2011 BYU Football Thread

[Borg]

Not that I follow the progression of each spot on the team...but, from an outside observer, it would seem that our biggest weak spot on offense would be our running game.

Can someone shed some light on how our RB's are going to be? Again, to me, it seems we have no breakaway people (Phillips?..but I doubt he plays much)...and we don't have the huge Unga type back that can get 4 yards no matter what....

So, I'm a little concerned that our RB's will have a hard time getting things done back there. As much as I think DiLuigi is a stand up guy...I just have never been super impressed by his running.

[San Juan Sun]

Not that I follow the progression of each spot on the team...but, from an outside observer, it would seem that our biggest weak spot on offense would be our running game.

Can someone shed some light on how our RB's are going to be? Again, to me, it seems we have no breakaway people (Phillips?..but I doubt he plays much)...and we don't have the huge Unga type back that can get 4 yards no matter what...

I'm no expert, but I would call our RB corps "serviceable". I thought that they were reasonably productive as a group last year, and I expect more of the same this year. I thought they improved as a group when Quezada came on in the second half of the year. I do not expect Drew Phillips to get a lot of time, except maybe on kick returns.

I think the big thing is to avoid getting predictable, like we were last year at times. You pretty much knew what Kariya was going to do, and had a good bet that DiLuiigi was going to run to the edge. The draw trap, effective screens, QB under center, and more play action will all help. Plus Juice will be a soph.

In the end, I think the RBs will be productive, and benefit now that the offense will be less predictable and more efficient as a group (improved TE and WR play will help the backs). I'm OK with this group, as we've truly been spoiled by having Curtis Brown and Ungainly as featured backs since 2005.

[SteelBlue]

Im sure part of bronco's love for Spencer is because he is his use of kid. Much like Andrew Rich, when asked to run through a wall, he would respond, "how fast". He is also the type of kid who likely only needs to be shown something once, to get it. Though quite nice and almost quiet off the field, he can be a little nasty on it. His dad is a dairy farmer, so all the Hadleys know what it means to work. Again, the best comp, I can think of, is Andrew Rich.

This guy served in our ward a couple years ago. He was the most impressive missionary we've had in the 14 years I've lived here.

[kccougar]

..and we don't have the huge Unga type back that can get 4 yards no matter what....

Didn't DiLuigi average over 4 yards/carry last year despite being our ONLY offensive option for most of the year?

[San Juan Sun]

Didn't DiLuigi average over 4 yards/carry last year despite being our ONLY offensive option for most of the year?

DiLuigi exceeded my expectations last year. Especially so considering how Heaps was handcuffed from throwing more than 5 yards past the LOS early last year.

[BGRTHNUMEGO]

Didn't DiLuigi average over 4 yards/carry last year despite being our ONLY offensive option for most of the year?

Nearly 1400 combined yards rushing and receiving and 9 TDs on that offense last year was a pretty remarkable season. And he averaged 5.15 ypc. JJ had the 17th most rushing yards in one season and only 7 of the years ahead of him had a higher ypc.

[MarkGrace]

GMan's recap of the spring for the offense.
http://byu.scout.com/2/1063683.html

[wally]

Since this is an campaign year, I thought that this was a cute photoshop that you guys might like to have somewhere in your 2011 thread:

[Hazzard]

My questions/comments after spring ball ...

1. For those who have seen them play this spring, why have Lark and Munns struggled? I mean, these were two highly recruited guys. I've heard little things about Lark not caring about football anymore, but what about Munns? And why doesn't Lark care about football? Did they both see the writing on the wall with Heaps starting and realize they were done? Or are there other issues?

2. Riley Nelson might be an arrogant punk geek who wears dumb stuff and does dumb stuff and says dumb stuff, but his shoulder injury made him look worse than he was last year and he's actually a pretty good QB. Not great, but good enough to not freak us out if Heaps goes down.

3. Bronco screwed up the QB situation last year. However, as several have pointed out it probably didn't matter too much b/c we weren't going to do much better than around .500 anyway. I don't really care what Anae and Doman wanted; Bronco makes the final call and he screwed up by not picking a starter much earlier and sticking with him. But I forgive him.

4. Announcing team captains and leadership council members is dorky. And not just when BYU does it. Media outlets reporting on it is even dorkier. I don't care who the captains are; I care about who produces on the field.

