Friday morning's practice: defense fights back

After getting dominated by the offense earlier in the week, the BYU defense turned in a strong showing Friday morning as quarterback Max Hall completed just 4 of 12 attempts on the day during 11-on-11 drills. Cornerback Scott Johnson had a nice breakup of a deep pass from Hall to Reed.
“We came out and did really well at the beginning of camp,” said defensive lineman Jan Jorgensen. “Then the offense started to take it to us the first of this week. Today the defense did a great job. The secondary especially did a wonderful job.”
Matt Ah You was playing with the first team at inside linebacker, though he may have suffered a possible neck stinger. With David Tafuna still out with a concussion, Andrew Rich played with the first team at kat safety.

Jorgensen said taking the day off Thursday to watch a movie, “The Dark Knight” was a boost to team morale. As this point in camp, as usual, tempers have flared. Taking a break “lifts everyone’s spirits to finish the rest of camp. I noticed it today,” Jorgensen said.

How did coach Bronco Mendenhall rate “The Dark Knight?”
“It wasn’t my favorite, A little too much violence for me, quite frankly,” he said. “The players liked it. But if it’s a five-star scale, 2 1/2 (stars) is where I was. And about an hour too long. I walked out to take a bathroom break at one point and it was a long one.”

Tomorrow’s scrimmage will be similar to the first, with about 70 plays, Mendenhall said. This time, the priority will be the quarterbacks, with emphasis on reps to backups Brenden Gaskins, Kurt McEuen and Stephen Covey. Another focus will be positions where players are fighting for starting jobs — corners, inside linebackers, in particular. The special teams will get some work as well. Mendenhall said that the Cougars will use both Justin Sorensen and Mitch Payne this season. Payne has been playing very well, but Sorensen will not redshirt. Sorensen, who has a powerful leg, might handle kickoffs and long field goals.