With seven spring practices now in the books, the second week of spring camp ended on Friday. As mentioned before, it is hard to read too much into stats from practice, but here are the composite stat lines for the three practices this week from the three primary contenders for the starting quarterback spot:
Week 2 Stat Lines
Riley Nelson, Jr (3/7, 18 yds, 0 TDs, 1 int)
James Lark, So (6/8, 54 yds, 0 TDs, 0 int)
Jake Heaps, Fr (14/20, 176 yds, 2 TDs, 0 int)
All reports seem to indicate that each has been given similar opportunities and similar situations while rotating with the 1s, 2s, and 3s. The discrepancy in attempts is primarily a factor of the QB being able to keep a drive alive, creating more passing opportunities. Here are the combined stat lines from weeks 1 and 2:
Week 1 & 2 Cumulative Stat Lines
Nelson: 12/22 (55%), 84 yds, 1 TD, 1 int
Lark: 16/26 (62%), 128 yds, 0 TDs, 2 int*
Heaps: 26/39 (67%), 380 yds, 5 TDs, 0 int
*I inadvertently left off one of Lark’s interceptions from last week and have added it here
Without being able to attend practices in person, I will refrain from picking a front runner or commenting on the probability of each of these talented QBs starting in September, but it is hard not to notice the success that Jake Heaps has had through his first two weeks in the program.
Other notes of interest from week 2:
• Offensive lineman Famika Anae went down on Monday with a torn ACL. He already underwent surgery and will redshirt this year
• WR Marcus Matthews has been moved to tight end, increasing the depth at a position that might already be most intense competition for minutes
• BYU announced it will be playing Oregon State in a home and home in 2011-12
• Friday was the annual high school coaches clinic with roughly 300 coaches from high school programs across the west
Showing posts with label Riley Nelson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Riley Nelson. Show all posts
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Friday, March 19, 2010
Spring Camp Week 1: Quarterback Battle Update
In the background of the NCAA tournament this week, BYU kicked off spring camp by holding four practices (Wednesday was off). It is hard to read too much from practices or personnel at this point, given that there will be a number of players joining the team this fall, and that much depends upon which team a given player was playing with and against (first, second, third, etc). But with that said, all eyes are on the quarterbacks anyway, and their stats—even those from practice are being reported here and there--and are fully followed by the faithful in an effort to discover who, if any, will be named the primary signal caller going into the summer. Here are the summarized stat lines from the first week:
Week 1 Stat Lines
Riley Nelson, Jr (9/15, 66 yds, 1 TD, 0 int)
James Lark, So (10/18, 74 yds, 0 TDs, 1 int)
Jake Heaps, Fr (12/19, 204 yds, 3 TDs, 0 int)
Nelson has a year in the system, Lark has two years in the system but is just a few months removed from a mission, and Heaps is only a few months removed from high school (and only 4 days into official BYU practices). It is early, and to be fair, the stats are not necessarily comparable, but it looks like Heaps is off to a good start and will only get better as he becomes more familiar with the playbook and his teammates.
Other notes:
• Other new faces that have merited positive mentions in various reports include running back Josh Quezada, linebackers Kyle Van Noy and Uona Kaveinga (who will have to sit out this year after transferring from USC), and tight ends Richard Wilson and Mike Muehlmann (both redshirt freshmen) and Devin Mahina (back from a mission).
• O’Neil Chambers missed at least one practice this week in order to catch up on his academics
• Mendenhall noted that this year’s spring camp is already quite a bit ahead of where they were last year at this time, even with the task of finding a new quarterback, and that the new players have impressed on the learning curve
Week 1 Stat Lines
Riley Nelson, Jr (9/15, 66 yds, 1 TD, 0 int)
James Lark, So (10/18, 74 yds, 0 TDs, 1 int)
Jake Heaps, Fr (12/19, 204 yds, 3 TDs, 0 int)
Nelson has a year in the system, Lark has two years in the system but is just a few months removed from a mission, and Heaps is only a few months removed from high school (and only 4 days into official BYU practices). It is early, and to be fair, the stats are not necessarily comparable, but it looks like Heaps is off to a good start and will only get better as he becomes more familiar with the playbook and his teammates.