5. I get as excited about young coaches with "tons of enthusiasm" as I do about young QB's with "tons of enthusiasm." Experience is better than enthusiasm. Doman has said conflicting things multiple times about the kind of offense he is going to run. Not a good sign. I think he'll figure it out over the next couple of years, but we might have some identity crises schematically in 2011. Fortunately we have the talent to mask some of these problems. Then again, I'm a huge fan of rigid systems (a la Air Force, Mike Leach, etc.) in high school and college, where practice time is so limited.

6. Our receivers may be great in 2012, but it seems like they still have too many drops to be great in 2011. Apo will be good and show flashes of brilliance this year, but he'll be inconsistent. Hoffman will be excellent. TE's will be a lot better.

7. We are going to be good in 2011, but not great. I see us going 8-4 like this:

L - Ole Miss (road game vs. SEC team)
L - Texas (road game vs. one of the best programs in the nation after big travel week before)
W - Utah (Chow's offense sucks now)
W - UCF (home game -- slight edge)
W - Utah State
W - San Jose State
W - Oregon State (road game, but we can win it)
W - Idaho State
L - TCU (road game vs. team with great athletes)
W - Idaho
W - New Mexico State
L - Hawaii (not this road trip game again! against a really good QB)

8. If Heaps stays healthy and progresses normally, we are going to make BCS runs in 2012 and 2013. Since LaVell started this thing, we have elite teams when we have two things: (1) experienced QB, (2) above average defense. We will have those two things in 2012 and 2013.

[smokymountainrain]

How tall is the Mailman?

He's a solid 6'9", IIRC.

[oxcoug]

I'm getting excited. Our team is gonna be sooo awesome that our two deep is three deep.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that 2-deep also really outdated? I see Gaines and no Fangupo.

For my own amusement, not because my two-deep is better than anyone else's, here goes, complete with calling shots on the contested positions:

Defense

DE - Putnam / Rowley (Putnam is formally the starter but loses reps to Rowley so that by year's end Rowley is the de facto starter)
NT - Fangupo / Tuiloma (I'm predicting a fairly even rotation here)
DE - Manu / Muehlman
**Fuga and Richardson get brought along slowly

(as everyone is aware by now, we're going to see some flexible arrangements here with Fangupo, Fuga, Richardson moving out to DE and some sets that will look like 3-DTs playing across the front)

OLB - Pendleton / Frazier
OLB - KVN / Wagner (I'm hearing he will, in fact, be back) / Ansah
ILB - Tree / Hadley / Stout
ILB - Kav / Jorgensen / Leng Wai
**Alani Fua remains the wild card here

CB - Buckner / Johnson
CB - Eason / Hadley (I'm hopeful that reps are divided much more evenly as these four are close)
FS - Uale / Hague - hate to say it, really don't want one of our better athletes starting here, but there's too much talk about Uale's leadership for Bronco not to put him on the field. I'm feeling better about it though.
SS - D Sor / J'ray (My prediction - Bronco goes for D Sor's combined life experience, Rich-esque football intelligence and general awesomeness over J'ray's pure athleticism, but J'ray sees a lot more of the field than backups in the past have)

Offense

QB - Heaps / Nelson
RB - Diluigi / Juice / Kariya
FB - Mendenhall / Alisa (predicting we'll see more of Alisa as the year proceeds - he's far more of a threat running the ball and catching the ball out of the backfield)
**Philips is the X factor

WR - Hoff / Matthews (more of him at WR rather than TE)
WR - Apo / Hafoka (Spencer, in his 9th season in the program, is one of my picks to contribute in the "more-than-expected" category - he's been either the first or second fastest receiver in the program for a few years, but he has ability that's been undercut by various injuries and ailments - Bronco singled him out as someone who helped himself this spring and I think we'll see him benefit from the improved TE play and the HoffPo - yes I might have just coined that).
Slot - MJ / Falslev (goes without saying that we're going to see MJ on the field in a lot of 2 WR sets)

TE - Mahina / Holt / Wilson

LT - Matt / Kahaiai'li
LG - Hansen / Vaitai
C - Reynolds / Tushaus (I know there was some amazement at the bad snaps and speculation that Brown ends up back at C and that may be, but I think they'll stick with Houston and that he will have this worked out by early in fall camp)
RG - Brown / Thorson
RT - Brown / Matthews (OK, maybe not but we'll see on Matthews)

[Goatnapper'96]

My questions/comments after spring ball ...

