Heaps and family already staying close to BYU football

Cougar football recruit Jake Heaps and his family were in attendance today at BYU’s practice, and Heaps was looking a little tender. At first I thought maybe he was just worn down by his summer of traveling and camps, which he is, but his father Steve informed me that Jake had surgery this week to remove three cysts above his tailbone. Not to worry though football fans, the highly-touted QB from Washington will be ready to go when he begins practicing in his home state on Aug. 19. His first game of his senior season will be Sept. 4.
“We finally got him here. He really wanted to be here,” Steve Heaps said.
The Heaps family plans to stay close to what’s happening in Utah. In fact, Steve was even asking me questions about the Pleasant Grove at Timpview football game coming up in two weeks.
“We keep ourselves informed,” he said.
Also in attendance was Kyle Van Noy, the Nevada linebacker who won’t play for the Cougars until next season as well.

Receiver McKay Jacobsen ha a big day In today’s 11-on-11 mini-scrimmages. He caught six passes for 69 yards and a 30-yard TD catch. Quarterback Max Hall was outstanding as well, completing 21/27 for 208 yards and two TDs. His second TD pass was a short one inside the 10 to Dennis Pita.
Others who shined were running back Bryan Kariya, who had three catches for 26 yards and one rushing TD. Luke Ashworth caught two passes for 37 yards, tight end Braden Brown had a nice reception for about 15 yards, and J. J. DiLuigi had a nice catch and run out of the backfield. The play that seemed to ignite the most emotion was when freshman safety Craig Bills came out of nowhere to deflect a pass at the last minute in his trademark physical way – making sure the receiver knew who it was denying him the catch.
The special teams also looked good, with kickers Riley Stephenson and Tyler Holt both booting several spiraling dandies. It looks like O’Neill Chambers, J.D. Falsev, Jacobsen and Garett Nicholson will be the return guys.

The biggest negative of Wednesday’s practice had to be the multiple false starts on the offensive line. But coach Bronco Mendehall wasn’t overly concerned because of changes the Cougars have implemented in snap counts and because it was only the team’s fourth practice. The offensive line is also BYU’s least-experienced group.
“There’s a lot of discipline that needs to be done there pretty quickly,” Mendenhall said of the penalties, while assuring that it would be an emphasis in practices.
Overall, Mendenhall liked what he saw Wednesday.
“We have a lot of work to do because it’s still not as clean as I’d like it, but there’s talent there,” he said.
Bronco made it clear that senior quarterback Brenden Gaskins is Hall’s backup, currently, and will be the first off the bench should Hall go down early in the season. Sophomore transfer Riley Nelson is third, but Mendenhall said the coaches plan to groom the former Logan High star for a bigger roll. “When that torch will be passed, I’m not certain.
“Ideally, if we could, we’d like to get Riley about eight to 12 quarters.”