Brugman helped throw out Turner Gill at second
as he tried to extend a single. Not to be outdone, two batters later
teammate Stephen Wells made an over-the-shoulder catch to end the seventh with
a runner on third base.
“Wells
made an unbelievable play in center field,” said Law. “Then Tanner
Chauncey made a heads-up play, knowing we couldn’t make the double play
at first base.”
Freshman
shortstop Chauncey touched second base for out number two off a slow roller,
then faked to first before firing home to catch the Pilot runner in a ninth inning-ending
pickle to complete one of three Cougar double plays.
That set
up Austin Hall, who moved from short to center field, leading off the 10th by
beating out a bunt single down the third base line, followed by a Wes Guenther
walk. BYU then took a 6-4 lead off a wild throw by pitcher Owen Jones fielding
Brock Whitney’s’s bunt. Whitney advanced around the horn and was
later ruled safe at the plate off of Brugman’s sacrifice fly.
BYU’s
next action is Tuesday, March 27, when it plays at Spring Mobile Ballpark in
TELEVISION TIMETABLE
BYU vs. CS Northridge
(volleyball)
Thursday, March 29 at
Time: 7:00 pm Mtn Time
TV: BYUtv
BYU vs. CS Northridge
(volleyball)
Friday, March 30 at
Time: 7:00 pm Mtn Time
TV: BYUtv