1. For those who have seen them play this spring, why have Lark and Munns struggled? I mean, these were two highly recruited guys. I've heard little things about Lark not caring about football anymore, but what about Munns? And why doesn't Lark care about football? Did they both see the writing on the wall with Heaps starting and realize they were done? Or are there other issues?

2. Riley Nelson might be an arrogant punk geek who wears dumb stuff and does dumb stuff and says dumb stuff, but his shoulder injury made him look worse than he was last year and he's actually a pretty good QB. Not great, but good enough to not freak us out if Heaps goes down.

3. Bronco screwed up the QB situation last year. However, as several have pointed out it probably didn't matter too much b/c we weren't going to do much better than around .500 anyway. I don't really care what Anae and Doman wanted; Bronco makes the final call and he screwed up by not picking a starter much earlier and sticking with him. But I forgive him.

4. Announcing team captains and leadership council members is dorky. And not just when BYU does it. Media outlets reporting on it is even dorkier. I don't care who the captains are; I care about who produces on the field.

5. I get as excited about young coaches with "tons of enthusiasm" as I do about young QB's with "tons of enthusiasm." Experience is better than enthusiasm. Doman has said conflicting things multiple times about the kind of offense he is going to run. Not a good sign. I think he'll figure it out over the next couple of years, but we might have some identity crises schematically in 2011. Fortunately we have the talent to mask some of these problems. Then again, I'm a huge fan of rigid systems (a la Air Force, Mike Leach, etc.) in high school and college, where practice time is so limited.

6. Our receivers may be great in 2012, but it seems like they still have too many drops to be great in 2011. Apo will be good and show flashes of brilliance this year, but he'll be inconsistent. Hoffman will be excellent. TE's will be a lot better.

7. We are going to be good in 2011, but not great. I see us going 8-4 like this:

L - Ole Miss (road game vs. SEC team)
L - Texas (road game vs. one of the best programs in the nation after big travel week before)
W - Utah (Chow's offense sucks now)
W - UCF (home game -- slight edge)
W - Utah State
W - San Jose State
W - Oregon State (road game, but we can win it)
W - Idaho State
L - TCU (road game vs. team with great athletes)
W - Idaho
W - New Mexico State
L - Hawaii (not this road trip game again! against a really good QB)

8. If Heaps stays healthy and progresses normally, we are going to make BCS runs in 2012 and 2013. Since LaVell started this thing, we have elite teams when we have two things: (1) experienced QB, (2) above average defense. We will have those two things in 2012 and 2013.

Barring injuries throughout the year I do not see BYU losing at Hawaii, I also think the Y will beat Ole Miss. I do see two losses between TCU, Texas and Utah and am leaning towards them being TCU and Texas. I wouldn't downplay the impact of energy, especially early in the year. I think energy can often be interpreted as attention to detail and that is a very good trait for a coach, IMO. The challenge is to keep that level of focus over the long haul.

[byu71]

Barring injuries throughout the year I do not see BYU losing at Hawaii, I also think the Y will beat Ole Miss. I do see two losses between TCU, Texas and Utah and am leaning towards them being TCU and Texas. I wouldn't downplay the impact of energy, especially early in the year. I think energy can often be interpreted as attention to detail and that is a very good trait for a coach, IMO. The challenge is to keep that level of focus over the long haul.

I agree with our beating Ole Miss. Bronco seems to have the team ready to play the first game of the season. I also think the losses come to TCU and Texas. Won't lose to the Utes. We are all counting on their move to the PAC12 is no big deal because we are better than they are on the field.

[oxcoug]

I just noticed in Gurney's TBS recap of the defense in spring he makes the comment even though J'Ray performed well it looks like he will lose out to Sorensen for the starting nod at SS.

Setting aside the fact that I predicted this months ago, if it does in fact go down that way it makes me feel a bit badly for J'Ray....if he gets beaten out now by Sorensen he's basically, barring injury (knock on wood), being consigned to career backup status. Ah well, such is D1 life.

On the flip side, I'm excited about Sorensen's progression and his potential to make us feel the loss of Rich maybe a little less acutely than we thought we would.

[oxcoug]

ESPN article now up on BYU

http://espn.go.com/blog/ncfnation/po...ptimism-at-byu

It's a good writeup, though with the predictable missed nuances of an article written at 40,000 feet. When it talks about the strength of the D Line, for example, it says that Fuga and Richardson should make it back to anchor the line but it doesn't mention Fangupo or Tuiloma - who, in fact, make it unnecessary for Fuga and Richardson to rush back to anchor the line.