BYU football comings, goings

Several of us reporters just finished an informal interview session with coach Bronco Mendenhall, who invited us into his office for questions. It’s the first time we’ve been able to talk to him since the end of the Las Vegas Bowl.

As usual, Mendenhall had a lot of interesting things to say and we’ll be reporting on those over the next couple of days.

For now, we’ll let you know that a couple of linemen won’t be playing at BYU — defensive lineman Bernard Afutiti and offensive lineman Jesse Taufi. Neither player was able to accomplish what they needed to academically in order to play for the Cougars, Mendenhall said.

Meanwhile, Mendenhall did confirm that linebacker Uona Kaveinga, who spent the past two seasons at USC, was admitted into BYU on Wednesday. He’ll sit out this year due to NCAA transfer rules, but he is already working out with the team.

As for running back Harvey Unga, he is still weighing his options. He’s waiting for the NFL evaluation to come back, which will give him a pretty good idea of where he might go in the draft. Mendenhall said he and Unga talked Wednesday.

In terms of recruiting (signing day is less than a month away), Mendenhall called the 2010 class “the best potential class, based on talent” since he’s been the head coach at BYU.

The coach also said that he expects some changes on the coaching staff going into next season. He said at least one assistant could take a different job, and maybe as many as three, though he didn’t mention anyone specifically.

Spring ball starts March 15 and the spring game is scheduled for April 10.

We’ll give you more later …