BYU football: Corners have depth, competitive atmosphere
It may be the feature that stands out early in BYU's fall camp.
Without competition for starting jobs, it's tough to push and pull and create enough challenges for guys to battle one another. You tiptoe around injuries, afraid you'll lose somebody. Now, Hill's got a little depth — not a a ton of it —but enough to run a hard and productive practice.
Since 2004, when the Cougars lost nearly a dozen freshmen to off-the-field problems, most of them defensive players, talent and depth have been scarce in the secondary. That left a void in filling out depth charts, and at the end of last season it led to Bronco Mendenhall and Hill fielding a secondary with four athletes who were initially walk-ons.
"I think we're the only Division I program in the country starting four walk-ons," Hill said last December before the bowl game against UCLA.
This week, Mendenhall and Hill might be seeing the first fruits of depth in the secondary, albeit inexperienced and raw.
Three of four corners vying for starting spots are recruits signed out of high school with the exception of Scott Johnson from Timpview, and he earned a grant-in-aid after returning from an LDS mission. The others are Brandon Bradley, G Pittman and Brandon Howard.
Still, the last two days, Johnson, Bradley and Howard have got their hands on a lot of passes against a veteran Cougar offense led by quarterback Max Hall. The defense appears quicker than a year ago, but it may be Hill has players reacting quicker, taking more chances and playing with confidence.
"I think they're progressing really well," said Hill on Thursday, the first day the team donned pads. "Our biggest challenge is the issue of being physical enough so when they have the opportunities to make plays, they make those plays.
"The whole thing is about making it competitive. In years past, we haven't made it competitive enough for people to have to make plays to play. Today, we struggled a little bit. We've had a couple of good days in a row, but we got tired, got down on ourselves, and were hanging our heads a little bit. The offense got going a little on us today."
Hill refused to single out individual play either for praise or criticism to a group of reporters filed around him. "We don't have a depth chart; it's just guys playing positions. I don't talk about individuals. What we talk about all the time is if a play comes your way, if you're getting attacked, you have to make a play. You don't make every play; you make your play from where you are being attacked."
Recent comments
and play the game, then we will all SEE the results.
Until...
@SEC: put 11 on the field | Aug. 10, 2008 at 7:53 p.m.
I'm not even an SEC fan and I can admit the Cougars could not...
Re: Transplant-Go home | Aug. 10, 2008 at 7:09 p.m.
No I am not telling you BYU could hang with them, I am telling you...
Transplant-Go home | Aug. 10, 2008 at 12:01 p.m.
