HB Arnett’s

COUGAR SPORTSLINE

801 372  0819

hbarnett@fiber.net

1391 West 800 South – Orem, Utah 84058

Vol. 32, Issue 23 – December 23, 2011

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Holiday Publishing Schedule

I am sending this issue of the newsletter out early for two reasons. I don't want to write it and you probably aren't interested in reading it during Christmas.

The same goes for New Years. It also will be sent out early next week. The regular publishing schedule will resume in January.

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TUNING UP FOR TULSA

BYU returned to practice last week in preparation for the Armed Forces Bowl set for Friday, Dec. 30 in Dallas.

If Bronco Mendenhall wants to get an up close look at the Golden Hurricane, all he needs to do is look in the mirror.

What he will see is a team that is very similar to the Cougars; especially offensively.

Both teams depend on quarterback production to be successful.

The QB with the biggest offensive numbers in this matchup will lead his team to a win.

We know what Riley Nelson can do. He rushed for 376 yards and passed for 1467 yards. He did it while playing part-time this season.

G.J. Kinne had better numbers this season because he played all 12 games for Tulsa.

He, like Nelson, can hurt opposing defenses with his legs. He rushed for 408 yards and passed for 2876 yards and 25 touchdowns.

Like Nelson, who transferred to BYU from Utah State, Kinne transferred to Tulsa after starting his career with the Texas Longhorns

This kid is a playmaker, in the mold of Nelson. BYU will be very hard pressed to contain him.

That pretty much explains why BYU has been listed as a 2.5 point favorite.

BYU should be able to move the ball against Tulsa, but we expect the Golden Hurricane to do he same against the Cougar defense.

The only team that both teams played this season was Central Florida.

BYU played the Knights in Provo while Tulsa traveled to Orlando. Both teams came away victories and both games resulted in the identical score of 24-17.

Tulsa had better numbers in their win than BYU was able to muster. TU rushed for 251 yards against UCF and passed for 203 yards. BYU only rushed for 127 yards and had just 133 yards passing.

Riley Nelson saw very limited action in that game for BYU and threw one pass. It was incomplete. Jake Heaps was still at the quarterback helm against UCF. It wasn't until the following game against Utah State that Nelson took over BYU's quarterbacking duties.

We give Tulsa the edge in this game because they have better and more productive running backs. Because we see the Nelson-Kinne matchup as a wash, the Tulsa ground game should be the difference, except for one big factor; Tulsa turnovers.

We expect BYU to force miscues from Tulsa in this game and consequently call it BYU 38 Tulsa 31.

MISSIONARY COMINGS, GOINGS AND IN BETWEEN

We mentioned last week that Tyler Haws, the outstanding forward/guard for BYU, will be back from his LDS mission to the Philippines in time for next season.

BYU recently signed Jordan Chatman, a 6-4 guard from Camas, WA last month. Chatman is finishing up his senior year of eligibility this season at Union HS. He is the son of former Cougar basketball player Jeff Chatman.

The younger Chatman recently received his LDS mission call to serve in the Taipei, Taiwan Mandarin speaking mission.

He reports to the MTC in May.

Incidentally, Chatman has been concurrently enrolled at a local community college and already has two years of college credit racked up.

When he enrolls at BYU, he will be a freshman in athletic eligibility, but close to a junior in academic standing.

It is no secret that Jabari Parker is LDS and also considered the top prospect in the nation right now, even with another year of high school eligibly left.

He has played in prestigious tournament all across the nation and internationally for the last several years.

He recently scored 40 points in just 23 minutes in a contest.

He also scored big in my book with his twitter account where he routinely tweets quotes from people like President Gordon B. Hinckley. One of his latest tweets was "We are not on earth to see how important we can become, but to see how much difference we can make in the lives of others" - Gordon B Hinckley.

You can follow Parker yourself at www.twitter.com/jabariparker22.

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We have followed Parker since he was a freshman and always thought that BYU and Dave Rose's chances of landing this premier LDS prospect were around 15-85. That is what happens when every big time program in the country has been stalking this kid for the last 3 years.

We won't elaborate, because we can't, but we now put BYU's chances in the Parker sweepstakes as 50-50. As a matter of fact, we put BYU as one of the top three schools who realistically have a chance to sign Parker next November.

Again, according to what I am hearing now, BYU is seriously in the hunt here.

BYU TAKING NO CHANCES WITH HILL

Despite getting a commitment from Taysom Hill a few months ago, BYU is taking no chances on the former Stanford signee.

Had Jim Harbaugh not left Stanford to take his current job as coach of the San Francisco 49ers, Hill would have enrolled at the Palo Alto school.

