Spring game recap

The annual Blue-White game concluded earlier this afternoon at LaVell Edwards Stadium, where 16,000 fans turned out to watch BYU conclude spring drills on a warm and sunny day.

The event started with a lot of team and situational work, then the starters were shuttled to the sidelines to make way for the second-teamers. From there, the backups took the field for about 40 plays. It was scrimmage “light.”

Freshman running back J.J. DiLuigi was one of those players who impressed, both running and catching the ball. He rushed four times for 27 yards and caught two passes for 28 yards.

Coach Bronco Mendenhall liked what he saw from DiLuigi and said that going into the day, Wayne Latu was ahead of him on the depth chart. After the scrimmage, Mendenhall said, DiLuigi closed that gap on the strength of that performance.

Backup quarterback Brenden Gaskins completed 4 of 7 passes for 56 yards while Kurt McEuen went 7-for-10 for 70 yards and a touchdown. Stephen Covey was 2-for-3 for six yards and an interception.

Defensive backs Andrew Rich and Jameson Frazier recorded the interceptions.

Mendenhall also praised freshmen receivers Spencer Hafoka and Luke Ashworth, adding that with them and the return of McKay Jacobson from a mission for the 2009 season, the future is bright at that position.

‘A lot of guys stood out to me,” wide receiver Austin Collie said of the scrimmage. “J.J. did an exceptional job. He’s a great runner. He’s shifty and can make people miss. Spencer had a couple of great grabs and runs. It’s promising to see the two’s do so well and realize that we do have depth and realize that we have a lot of talented guys on the team. I think that’s what we found out today.’

Prior to the scrimmage, kicker Mitch Payne was given an opportunity for field goal attempts. He missed a 58-yarder, a line-drive that hit the corner of the crossbar and upright. He hit a couple of others from 30-plus yards. Watching, and wearing street clothes, was Justin Sorensen, who signed with BYU in February. The prep All-America out of Bingham High will challenge Payne for the placekicking job come August.

‘Not only is his strength better, but his consistency is better,” Mendenhall said of Payne. “He certainly knows what’s at stake. He knows we recruited to that position. It will be his opportunity to hold his spot. Through competition, it will be played out in the fall.’

Now that spring ball has concluded, the Cougars enter the off-season, which really isn’t an off-season. There’s no such thing anymore in college football, especially for a team that has its sights on exploding onto the national scene.

‘Our focus is on more execution and starting to believe that we can do this. That we are one of the best teams in the nation,” Collie said. “I think that’s one of the things that’s going to help us this year coming into this season ‘ confident in knowing that we can go undefeated and be a BCS team.”