2013 BYU Cougars

[Colonel_Reb]

BYU has started 18, 16, 15, 16, 16, 16, 14 and 12 Whites since '05, making them one of the Whitest teams in the country over the past decade. The last two years have seen BYU's defense get noticeably darker, but it looks as though the trend is reversing itself somewhat. Hopefully this Whiter defense will step up. I'm projecting the Cougars will have 14 White starters this season.

Some White backups include QB Ammon Olsen, WRs Mitch Mathews and Eric Thornton, LT Brad Wilcox, RG Brock Stringham, RT Cole Jones, LEs Michael Doman and Austin Holt, MLB Austen Jorgensen, FS Blake Morgan, and KAT Michael Wadsworth.

Offense
QB Taysom Hill
WR Skyler Ridley
WR JD Falslev
TE/WR Brett Thompson-in a fight for the position
LT Ryker Mathews
C Terrance Alletto
RG Kyle Johnson
RT Michael Yeck

Defense
RE Remington Peck
SLB Spencer Hadley
BLB Tyler Beck
FS Craig Bills
KAT Daniel Sorenson
BCB Mike Hague-was an RB in '06

 

[Jack Lambert]

That's great to see from BYU, Colonel! With Hill at QB, they should be a great and fun team to watch this year. I'm glad to finally get some positive news for these previews.

 

[TwentyTwo]

Wow! To see the steady decrease from 18 to 12...hard to imagine even for BYU...will the increase up to 14 be the trend??

Looking forward seeing the powerful Taysom Hill continue at QB...That alone will make it worth the watch! Hopefully he stays healthy!

Corner Back Dallin Leavitt...a talented freshman, was a bright spot in Summer Camp in a very thin BYU secondary and has been playing with the first and second unit. However he got injured...at first it was a hip? Now possibly ACL? Was looking forward seeing him make an early impact!

Daniel Sorenson's comment in 11' about the white boys coming to play Ole Miss of the SEC will forever go down in infamy! They backed it up winning too! 14-13

 

[Jimmy Chitwood]

BYU has literally been decimated with injuries at the cornerback position. at least their top 5 corners entering fall practice are not available to practice at the moment, 4 due to injury (including White athletes Hague and the true freshman Leavitt) and one due to signing a multi-million dollar contract to play pro baseball.

things have gotten so bad, that the coaching staff is willing to give anyone a crack at it ... including gifted athletes they'd never considered before: so enter the best candidates thus far, a rugby player and a walk-on slot receiver, both White.

walk-on wideout Eric Thornton has had a history of knee injuries himself and had been rejected twice by the BYU coaching staff in walk-on tryouts because of his knee, but he's persevered and appeared to be solidly entrenched in the wide receiver two-deep. that being said, he was completely unrecruited out of high school ... which makes what the secondary coach says even more surprising.

... but the sophomore with "quick-twitch, change-of-direction recovery speed" has already impressed his new position coach.

"It's not in concrete yet," said Howell, "but from what I've seen in two days, if he were playing corner and I was recruiting him, he has everything that I would look for to recruit a guy."

"His zero-to-60 speed is really fast; he's aggressive, and he's really smart. I think he can pick it up...so that will provide some help for us right there."

"weird," that with all that speed, fluidity, and athletic ability that he wasn't recruited AT ALL, huh?

the other unsung player getting a look is BYU rugby halfback John Linehan. here's a snippet from a write-up on him:

Linehan told me that he was meeting with defensive coordinator Nick Howell to talk about the possibility of getting a shot at the corner position on the football team.

With his trademark grin and signature New Zealand accent, Linehan said he was excited about the possibility but said he couldn't let him change him from being a rugby guy.

The sophomore earned hero status in the BYU rugby community last May when with time expiring, he bounced the rugby ball on the green South Field turf, swung one of his red-shoed feet and drilled the game-winning dropkick between the uprights to give Cougars a thrilling 27-24 victory over Cal in the inaugural Varsity Cup finals.

But I watched him through multiple games in the tournament and Linehan is more than just a rugby player. He's a tremendous athlete with a fiercely competitive nature.

It's possible he might be able to replicate the rugby-to-football transition made by Paul Lasike, who is firmly ensconced in the BYU running back rotation.

I doubt we'll see Linehan on the football field any time soon — but he'd be an intriguing prospect to provide some depth.

as it appears now, BYU will likely play their first game of the season with 3 White defensive backs ... possibly with one who's never appeared in a college game before.

 

[Colonel_Reb]

Thanks for the info, JC! It will be interesting to see how things shakeout over the next couple of weeks. I just wish success to whoever the Whites are that end up starting as DBs. If they do well it could mean a continued White presence at those positions, and that would look much better than what we've seen back there over the last two seasons.

 

[celticdb15]

Deseret News takes an in-depth look at B.Y.U. receiver Skyler Ridley, who has caught the eye of N.F.L. scouts.

 

[northwinds]

I hate to see that BYU goes to Wisconsin to play this year. I would much rather see our caste friendly teams coming down and beating coal black SEC teams like Ole Miss.........too bad that either BYU or Wisconsin will have to walk away with a loss from that game.