HB Arnett's 801 372 - 0819 <mailto:hbarnett@fiber.net> hbarnett@fiber.net 1391 West 800 South - Orem, Utah 84058 Vol. 35, Issue 38 - May 4, 2015 Click Here To Order or Renew Your Subscriptions <http://cougarclicks.com/product/Order-Cougar-Sportsline?ID=3173> Dave Goes Dairy and Culls Cougar Herd I don't like to brag, but I am actually pretty experienced when it comes to the dairy industry. I have poured milk on my Frosted Mini Wheats daily for the past two decades. When I was a student. I used to drink milk straight from the jug. Now that I am married, I shamefully admit that occasionally, I will still sneak into the fridge at night when nobody is watching and take a surreptitious swig. I played golf regularly with a guy who, along with his partner, sold and distributed bull semen to dairies in Utah, Idaho and Nevada. Not only did we constantly debate who the better golfer was, but also which of us spread more BS in the intermountain area.he with his bull semen or me with my newsletter. I have actually milked cows. I understand the difference between homogenized, pasteurized and raw milk. If you don't know the difference, the main distinguishing feature is that with raw milk you have to skim off the cream and those small green gooey floaty things before drinking. Decades ago when I was a student at BYU I worked for a company that tested dairy herds for production of milk based on pounds produced and butter fat content. I was the guy taking in the samples, aroma and ambience in the barns. That's when I became painfully aware of what real BS actually is. The bottom line is that with my dairy resume I can recognize culling the herd when I see it. I saw it last month when Dave Rose, the BYU basketball coach, culled his Cougar herd by announcing the transfers of Isaac Neilson and Frank Bartley. This shouldn't have been a surprise to anybody counting the number of scholarships available now and in the future in comparison to the level of talent on the team. As the say in the dairy business, cream rises to the top. In basketball, when the cream rises, you reward it with a scholarship. The lack of a post presence last season was obvious. It was painful to watch, especially for Dave Rose when he actually saw a monster in the post daily during practice, but couldn't use him in actual games. Write this down. K-Y-L-E D-A-V-I-S. The Utah State transfer is the answer to Rose's and BYU basketball fans' prayers. He can defend, score and rebound in the low block. He and Jamal Aytes, the addition of Zac Seljaas, along with the return of Nate Austin and Corbin Kaufusi next year made Neilson expendable. Not to mention the eventual return of Eric Mika and Payton Dastrup from LDS missions. A little caveat on Aytes. He is still not healthy and that is starting to be worrisome to some coaches on the staff. Jordan Chatman is also still struggling to recover from his knee surgery. As for Bartley, he is extremely athletic, but there is no place to play him. He is too small to play the three or four, where he played in the past. He can't shoot well enough to take time away time from Nick Emery, Chase Fischer and Jake Toolson at the two. He can't handle the ball well enough to back up Kyle Collinsworth at the point. It didn't help that he was a turnover machine. Throw in the three Church culls.oops I mean calls to serve missions for Ryan Andrus, Luke Worthington and Dalton Nixon and here is how the roster for next season should shake out. Jamal Aytes, 6-6, Redshirt Sophomore Jordan Chatman, 6-5 Redshirt Freshman Kyle Collinsworth, 6-6 Senior Kyle Davis, 6-8 Junior Chase Fischer, 6-3 Senior Corbin Kaufusi, 6-11, Sophomore Jake Toolson, 6-5, Sophomore Zac Seljaas, 6-7, Freshman Cory Calvert, 6-3, Sophomore Nick Emery, 6-2, Freshman Jakob Hartsock, 6-8 Freshman Braiden Shaw, 6-8 Freshman Nate Austin, 6-11, Senior (non scholarship if hardship waiver granted) This would leave one grant in aid available for next year. BYU is in consideration for the services of Tomasz Gielo, a 6-9, 220 pound forward who played last year at Liberty University. He is from Szezecin, Poland and is shopping around for a place to play as a fifth year senior. Schools in the mix include Ole Miss, K-State, Boise St, Nevada, Marquette, BYU, Vandy, and Nebraska. He was granted a release by new Liberty coach Richie McKay to