Other notes:
• Other new faces that have merited positive mentions in various reports include running back Josh Quezada, linebackers Kyle Van Noy and Uona Kaveinga (who will have to sit out this year after transferring from USC), and tight ends Richard Wilson and Mike Muehlmann (both redshirt freshmen) and Devin Mahina (back from a mission).
• O’Neil Chambers missed at least one practice this week in order to catch up on his academics
• Mendenhall noted that this year’s spring camp is already quite a bit ahead of where they were last year at this time, even with the task of finding a new quarterback, and that the new players have impressed on the learning curve
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
What We Learned in the Wyoming Game
Wow. I didn’t see that one coming, but if that is how it’s going to be, then I hope I’m off every week. The first half of that game was perhaps the best and most complete football BYU has played since the UCLA game last year and was a fine reward for fans. It even looked like the players themselves were having a good time. And once again, the team, with a near flawless game, has done a good job of raising expectations for the next three games to a level that may be hard to meet. As we witnessed in the aftermath of the FSU and TCU games, it can be dangerous to set such high expectations for fans (although fortunately it appears as if the players themselves have been more grounded), but at the same time, it will ensure that BYU football is the topic of conversation in meetinghouse hallways on Sunday mornings across America once again.
What we learned:
• Which team will show up? This was answered quickly and decisively, and as mentioned, perhaps beyond anyone’s expectations.
• Will BYU finally resolve to disrupt an opponent’s quarterback? Yes they did. And it worked like a charm. ACS was on the run nearly every play ensuring insufficient time to throw downfield and limiting his accuracy. Let’s hope this continues for a few more games…
• How much will the return of McKay Jacobsen impact the game? As expected. Jacobsen returned and promptly made one of the first big plays of the game, then broke out his 80 yard TD reception outrunning the defender for the final 20-30 yards. BYU really needs another one or two fast/impact wide receivers.
• Can the secondary (or the defense as a whole for that matter) limit the big plays? YES! Other than one scoreless drive at the end of the first half, Wyoming didn’t really have any plays.
• Will the team succeed on its first drive of the second half? Yes and Yes. After losing the coin toss and taking the ball on the opening kickoff, the Cougars to set the tone early and never slowed down. In opening the second half, the defense held and then the offense promptly scored again. It was Wyoming, but Bronco must be reconsidering his preference to defer.
• Will the running game be more than adequate? This was the Max Hall show, but the running game was a big part of making that happen. Harvey Unga had several nice 7, 8, and 9 yard runs. Riley Nelson also showed some ability to pick up yards, practically running the same play all the way down the field at 10 yards a pop.
• Will we finally see a non-offensive touchdown? Not this time, but there has to be something left to next time.
• Weather. Beautiful. Other than the coats worn by the few fans in the stands, it could have been Palo Alto.
A few other thoughts:
• I wrote last week that Wyoming was probably the fourth or fifth best team in the conference. But after Saturday’s game, I sure hope not.
• Wyoming did not look very good, but played Utah tight last week. What does that say about the Utes’ chances against TCU on Game Day on Saturday?
• What was up with the call of 12 men on the field? Thanks to the magic of DVR, those of us following along at home were able to do our own version of the ‘review’ and came up with a different conclusion. Does anyone have any more info on that? (Wrubell on call-in show, etc?)
• Back in the BCS at #22. It is nice to be able to appreciate the little things again.
• It was good to see the second and third teamers get some game time in the third and fourth quarters. There hasn’t been as much of that this season as was expected.
• Kudos to the offensive line, which had a great game in pass protection and opening up running lanes.