BYU wasn't alone in trying to land Hill. Several other big-name schools showed up and showed interest in the 6-3, 225 pound quarterback.

Just a few days after Hill returned from his LDS mission to Australia a few weeks ago, Brandon Doman made the trip to Pocatello to put the full court rush on the talented QB.

The Cougars also hosted Hill on campus and rolled out the red carpet for him. They made sure he was here for the Baylor game to get the full effect of the BYU fan support of Cougar teams.

The people we talk to in Pocatello and at BYU say this guy is absolutely the real guy.

From our vantage point, what will be interesting is to see what BYU does with him starting this spring.

Will they redshirt him this coming season or get him ready to take over for Riley Nelson in the 2013 season?

TIMING AND TRANSFERS

I doubt that I am the only one wondering what Dave Rose would be doing for guards now if Matt Carlino had not decided to transfer from UCLA when he did.

BYU definitely had to sway Carlino to Provo and beat out Bradley, Butler and UNLV among others, but without him, there really were no other legitimate guards in the program.

Without Carlino, we think Rose would have gone the juco route and tried to find a guard to tide him over until the arrival of Jordan Chatman, Cory Calvert, Nick Emery and the return of Kyle Collinsworth from the mission field.

LDS QUARTERBACKS AT OTHER LOCATIONS

It now appears that Jake Heaps, who transferred from BYU, will land at Kansas where Charlie Weiss, the former Notre Dame head coach and most recently the Florida offensive coordinator, assumes the head coaching job in Lawrence.

Another LDS quarterback landed at Louisiana Tech a couple of years ago and became the starter for the Bulldogs 5 games ago.

Colby Cameron, is the younger brother of former BYU basketball player Jordan Cameron. The older Cameron lasted less than a year at BYU before transferring to Ventura JC in California and then finishing up as a tight end at USC.

Kevin Prince, another LDS quarterback, finished his career at UCLA after turning down BYU's scholarship offer years ago to stay home and play for the Bruins.

Brad Sorensen, the older brother of current Cougar safety Daniel Sorensen, still has one more year of eligibility left at Southern Utah. The 6-5, 230 pound QB, transferred to Cedar City after two walk on years at BYU.

Of all the LDS quarterbacks currently playing college football now, Sorensen is the one that has the most NFL potential and the one that will likely be drafted higher than any other Mormon QB. That includes Jake Heaps.

Sorensen has what scouts are looking for; great size and a big arm.

There is was a reason that John Skelton, a 6-6 245 pound quarterback out of Fordham, was drafted by the Arizona Cardinals while Max Hall was a free agent. Great size and big arm.

NATIONAL LETTER OF INTENT SIGNING DAY FOR FOOTBALL JUST FIVE WEEKS AWAY

Teams could begin signing junior college mid-year transfers last week. It now appears that BYU took advantage of that signing window and have landed Marques Johnson of El Camino JC in Torrance, Calif.

Johnson is a 6-2, 305 nose tackle that turned down Indiana and Washington State to ink with the Cougars. He prepped at Westchester HS in Los Angeles. He will have 3 years to play 2 and plans on enrolling at BYU in January.

BYU is in need of some big-body block eaters because of the graduation of Hebron Fangupo and an LDS mission call to Travis Tuiloma.

BYU's CURRENT COMMITS LIST FOR FOOTBALL

Marques Johnson, DL, 6-2, 305, El Camino JC, CA

Sawyer Powell, LB, 6-1, 205, Richland HS, WA

Troy Hinds, DL, 6-5, 230, Davis HS, UT

Jamaal Williams, RB, 6-2, 190, Summit HS, CA

Jherremya Leuta-Douyere, LB/FB, 6-0, 220, Servite HS, CA

Butch Pauu, LB, 6-0, 215, Servite HS, CA

Micah Hannemann, DB, 6-1, 185, Lone Peak HS, UT

Steven Richard, TE, 6-2, 240, Alta HS, UT

Austin Hoyt, DL, 6-7, 240, Argonaut HS, CA

Phillip Amone, LB, 6-0, 220, Dr. Phillips HS, FL

Dylan Collie, WR, 5-10, 200, Oak Ridge HS, CA

Taysom Hill, QB, 6-2, 225, Highland HS, ID

Tanner Mangum, QB, 6-2, 185, Eagle HS, ID

Josh Weeks, WR, 6-4, 200, Show Low HS, AZ

Rhett Sandlin, DB, 6-3, 220, Alta HS, UT

Matt Hadley, DB, 5-11, 190, Connell HS, WA

Ammon Olsen, QB, 6-4, 210, SUU/Alta HS, UT

Roman Andrus, DL, 6-5, 235, Oak Ridge HS, WA

BYU Moves to 10-3 with Wins against Buffalo and UCSB

BYU continues to get balanced scoring and runs their season record to 10-3 with wins over Buffalo and UCSB this week in the Marriott Center.

