BYU set to open Week 2 of spring practice

BYU begins Week 2 of spring practice this afternoon. Of course, I’ll be there to report on the latest developments.

Last Friday, I asked coach Bronco Mendenhall about his impressions of the first week of spring drills.
“My impressions are that the team was well-prepared coming into spring. I’m talking about being assignment-sound. It’s apparent they’ve done a lot of work on their own, meeting with each other. Upperclassmen leading underclassmen, getting them prepared for what spring is going to be like and what our program expectations are like. That’s clear. The assignments are much further along than what I had expected them to be, especially with the number of new faces. The rest of it, I wasn’t expecting our brand-new freshmen, that came mid-year, to be able to show as effectively as they are. I’m expected them, maybe at the end of spring, to be able to show some competency in assignments and making plays and yet they’ve come in like they’ve been our program for a year already. That’s been a positive thing for the program. The rest — the battles, position-depth, injuries, and returned missionaries — will sort out between now and the fall.”
Two of the brand-new freshman that Mendenhall refers to are quarterback Jake Heaps and running back Joshua Quezada.

I wrote a story that appeared in last Saturday’s paper on the development of the tight ends. Due to space limitations, there were a few things that didn’t make it in.
“(The tight end competition) might go on as long as the quarterback battle does,” said Mendenhall. “It’s going to be hard to discern who the starter is going to be. Then we add two more tight ends in fall camp. So there will be five battling for those spots. The guys who are here this spring would hopefully have the advantage just by the number of practices. But the quality of players coming into fall camp, I think, they’ll get a run for their money. We need a player — two or three — to emerge at that spot. Otherwise, we’ll have to shift to using our running backs more and our receivers more. Which would be a little bit different for us because the experience we had at tight end the past couple of years.”
The two new tight ends who will join the program in the fall are Austin Holt, a returned missionary and former Bingham High star; and Bryan Sampson, a Pleasant Grove product who signed with BYU in February.
Here’s what Mendenhall had to say about redshirt freshman Richard Wilson, who is battling with Mike Muehlmann, Devin Mahina and Matthew Edwards this spring.
“I think Richard has a nice physical presence in terms of his blocking. Then he runs better, and has more down-the-field presence, than I think most expected. He has a chance to be a very good football player. It’s just a matter of seasoning and experience. He’s capable physically.”