• Another shout out to the defense--across the board a job well done. They looked good while turning in lopsided efforts in the turnover (2) and sack (3) departments. Jan Jorgensen was named conference defensive POW for his 1.5 sacks (the first mulit-sack game he has had going back at least to last season).
• Max Hall was unreal. Only two incomplete passes (20 of 22)—one of which he threw away to avoid a sack and the other was dropped by Pitta. Only one game in BYU history has seen a quarterback with a higher completion percentage—Steve Sarkisian was 91.2% on 31 of 34 against Fresno State in 1995, which is an NCAA record (for more than 30 attempts). There may not be a game next season that we don’t think back with fondness for the days of Max Hall. Oh, and it appears he figured out how to ‘fix’ that interception thing he had going on…
What we learned:
• Which team will show up? This was answered quickly and decisively, and as mentioned, perhaps beyond anyone’s expectations.
• Will BYU finally resolve to disrupt an opponent’s quarterback? Yes they did. And it worked like a charm. ACS was on the run nearly every play ensuring insufficient time to throw downfield and limiting his accuracy. Let’s hope this continues for a few more games…
• How much will the return of McKay Jacobsen impact the game? As expected. Jacobsen returned and promptly made one of the first big plays of the game, then broke out his 80 yard TD reception outrunning the defender for the final 20-30 yards. BYU really needs another one or two fast/impact wide receivers.
• Can the secondary (or the defense as a whole for that matter) limit the big plays? YES! Other than one scoreless drive at the end of the first half, Wyoming didn’t really have any plays.
• Will the team succeed on its first drive of the second half? Yes and Yes. After losing the coin toss and taking the ball on the opening kickoff, the Cougars to set the tone early and never slowed down. In opening the second half, the defense held and then the offense promptly scored again. It was Wyoming, but Bronco must be reconsidering his preference to defer.
• Will the running game be more than adequate? This was the Max Hall show, but the running game was a big part of making that happen. Harvey Unga had several nice 7, 8, and 9 yard runs. Riley Nelson also showed some ability to pick up yards, practically running the same play all the way down the field at 10 yards a pop.
• Will we finally see a non-offensive touchdown? Not this time, but there has to be something left to next time.
• Weather. Beautiful. Other than the coats worn by the few fans in the stands, it could have been Palo Alto.
A few other thoughts:
• I wrote last week that Wyoming was probably the fourth or fifth best team in the conference. But after Saturday’s game, I sure hope not.
• Wyoming did not look very good, but played Utah tight last week. What does that say about the Utes’ chances against TCU on Game Day on Saturday?
• What was up with the call of 12 men on the field? Thanks to the magic of DVR, those of us following along at home were able to do our own version of the ‘review’ and came up with a different conclusion. Does anyone have any more info on that? (Wrubell on call-in show, etc?)
• Back in the BCS at #22. It is nice to be able to appreciate the little things again.
• It was good to see the second and third teamers get some game time in the third and fourth quarters. There hasn’t been as much of that this season as was expected.
• Kudos to the offensive line, which had a great game in pass protection and opening up running lanes.
• Another shout out to the defense--across the board a job well done. They looked good while turning in lopsided efforts in the turnover (2) and sack (3) departments. Jan Jorgensen was named conference defensive POW for his 1.5 sacks (the first mulit-sack game he has had going back at least to last season).
• Max Hall was unreal. Only two incomplete passes (20 of 22)—one of which he threw away to avoid a sack and the other was dropped by Pitta. Only one game in BYU history has seen a quarterback with a higher completion percentage—Steve Sarkisian was 91.2% on 31 of 34 against Fresno State in 1995, which is an NCAA record (for more than 30 attempts). There may not be a game next season that we don’t think back with fondness for the days of Max Hall. Oh, and it appears he figured out how to ‘fix’ that interception thing he had going on…
Monday, October 5, 2009
What We Learned in the Utah State Game
With a solid defensive performance (despite a late scoring drive that muddied the box score), and a now familiar offensive performance (good, but mistake prone), BYU controlled the game and ticked off another win in its second of four “no-win situation” games as the team awaits a chance to make a statement against TCU on Oct 24. Along the way, the team helped answer the following questions:
1. Will Max Hall avoid throwing an interception? Two in a row… on what looked like very similar plays. Max now has 10 picks—no other QB in the country has more (Bo Mitchell of SMU is now tied)—and pushed his streak to 8 games in a row. You might expect that from a 50% accuracy passer, but since Hall is a 65-70% passer, it is somewhat surprising. So rather than just poorly thrown balls, they tend to be poor decisions, often trying to squeeze a ball into an all-too-narrow lane, or miscommunications on routes with his receivers.
