HB Arnett’s
COUGAR SPORTSLINE
801
372 0819
hbarnett@fiber.net and hbarnett@xmission.com
1391
West 800 South –
Vol. 30,
Issue 2 – August 17, 2009
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UPON
FURTHER REVIEW
After seven days
of fall camp, here is what we have seen and our revised review of the BYU
football team
FROM COWER AND CRINGE TO ACTUALLY COVERING...It's
early, we know, but it looks like BYU has at least four corner backs that are
significantly better than anyone that saw the field last season for the
Cougars.
You remember last
season, don't you? That was when BYU went on defense, you tended to cower and
cringe, especially against good passing teams.
Robbie Buckner, a
redshirt freshman and retuned missionary, is a player. He missed most of last
week with a tweaked hamstring. The three juco transfers are all better than
anything BYU had last season. We especially like Brian Logan and Corby Eason.
Lee Aguire isn't bad either.
Honest to
goodness, this is a major step up for BYU. But, before we get too giddy, all
that means is that BYU corners are now MWC caliber. None of these guys could
play in the Pac 10, Big 12 or SEC and none would see much of the field at
either
Still, MWC quality
is a major step forward for BYU.
PACKING SOME SMACK...BYU now has two
safeties that can bring some pop and pain to opposing receivers and running
backs. Andrew Rich is a hitter. So is true freshman Craig Bills. He will play
this season. Scott Johnson is better than anybody that played safety for the
Cougars last season. Jray Galea'i is another true freshman who has a very bright
future. This is a definite upgrade in talent and skill over last season for
Bronco Mendenhall and his defense.
LEADERSHIP NOT LACKING IN LINEBACKERS...Team
leadership is not lacking in BYU's stable of linebackers. Some of the most
dependable, trustworthy and hardest working BYU football players can be found
on the Cougar linebacker roster. We have seen nothing after one week to change
our mind. This is a pretty generic group.
FLAK AND FINDING THE TRUTH...We took
some flak last week because we said there were no playmakers on BYU's defensive
line. We had lots of people remind us that Jan Jorgensen was a sack machine the
last two seasons.
We like him. He
has a big motor and has nice stats, including sacks, but in our opinion, he is
not a disruptive force on defense and neither is any other Cougar defensive
lineman. No one has to be double teamed by opponents.
The good news is
that this group has performed well in the first week of fall camp.
The bad news is
that we don't know what that means. They have looked good against the BYU
offensive line and nobody knows, as yet, if they are any good.
A better barometer
will be BYU's defensive line play against
We hope we are
flooded with flak after those games. It will mean that we were wrong and BYU's
line play on both sides of the ball is vastly improved.
PASS THE ROGAINE...With a slug of
returned missionaries manning the offensive line, thinning hairlines are not
unusual at BYU. What is a more pressing matter after one week of fall camp,
however, is the thinning of the offensive line roster.
BYU is running out
of bodies.
Jesse Taufi has
not been able to practice as yet while he tends to academic issues. Matt
Reynolds, BYU's best offensive lineman, broke his hand just days into fall
camp.
He had surgery,
but is expected back for the
His brother
Houston, is nursing a hamstring injury.
Jason Speredon, a
projected starter at guard, is gone for the year with a torn rotator cuff.
Forget finding
starters and getting them ready for the opening game, BYU needs bodies on the
offensive line just to be able to practice effectively.
We like the talent
in this group. There are enough good players to have a good offensive line, but
how it is handled, managed and made to last through the remainder of fall camp
will be extremely crucial.
WE ARE EXPECTING MUCH LESS FROM MAX HALL THIS SEASON...When
it comes to interceptions thrown, less is better. Hall's touchdown to
interception ratio should be very good.
He is having an
exceptional fall camp.
We expect an
exceptional senior season and Hall's first week of practice seems to back up
that optimism.
Most of the
early reviews of Riley Nelson have been mixed. Some are good and some aren't.
Our review and expectations for this playmaker haven't changed. He will be good
and will be the backup to Hall this season.
SPIELBERG IS PLANNING A REMAKE OF
We expect a rerun
and remake of his freshman year production.