shop around because Liberty is now at 17 scholarships allotted for the coming season. That's 4 over the limit and somebody has to go. Gielo is good enough that if he opts to stay at Liberty, McKay would welcome him back. Also back from an LDS mission will be Cooper Ainge, but he will maintain his walkon status. BYU and Dave Rose may opt to just sit on the scholarship for a year or reward walkon Jordan Ellis with a grant in aid. BYU will need at least three scholarships to give the following year and will only have two seniors graduating in Collinsworth and Fischer. The three scholarships will be given to Eric Mika, Payton Dastrup and T.J. Haws. BYU will also be looking for a scholarship for at least two or three high school signees in November. The top three on the list would be Frank Jackson, from Lone Peak HS in Highland, Utah, Gavin Baxter, from Timpview HS in Provo and Connor Harding, from Highland HS in Pocatello, That means more culling/cutting of scholarships is still on the horizon. No Jacksons at BYU BYU football, basketball and baseball could have used Bo Jackson, Phil Jackson, Reggie Jackson and Shoeless Joe Jackson in their primes. It was the sans shoes Jackson that made famous the saying, "Say it ain't so Joe", when asked by a young boy if Jackson was involved in the Chicago "Black" Sox scandal, which was an attempt to fix the World Series. Frank Jackson, the ultra-talented 6-3 senior to be LDS guard from Lone Peak HS in Utah has been asked by many where he is going to sign to play basketball this coming November. You can expect him to be coy and courteous in his responses. You can expect BYU basketball fans to resurrect the "Say it ain't so Frank" phrase in November, because, in my opinion, Frank Jackson will not be signing with BYU. He ain't coming to BYU. Call it the sequel to the of Jabari Parker story. Jackson announced his current top schools he is considering last week and BYU made the list. The list includes Arizona, Duke, Stanford, UCLA, BYU, Utah and Notre Dame. In my opinion, BYU making the list was strictly a courtesy call. He won't be signing with BYU. My money is on Arizona and Sean Miller. Since replacing Lute Olson, Miller, the coach at UofA has never missed signing a player that he has personally targeted as a must get guy. Jackson is now Miller's must get guy. In case you don't follow college basketball recruiting closely, here is what Miller has done with players he labels has must have. He beat out Duke and Mike Krzyzewski, John Calipari and Bill Self in head to head battles for players like Stanley Johnson, Aaron Gordon and Kaleb Tarczewski. Miller is well aware of the after high school LDS mission plans of Jackson. He has him listed as a 2018 recruit. Much has been made of the hiring of Quincy Lewis by Dave Rose as a means of increasing BYU's chances of landing Jackson. (See hiring story below). It won't make any difference Miller is that good of a recruiter and Arizona is that good of a program. Now at the risk of sounding like sour grapes, Jackson is definitely an elite player in demand by all the basketball biggies. In my opinion, he just isn't the best player to come out of Lone Peak High School. That would be T.J. Haws. Again my opinion. Haws has much better long distance range on his jumper. While not athletic looking, Haws can get to the rim any time he wants. And best of all, this kid has a mean streak. That's a way of saying that he is as competitive as it gets. In a game of one-on-one, or h-o-r-s-e my money would be on Haws taking Jackson. Again, no sour grapes intended, but if I was Dave Rose and could only have one of the two players, my choice would be Haws. Now if he can get them both, that would be fantastic, but I see no Bo, Reggie or Frank Jackson on BYU's athletic horizon anytime soon. With Jackson headed to Arizona, which so far is my opinion only, the history of BYU basketball coming up empty on national caliber LDS prospects continues marching on. Let's take a trip down memory lane in BYU basketball's recruiting when it comes to LDS players being pursued by big time programs and BYU. The most recent was Jabari Parker to Duke. Before that there was Brett Vroman to UCLA and then to UNLV, Brian Oliver to Georgia Tech, Mark Pope to Washington and then Kentucky. Brett Bearup also chose UK over BYU. Others not