2. Will Jan Jorgensen get a sack? Finally. He answered the call with his first sack of the season. The defense turned in three sacks total, a season high, now totaling 9 through 5 games.
3. Can we manage to keep the ball for 30 minutes or longer? It’s about… time. Despite an early fumble and two quick picks to start the second half, and with the gratitude of the defense, the offense held onto the ball for 31:15. In the past two games Florida State and Colorado State both seemed focused on winning the time of possession battle as a core game strategy, and used it to successfully mitigate the defense.
4. Will there be a special teams or defensive touchdown? Not this time.
5. Can the offense score a touchdown in all four quarters? 3 out of 4. Scoreless in the third quarter as the interceptions ended what would have likely been scoring drives.
6. Will we get to see more balls thrown to Spencer Hafoka? That depends. As if on cue after reading this column, Hafoka had the first catch of the game, as he was starting in place of McKay Jacobsen (who pulled a hamstring in warm-ups). He then promptly fumbled it, causing the coaches to replace him with Luke Ashworth who proceeded to have a breakout game with 5 catches for 91 yards.
7. Will Riley Nelson see the game? Three plays. One that seemed a bit out of sorts and ended with an illegal procedure penalty. Another that went for 13 yards and a first down on a play designed for him to sneak up the middle. A third—taking a knee on the last play of the game. Perhaps what Bronco meant when telling the media that Nelson would be inserted despite game situation, was that there would be specifically designed one-off plays such as this.
8. How many passes will be thrown at Brian Logan? None. Logan missed a team walk through and did not start, as he was replaced by Robbie Buckner.
9. Will Riley Stephenson ever have to punt and if so will he be able to stay #1 in the country in net punting yards? Yes and no. 3 punts and a 37 yard average, was not enough to stay at the top, dropping to #6 with a 41.92 average.
10. Will the USU fans in attendance be able to come up with any witty, clever, or jabbing signs, chants, or t-shirts for the home team? I am sure they did. The Mtn. was unable to capture it for the viewing audiences. If you were there and can share your stories, please do!
11. Finally, can Oklahoma beat Miami and solve our transitive property strength of schedule issues? Almost doesn’t count. Miami now owns both Oklahoma and Florida State, doing what the Cougars were unable to do.
1. Will Max Hall avoid throwing an interception? Two in a row… on what looked like very similar plays. Max now has 10 picks—no other QB in the country has more (Bo Mitchell of SMU is now tied)—and pushed his streak to 8 games in a row. You might expect that from a 50% accuracy passer, but since Hall is a 65-70% passer, it is somewhat surprising. So rather than just poorly thrown balls, they tend to be poor decisions, often trying to squeeze a ball into an all-too-narrow lane, or miscommunications on routes with his receivers.
2. Will Jan Jorgensen get a sack? Finally. He answered the call with his first sack of the season. The defense turned in three sacks total, a season high, now totaling 9 through 5 games.
3. Can we manage to keep the ball for 30 minutes or longer? It’s about… time. Despite an early fumble and two quick picks to start the second half, and with the gratitude of the defense, the offense held onto the ball for 31:15. In the past two games Florida State and Colorado State both seemed focused on winning the time of possession battle as a core game strategy, and used it to successfully mitigate the defense.