While J.J. DiLuigi
has had a nice fall camp and is listed as the backup to Unga, the Cougars also
need a rerun and remake of Manase
Coaches will find
out early this coming week if he will be academically eligible to play this
year.
Right now all we
have are the trailers from
CATCHING COLLIE WON'T BE EASY...The
BYU receiver had 100-plus catches last season. That won't be duplicated by any
Cougar wide out this season, but overall, the receiving corp will be much
better and more productive that what Max Hall had to throw to last year.
McKay Jacobson is
the real deal. O'Neill Chambers is improved and there is a boatload of
legitimate receivers from returning lettermen and incoming freshman to make
this a very deep and capable group.
Jacobson is having
a great fall camp.
YIN AND YANG...We like what we have seen
of BYU this fall. They are going to be better than most people anticipate and
even better than we thought they would be. We attribute it to the optimism of
the first week of fall camp and a Yin and Yang moment.
Optimism aside,
when it comes to opening game against
If Tiger Woods can
ying and yank almost all of his putts in a major, then in theory, Sam Bradford,
OU's returning Heisman Trophy winner and quarterback, can throw seven or eight
interceptions against the improved BYU secondary.
Optimism is good,
but so is
The Sooners are in
another league when it comes to college football and web sites.
In the first
head-to-head matchup of this year between
Both schools have
professional looking web sites that promote their programs. Both programs offer
professional quality video on their sites.
BYU's site looks
nice, but compared to
Case
in point. Last Saturday, both
BYU's video for
Saturday showed some nice, but fluffy interviews with coaches and some nice
shots of players warming up before the scrimmage started.
The Sooners,
despite the closed scrimmage to the public, showed highlights of that closed
scrimmage on their web site.
In our opinion, it
would be so easy for BYU to be doing what
When it comes to
their respective fan bases, BYU appears to be more paranoid than proactive in
promoting and growing its essential fan base.
If Bob Stoops
thought showing videos of actual practices and scrimmages was a detriment to
his program, it wouldn't be on the OU web site. It appears that at
In the web site
video matchup between BYU and
Here are the two
sites.
www.soonersports.com/ot/2009_preseason_practice.html
THERE IS
NO RECESSION IN RECRUITING
BYU is having a
big year in football recruiting.
You have to like
the quantity and quality of the Cougars' early commitments for the class of
2010.
As of last week,
Bronco Mendenhall and coaching crew have 24 early verbals that say they will
sign with BYU next February.
We don't think the
Cougars are done.
There will be some
senior sleepers in BYU's LDS recruiting base that will have breakout years and
there will be some immediate needs exposed somewhere on the team this season.
That usually results from unexpected injuries or lack of talent.
BYU needs to stay
on top of he juco scene to help fill those needs.
BYU is doing a
very nice job recruiting to its strength and base, which is the LDS athlete.
They sign some good ones and do so in great abundance.
That said, in our
opinion, the only difference between the LDS players BYU signs and the LDS
players
Over the last
decade, you could take the core of LDS players from both the Utes and Cougars
and swap them or interchange them without any noticeable difference.
BYU's LDS
prospects are usually more publicized and promoted, but the results on the
field would indicate that they are basically the same caliber of players at
both schools.
That speaks to the
increase in LDS prospects over the years.
There are
exceptions, of course. BYU has proven that they have a corner on the LDS
quarterback market. The good ones seldom go to
Each team has
their exceptional LDS athletes. Last year, BYU had Austin Collie and
In our opinion,
the difference between the BYU and
We don't like
BYU has a bigger
pool of LDS players from which to form their core and they have an exceptional
track record with LDS quarterbacks. BYU's model isn't made for speed, but there
are very encouraging signs that speed is getting better from within the current
model.
That seems
especially encouraging from the most recent list of commitments the Cougars
have lined up for the 2010 class.
Here they are
alphabetically.
