Quarterback snapshot

After two weeks of practice, BYU’s quarterback competition is in full swing. I talked to quarterbacks coach Brandon Doman for a few minutes after practice today to get his take on how things are going with the Cougar signal-callers.

One thing he pointed out was that even though Riley Nelson, James Lark and Jake Heaps are in a competition against each other, they don’t let that come between them and the overall goal of helping the team win.

“I’m really pleased with how they’re coming together,” Doman told me. “They’re pulling for one another. Thy understand that as goes the quarterback so goes the team. I can see some comaraderie there and some unity in regard to these guys coming together. If they don’t, if they decide to splinter off into groups and they splinter the team, we’re not going to be a very good football team this year.”

So far, each quarterback has been given equal opportunities to take snaps — something Doman said is more important than who lines up with the first team or third team. Here are the three quarterbacks’ stats from in-practice scrimmages so far this Spring …

Nelson: 15-29, 105 yards, one touchdown, one interception, one fumble

Lark: 15-24, 117 yards, two interceptions

Heaps: 33-53, 421 yards, six touchdowns, one interception

On the surface it might seem that the coaches are favoring Heaps with more snaps, which is not necessarily the case. Besides not handing the ball off or scrambling as much as Nelson, Heaps has simply been more successful in moving the offense than the other two. Each quarterback gets a chance to play until the defense comes up with a stop, so more snaps will naturally go to the guy who creates more first downs.

So far, that player has been Heaps. But Doman warned to not read into the stats too much.

“I think Jake has done a fantastic job [moving the offense],” he said. “For being a young guy he’s done a really good job. But at this point I’m really pleased with all three of them, so to comment on just one guy and say he’s doing a better job than the others would be inaccurate.”

I know those are measured words from coach Doman, but it seems that all three are growing and learning. And, most importantly, they’re doing it together.

Here are a few more notes from today’s practice:

2010 Schedule released: Though it’s not much of a secret, BYU’s 2010 schedule was released today. My initial thought while glancing over it is that the Cougars have a tough year of road games (at TCU, Utah, Air Force and Florida State). The other is that the game with Air Force is scheduled for September 11th, the second week of the season. Mendenhall said playing a conference game that early is not optimal for his team.

“First blush is that Air Force is early in the season,” Mendenhall said. “It’s a conference game in week number two, so that combination is really what grabbed my attention right off the bat. So, a very unique opponent and a conference opponent very early in the season, so not only do we have to prepare to play conventional teams, we have to do extra work — probably in Fall camp — to make sure we can handle [Air Force]. … I was obviously not hoping for a conference game in week two, but that’s what it is.”

Mendenhall said he would have prefered to have a bye the second week rather than a conference game.

Quarterback checkup: Does it seem reduntant to checkup on the quarterbacks even after writing what I did above? Well, I reserve the right to be redundant, so here’s how they did at practice today …

Nelson: 2-6, 10 yards

Lark: 0-1

Heaps: 3-8, 26 yards, one touchdowns (a 15-yard toss to tight end Mike Muehlmann), one interception (his first of the Spring, picked off by Jameson Frazier)

Van Noy absent: Freshman linebacker Kyle Van Noy missed practice today and will miss the next few sessions after breaking an upspecified team rule.

“Kyle Van Noy has a — what’s the best way to put it — a violation of a team rule that he needs to learn and understand, so he’ll be gone until he understands that perfectly and then he’ll be back,” Mendenhall said. “So, it could a day or it could be two days. He has some community service that will help to remind him.”

Spring Game format announced: With injuries adding up (the offensive line is currently down to six or seven healthy players), BYU made it official that there will be no actual Spring game. What there will be is a day (April 10th, to be specific) where fans can come out and see the team practice and scrimmage at LaVell Edwards Stadium. Kids ages 5 to 14 are invited to a clinic with the BYU players at noon. The team will then practice from approximately 1 p.m. until 2:45 p.m. All are welcome to attend free of charge.

“I started down down that path last year,” Mendenhall said about having the Spring game become more of a glorified practice. “I’d love to have the fans be part of our football program in some capacity. But the value of the game itself, I don’t think there is any value, at least from a football perspective.”