4. Will there be a special teams or defensive touchdown? Not this time.
5. Can the offense score a touchdown in all four quarters? 3 out of 4. Scoreless in the third quarter as the interceptions ended what would have likely been scoring drives.
6. Will we get to see more balls thrown to Spencer Hafoka? That depends. As if on cue after reading this column, Hafoka had the first catch of the game, as he was starting in place of McKay Jacobsen (who pulled a hamstring in warm-ups). He then promptly fumbled it, causing the coaches to replace him with Luke Ashworth who proceeded to have a breakout game with 5 catches for 91 yards.
7. Will Riley Nelson see the game? Three plays. One that seemed a bit out of sorts and ended with an illegal procedure penalty. Another that went for 13 yards and a first down on a play designed for him to sneak up the middle. A third—taking a knee on the last play of the game. Perhaps what Bronco meant when telling the media that Nelson would be inserted despite game situation, was that there would be specifically designed one-off plays such as this.
8. How many passes will be thrown at Brian Logan? None. Logan missed a team walk through and did not start, as he was replaced by Robbie Buckner.
9. Will Riley Stephenson ever have to punt and if so will he be able to stay #1 in the country in net punting yards? Yes and no. 3 punts and a 37 yard average, was not enough to stay at the top, dropping to #6 with a 41.92 average.
10. Will the USU fans in attendance be able to come up with any witty, clever, or jabbing signs, chants, or t-shirts for the home team? I am sure they did. The Mtn. was unable to capture it for the viewing audiences. If you were there and can share your stories, please do!
11. Finally, can Oklahoma beat Miami and solve our transitive property strength of schedule issues? Almost doesn’t count. Miami now owns both Oklahoma and Florida State, doing what the Cougars were unable to do.
Friday, October 2, 2009
What to Watch for Against Utah State
There have been a few close games with Utah State over the years. I remember as a teenager in 1993, coming home from a production of Saturday’s Warrior with my parents and listening to Paul James call the second half of the 58-56 shootout (as the game was not on local TV). Then in 2002 while living and working in Dallas, driving up to Denton with my brother, where there was a high spot in a Waffle House parking lot where we could pick up KSL on the car radio (as there was no Mtn or Slingbox ) and listened to the biggest comeback in Cougar history and Curtis Brown’s coming out party as BYU won 35-34. Despite those two close games, BYU has dominated this series for the last 30 years and it is unlikely that the outcome tonight will be any different. However, there are always a few things to watch for in how they win, that will reveal how much the team has improved over last week. There are also a few things to watch for just to keep it interesting.
• Will Max Hall avoid throwing an interception? With 8 toss-aways Hall has more picks than any other quarterback in the country right now, and has thrown a pick for 7 straight games.
• Will Jan Jorgensen get a sack? He does a good job and is often double teamed, but hopefully he can avoid the Fresno State syndrome (all hype, no results) and get the sack monkey off his back.
• Can we manage to keep the ball for 30 minutes or longer? A lopsided time of possession has demoralized our defense in both of the last two games, and is primarily a function of allowing the other team to get long sustained, chip-away-at-us drives. Utah State has a potent offense but an equally impotent defense. The Cougs need to keep them off the field. Watch to see if the 3-and-out defense from the OU and Tulane games makes an appearance.
• Will there be a special teams or defensive touchdown? The Utah State game has traditionally been a game where the non-offensive players add to their scoring stats.
• Can the offense score a touchdown in all four quarters? After failing to score a TD in the first quarter in any of the first three games, last week the team made up for that by scoring three… and then promptly dozing off during the second quarter.
• Will we get to see more balls thrown to Spencer Hafoka? After an exciting 24 yard touchdown catch and run near the end of the CSU game that included a bit of fancy footwork, fans would like to see more of him.