Tuesday night the Cougars defeated Buffalo 93-78 behind great scoring from the guard line. Brock Zylstra led all scorers with 26 points, but it was Anson Winder and his 20 points coming off the bench that allowed BYU to snag the win.

It was Winder who hit his first 5 three pointers just when BYU was lethargic coming out of the first half gate.

Against UC Santa Barbara on Thursday night, it was again another guard that led BYU in scoring. Matt Carlino netted 22 points in the 89-75 win over the Gauchos.

BYU will not get Christmas off and return to action next Tuesday against Cal State San Marcos. Dave Rose and his crew will then begin WCC play on the road at Saint Mary’s on Thursday, December 29.

The Gaels are currently undefeated at home.

BYUtv NOW PART OF WCC TELEVISION SYNDICATION PACKAGE

The West Coast Conference announced earlier this week that BYUtv is now part of league's new 26-game regional television syndication package along with Comcast California/Bay Area/Northwest, Fox Sports West/Prime ticket and Channel 4 San Diego.

It sounds like a mouthful, but what it really means to Cougar basketball fans is that all of the WCC games which BYU will play can be seen live on either an ESPN platform or BYUtv.

Here now is the latest broadcast schedule for the remainder of the regular season for BYU basketball.

All start times are Mountain Time

Dec 29 BYU at Saint Mary's...ESPN2/ESPN3 - 9:00 p.m.

Dec 31 San Diego at BYU...BYUtv- 4:00 p.m.

Jan 5  BYU at Loyola Marymount...BYUtv - 7 pm

Jan 7  San Francisco at BYU...BYUtv - 4:00 p.m.

Jan 14 Santa Clara at BYU...ESPNU - 6:00 p.m.

Jan 16 BYU at San Diego...BYUtv - 8:00 p.m.

Jan 19 Loyola Marymount at BYU...BYUtv - 6:30 p.m.

Jan 21 BYU at Pepperdine...BYUtv - 6:00 p.m.

Jan 25 BYU at Va Tech...ESPN3 - 5:00 p.m.

Jan 28 Saint Mary's at BYU...ESPNU - 7:00 p.m.

Feb 2  Gonzaga at BYU...ESPN2/ESPN3 - 9:00 p.m.

Feb 4  BYU at Portland...BYUtv - 8:00 p.m.

Feb 11 Pepperdine at BYU...BYUtv - 4:00 p.m.

Feb 16 BYU at San Francisco...ESPNU - 8:00 p.m.

Feb 18 BYU at Santa Clara...ESPNU - 5:00 p.m.

Feb 23 BYU at Gonzaga...ESPN2/ESPN3 - 9:00 p.m.

Feb 25 Portland at BYU...BYUtv - 4:00 p.m.

WCC Conference BB Championships at Orleans Arena - Las Vegas

Feb 29 No. 8 seed vs. No. 9 seed...tba - 7:00 p.m.

Mar 1  8/9 winner vs. No. 5 seed...tba - 7:00 p.m.

Mar 2  5/8/9 vs. No. 4 seed...ESPNU - 7:00 p.m.

Mar 2  6/7 winner vs. No. 3 seed...ESPNU - 9:00 p.m.

Mar 3  4/5/8/9 vs. No. 2 seed...ESPN2/ESPN3 - 7:00 p.m.

Mar 3  3/6/7 vs, No. 1 seed...ESPN2/ESPN3 - 9:00 p.m.

Mar 5  Championship Game...ESPN or ESPN2/ESPN3 - 7:00 p.m.

Seating at the Orleans is only approximately 7000. It would be prudent to get tickets early on line from the Orleans.

BYU TELEVISION TIMETABLE

BYU vs. Cal State San Marcos

Tuesday, Dec 27 at Provo

Tipoff: 7:00 pm Mountain Time

TV: BYUtv

BYU vs. St. Mary's

Thursday, Dec 29 at Moraga

Tipoff: 9:00 pm Mountain Time

TV: ESPN2

BYU vs. Tulsa

Friday, Dec 30 at Dallas

Kickoff: 10:00 am Mountain Time

TV: ESPN

BYU vs. San Diego

Saturdy, Dec 31 at Provo

Tipoff: 4:00 pm Mountain Time

TV: BYUtv

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