choosing BYU also include Mark Madsen and Casey Jacobson, both of whom went to Stanford. Don't forget Chris Burgess who broke BYU hearts when he picked Duke over BYU. I will give BYU credit for landing Danny Ainge and Tyler Haws. They both were nationally recruited. Jimmer Fredette wasn't. Neither was Shawn Bradley. His decision was always between BYU and Utah. According to my math the two LDS players landed against the big boys against 8 whiffs. That equals a batting average of .200, which is good enough to get a job as the cleanup hitter on the BYU baseball team these days, but not nearly good enough to make BYU a legitimate player on the national scene. Throw in the almost guaranteed loss of Jackson to Arizona and that batting average slips to .181 Lewis Named New Assistant The Long Arm of Lone Peak Dave Rose must know a good thing when he sees it. He has seen plenty of good players from Lone Peak High School. To date, the best of the LP legacy has chosen to be Cougars and play basketball at BYU. It started with Jackson Emery. Then came Nate Austin and Tyler Haws. In between was Josh Sharp making his arrival by way of Utah and the Utes. This fall it will be Nick Emery. Next year T.J. Haws will add his name to the legacy list. And of course, everyone is crossing their fingers that Frank Jackson will follow suit. Anybody who follows BYU basketball knows about the players the Cougars have from Lone Peak. What many don't know, however, is that the current coaching staff is now also Lone Peak centric. The big name is Quincy Lewis, recently hired as an assistant coach to replace the departed Mark Pope. The 12-year coach at Lone Peak has coached all of the aforementioned players. His high school coaching resume is impressive. He also had coaching stints as an assistant and BYU-Hawaii, UVU and Southern Utah. Along with Lewis snagging this new gig, Dave Rose elevated Tim LaComb to associate head coach. He also has Lone Peak connections. Here's his resume according to the official BYU basketball web site: BYU Assistant Coach (2010-present); BYU Director of Operations (2007-10); Utah Video Coordinator (2005-07); American Fork Assistant Coach (2002-05); Lone Peak Assistant Coach (1999-02); Utah Team Manager (1994-96). Earlier in the week, Rose announced the hiring of Andrew May as the new Director of Basketball operations. May is also a former Lone Peak basketball player. His dad, the former Cougar Mike May, also was the head coach at Lone Peak before Lewis was hired. Andrew May was a student manager for BYU and Rose. He also was an assistant coach at Orem HS. His latest stint was four years at Salt Lake Community College where he was an assistant coach NFL and Nothing in Common What does BYU football have in common with the following teams? Louisiana-Lafayette, Texas Southern, North Dakota State, Towson, Monmouth, Northwestern State, Eastern Washington, Newberry, Central Arkansas, Navy, Wyoming and William and Mary. The Answer: Absolutely nothing. All of the teams listed above, along with other no name and obscure schools, had players selected in the just completed NFL Draft. BYU didn't. That pretty well explains three consecutive 8-5 seasons in a nutshell. That also pretty well explains the current losing streak in football to Utah. The Utes had 4 players picked up by the NFL via the draft this past week. Bronco Mendenhall has explained his recruiting philosophy succintly by saying that the first requirement for recruiting a football player to BYU is that they be a good fit <https://www.ksl.com/?sid=34436202> at the university. Here's hoping that the "BYU Fit" will also someday soon fit into the NFL on a regular basis. Meanwhile here's BYU's recent release about free agents signing deals with NFL teams. Six offensive players and three Cougar defenders received NFL opportunities as undrafted free agents, including outside linebacker Alani Fua and offensive lineman Solomone Kafu with the Arizona Cardinals, defensive back Robertson Daniel with the Oakland Raiders, defensive back Skye PoVey with the Green Bay Packers, wide receiver Jordan Leslie with the Minnesota Vikings, wide receiver Ross Apo with the Seattle Seahawks, tight end Devin Mahina with the Washington Redskins, offensive lineman De'Ondre Wesley with the Baltimore Ravens and fullback Paul Lasike with the Atlanta