• Will Riley Nelson see the game? As a much discussed USU transfer, it would be nice to see him get into the game. And, Bronco reaffirmed this week that he would still like to see Nelson get 10-12 quarters of work this season. Since he only has two with 8 games remaining, he is going to have to start inserting him more than in mop-up duty. And while there is mop-up-duty potential this week, Bronco also stated that he would insert him regardless of the game situation (read: doesn’t need to be a blowout).
• How many passes will be thrown at Brian Logan? He is third in the country in passes defended with 9 and fist overall in the nation in passes broken up with 7. A nice JC addition for BYU.
• Will Riley Stephenson ever have to punt and if so will he be able to stay #1 in the country in net punting yards?
• Will the USU fans in attendance be able to come up with any witty, clever, or jabbing signs, chants, or t-shirts for the home team? USU fans have developed a bit of a personality to make up for their shortcomings in other areas (victories) and have become quite adept at it. Remember last year when they chanted overrated as the clock ticked off on a 20 point loss?
• Finally, can Oklahoma beat Miami and solve our transitive property strength of schedule issues? Miami beat FSU who beat BYU who beat Oklahoma who beat Miami???
I think the offense will find their rhythm, move the ball well and score a lot of points, against a defense that has no answer for them. The Cougar defense will be solid at times, but in the end will give up a lot of yards and more points than they should to the Aggies. Final score BYU 47 USU 27.
Feel free to add your own predictions and things you are watching for in the comments section below.
• Will Max Hall avoid throwing an interception? With 8 toss-aways Hall has more picks than any other quarterback in the country right now, and has thrown a pick for 7 straight games.
• Will Jan Jorgensen get a sack? He does a good job and is often double teamed, but hopefully he can avoid the Fresno State syndrome (all hype, no results) and get the sack monkey off his back.
• Can we manage to keep the ball for 30 minutes or longer? A lopsided time of possession has demoralized our defense in both of the last two games, and is primarily a function of allowing the other team to get long sustained, chip-away-at-us drives. Utah State has a potent offense but an equally impotent defense. The Cougs need to keep them off the field. Watch to see if the 3-and-out defense from the OU and Tulane games makes an appearance.
• Will there be a special teams or defensive touchdown? The Utah State game has traditionally been a game where the non-offensive players add to their scoring stats.
• Can the offense score a touchdown in all four quarters? After failing to score a TD in the first quarter in any of the first three games, last week the team made up for that by scoring three… and then promptly dozing off during the second quarter.
• Will we get to see more balls thrown to Spencer Hafoka? After an exciting 24 yard touchdown catch and run near the end of the CSU game that included a bit of fancy footwork, fans would like to see more of him.
• Will Riley Nelson see the game? As a much discussed USU transfer, it would be nice to see him get into the game. And, Bronco reaffirmed this week that he would still like to see Nelson get 10-12 quarters of work this season. Since he only has two with 8 games remaining, he is going to have to start inserting him more than in mop-up duty. And while there is mop-up-duty potential this week, Bronco also stated that he would insert him regardless of the game situation (read: doesn’t need to be a blowout).
• How many passes will be thrown at Brian Logan? He is third in the country in passes defended with 9 and fist overall in the nation in passes broken up with 7. A nice JC addition for BYU.
• Will Riley Stephenson ever have to punt and if so will he be able to stay #1 in the country in net punting yards?
• Will the USU fans in attendance be able to come up with any witty, clever, or jabbing signs, chants, or t-shirts for the home team? USU fans have developed a bit of a personality to make up for their shortcomings in other areas (victories) and have become quite adept at it. Remember last year when they chanted overrated as the clock ticked off on a 20 point loss?
• Finally, can Oklahoma beat Miami and solve our transitive property strength of schedule issues? Miami beat FSU who beat BYU who beat Oklahoma who beat Miami???
I think the offense will find their rhythm, move the ball well and score a lot of points, against a defense that has no answer for them. The Cougar defense will be solid at times, but in the end will give up a lot of yards and more points than they should to the Aggies. Final score BYU 47 USU 27.
Feel free to add your own predictions and things you are watching for in the comments section below.
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