Ross Apo...WR, 6-4, 195,
The
Jordan Black, OL 6-7,
235, Alta HS, UT
Algernon Brown, RB, 6-1,
205, Skyline HS, UT
Tayo Fabuluje, OT, 6-5,
255, The
Alani Fua, LB 6-5, 210,
Oaks Christian HS, CA
Kori Gaines, DB, 5-9,
170, Grayson HS, GA
Jake Heaps...QB, 6-2,
195, Skyline HS, WA
Hauoli Jamora, DL, 6-2,
230, Kahuku HS, UT
Jordan Johnson, DB, 5-10,
175,
Tuni Kanuch...DL, 6-1,
285, Bingham HS, UT
Bronson Kaufusi, DL, 6-6,
225, Timpview HS, UT
Teu Kautai, LB, 6-1, 200,
The
Collin Keoshian, LB, 6-2,
225, Santa
A.J. Moore...RB, 5-10,
190,
Manu Mulitalo, OL, 6-3,
305, Granger HS, UT
Joey Owens, LB, 6-2, 215,
Pleasant Grove HS, UT
Drew Phillips, RB, 6-0,
185, Boaz HS, AL
Graham Rowley, OL, 6-4,
270, Waialua HS, HI
Bryan Sampson, TE, 6-4,
210, Pleasant Grove HS, UT
Kona Schwenke, DL, 6-5,
210, Kahuku HS, HI
Zac Stout...LB, 6-2, 220,
Oaks Christian HS, CA
Sae Tautu, LB, 6-3, 215,
Lone Peak HS, UT
Travis Tuiloma, DL, 6-3,
290, Washburn Rural HS, KS
Blair Tushaus, OL, 6-2,
270, Notre Dame Prep, AZ
In the recruiting
classes of the last two years, BYU signed only three non-LDS high school
players. They signed O'Neill Chambers and Garrett Nicholson in 2008 and Cody
Hoffman from the 2009 class.
In the current
list of commits, there are already 5 non-LDS prospects. They include Tayo
Fabuluje,
The top headliners
of this prospective class remain the same. Jake Heaps is a human headline. If
there is a quarterback accolade, he has it, or soon will, when it comes to high
school football.
Bronson Kaufusi
has emerged as a national-caliber recruit and has the talent to qualify for
that assessment.
He will get a
chance to show his stuff this Friday when his Timpview Thunderbirds take on
Pleasant Grove HS. The Vikings have at least 8 Division I recruits, including
two that have said they will sign with the Cougars in Bryan Sampson and Joey
Owens.
We still maintain
that the commit for the coming class that will have the most immediate impact
on the field will be Ross Apo. He can and will play right away.
TELEVISION TIMETABLE
BYU vs.
Saturday, Sept 5 at
Kickoff: 5:00 pm Mountain
Time
TV: ESPN
BYU vs. Tulane
Saturday, Sept 12 at
Kickoff: 1:30 pm Mountain
Time
TV: ESPN2
BYU vs.
Saturday, Sept 19 at
Kickoff: 5:00 pm Mountain
Time
TV: Versus
BYU vs.
Saturday, Sept 26 at
Kickoff: 4:00 pm Mountain
Time
TV: The Mtn
BYU vs.
Friday, Oct 2 at
Kickoff: 7:00 pm Mountain
Time
TV: The Mtn
BYU vs.
UNLV
Saturday, Oct 10 at
Kickoff: 8:00 pm Mountain
Time
TV: The Mtn
BYU vs.
Saturday, Oct 17 at
Kickoff: 4:00 pm Mountain
Time
TV: The Mtn
BYU vs.
TCU
Saturday, Oct 24 at
Kickoff: 5:30 pm Mountain
Time
TV: Versus
BYU vs.
Saturday, Nov 7 at
Kickoff: Noon Mountain
Time
TV: The Mtn
BYU vs.
Saturday, Nov 14 at
Kickoff: Noon Mountain
Time
TV: The Mtn
BYU vs.
Air Force
Saturday, Nov 21 at
Kickoff: 1:30 pm Mountain
Time
TV: CBS C
BYU vs.
Saturday, Nov 28 at
Kickoff: 3:00 pm Mountain
Time
TV: CBS C and The Mtn