Falcons. If there was a bit of BYU good news coming out of the draft, it had to do with Jameis Winston, the first guy taken by the Tampa Bay Bucs. No guarantees that Winston's college success will translate directly to BYU, but in case you forgot, Tanner Mangum was selected as the co-MVP, along with Winston of the Elite 11 camp for quarterbacks three years ago. In my opinion, that gives Mangum some street cred and BYU faithful hope. Mangum will return from his LDS mission to Chile in early June. Football Fluff and $tuff Money talks, but BYU shouted last week that they want to pony up and play with the big boys of the Power 5 conferences. The Cougars will pay $4500 per academic year in cost of attendance dough to all athletes on scholarship beginning this fall. That money is over and above the regular athletic scholarship stipends athletes now receive. For more details click here <http://www.sltrib.com/sports/2465529-155/byu-athletics-will-pay-4500-for> for a nice summary of BYU's money trail to the top. When it comes to bowl games, the Cougars are still playing for chump change until they can get the Power 5 invite they covet. There is nothing chump, however, about where the Cougars will be playing those bowl contests. Last week Tom Holmoe and BYU that the Cougars, if bowl eligible, will be playing in either the Las Vegas Bowl or Hawaii Bowl after the conclusion of this 2015 season. They will play in the other bowl at the conclusion of the 2019 season. Again, all this is contingent on BYU winning 6 games and becoming bowl eligible or in case the Cougars aren't selected to participate in the College Football Playoffs. For that to happen, the Cougars would have to hit a 5 team parlay to play in the playoffs. That would include wins over Nebraska, Boise State, UCLA Michigan, and Missouri. Here is the official 2015 schedule as released by BYU last week. Additional broadcast plans will be announces as the season approaches. BYU 2015 FOOTBALL SCHEDULE Date Opponent Time Network Sept. 5 at Nebraska TBD Sept. 12 Boise State TBD ESPN or ESPN2 Sept. 19 at UCLA TBD Sept. 26 at Michigan TBD Oct. 2 UConn (Friday) 8:15 pm MT ESPN or ESPN2 Oct. 10 East Carolina TBD Oct. 16 Cincinnati (Friday) 6:00 pm MT ESPN Oct. 24 Wagner 1:00 pm MT BYUtv Oct. 31 BYE TBD Nov. 6 at San Jose St. (Friday) 8:30 pm PT CBSSN Nov. 14 at Missouri TBD Nov. 21 Fresno State TBD Nov. 28 at Utah State 1:30 pm MT CBSSN Other Spring Sports Rugby Takes Fourth Straight Title In a national championship that came down to the last minute with BYU hanging on, the Cougars captured their fourth straight Penn Mutual Varsity Cup Trophy and fifth championship overall against the Cal Bears. The final: 30-27. In softball, the Lady Cougars captured the WCC title over the weekend with a sweep of Santa Clara on the road. In the process of taking the title, Sophomore pitcher McKenna Bull tied the school record for single-season victories as BYU run-ruled Santa Clara 8-0 for its fourth West Coast Conference sweep Saturday afternoon. Bull is 32-7 on the season, tying former pitcher Paige Affleck who set the record in 2010. In baseball the Cougars lost a little ground in their quest to make the four-team post season WCC tournament. BYU lost the first two games of a three game series against Pacific, a team that has been struggling. The Cougars lost 4-3, 11-6 and took the final contest of the series 6-4 in 11 innings. BYU is now 23-21 on the year and 12-9 in conference play. The Cougars are currently in fourth place in the league standings, but will need to stay there to make the playoffs. Next up for the Cougars will be Saint Mary's for a three game series this week in Provo. TELEVISION TIMETABLE BYU vs. Utah Valley (Softball) Tuesday, May 5 at Provo (BYU Field) First Pitch: 5 pm MDT TV: BYUtv BYU vs. St. Mary's (Baseball) Thursday, May 7 at Provo First Pitch: 6 pm MDT TV: BYUtv Radio: KOVO - ESPN 960 Provo (streaming audio) BYU vs. St. Mary's (Baseball) Friday, May 8 at Provo First Pitch: 6 pm MDT TV: BYUtv Radio: KOVO - ESPN 960 Provo (streaming audio) BYU vs. St. Mary's (Baseball) Saturday, May 9 at Provo First Pitch: 1 pm MDT TV: BYUtv Radio: KOVO - ESPN 960 Provo (streaming audio) BYU vs. Utah (Baseball) Tuesday, May 12 at Salt Lake First Pitch: 7 pm MDT TV: Pac 12 Network Radio: KOVO - ESPN 960 Provo (streaming audio)
