Tuesday practice report — Cougars ready to play

Coach Bronco Mendenhall liked the way Tuesday’s practice went, but it’s clear the players and coaches are tiring of practices and playing against each other. “I think our guys are ready to play a game,” Mendenhall said. “They’ve seen the looks they’ve needed to see. We still have two more days. They’re ready mentally and physically. A game is what the team needs to move forward and grow.”

Austin Collie is expanding his quarterbacking repertoire. Today, he worked on the option — his footwork and pitching the ball. It looks more and more that coach Bronco Mendenhall is serious about playing Collie at quarterback here and there and not just on option plays but throwing the ball as well. He did that against the scout team. Mendenhall said he’ll do slightly more than just situational work. It will be “as much as he can handle.”
At receiver, he made some nice catches and dropped a few passes as well. “I’m just learning from the other QBs and from coach Doman. I’m just trying to get better day by day,” Collie said. “Today wasn’t a good day for me. I was thinking about too many things and not playing to my natural abilities. Other than that, we’re playing well.”

Against the scout team, quarterback Max Hall threw touchdown passes to Reed White, Mike Reed, Harvey Unga and Collie. He was also picked off by linebacker Jeff Bell.

As far as the backup quarterbacks go, it’s not a situation Mendenhall is focusing on now, not since Brenden Gaskins was named the backup and Collie started taking reps at QB. “I really haven’t given it another thought,” Mendenhall said. “This might sound cold, but we don’t have another scrimmage and I can’t really evaluate further under the current situation as we need to give Max as many reps as possible. We’ve put a strategy in place to use Austin. We named Brenden as the backup and he’s going to need to do everything he can to continue to improve and grow. I won’t be able to evaluate that again until he gets into a game.”

Mendenhall said the coaching staff has done long-term planning at the quarterback spot — out to the next six years. He feels good overall about the QBs in the program. Three are currently serving missions — James Lark, Riley Nelson (who announced he will transfer from Utah State to BYU when he returns) and Jason Munns.

When asked about his level of excitement for the opener, Mendenhall says game day is not his favorite day. “In fact, it’s probably the day I like least in this job. I like Friday nights a lot better in terms of the firesides. I think those are more representative of our program. I understand the business part, that you have to play well and you generate interest by how you play. But I enjoy the day-to-day with our players, and the off-season and the work ethic and practice. I like that a lot more than actual game day, which is probably backwards. But that’s how it is.”