Bronco reels in spring practice with last big day

The defense finished its last practice session with an up-beat, play-making series of stands that will have to carry them through the off-season and into fall camp.

On Saturday, the Blue-White scrimmage will be interesting, but it will be short and most all of the key players on both sides of the line will be safely tucked away. If it’s a great, sunny day, you might drop in, but it will not be a football spectacle in any sense of the word.

If you are debating whether to make a long trip to Provo to see this, I’d save my gas money. Any meaningful play will be to a minimum and the entire affair worth seeing may be over quicker than duration of a few traffic light stops.

This may have been one of the more productive spring practices I’ve seen in years and Thursday’s practice was outstanding – especially for the defense.

Vic So’oto knocked down a pass in the end zone intended for B. J. Peterson, G Pittman also had a nice deflection and corner Steven Thomas jumped a half back motion pass intended for Wayne Latu and almost picked it for the distance before it trickled out of his hands during a non-contact 11-on-11 series of drills. Pittman’s parents and sister were on hand, so was So’oto’s father.

Austin Collie made some great catches, but was also frustrated when the defense collapsed on him, knocking down a pass that left him calling for a flag. He also dropped a curl route and yelled out in frustration.

The team went through a series of situational set ups including a two-minute drill and overtime series with a 25-seconds set on the clock.

Thursday’s practice, conducted in a cold temperatures and a biting wind, is it. Finished. The work is done.

“I think we’ve made great progress,” said safety Kellen Fowler, who is emerging as one of the defensive leaders. “We’ve got guys who’ve never played before and they’re stepping up. All we have to do is get to react and not think, just act.”

Mendenhall said Saturday’s scrimmage will feature a lot of new players like JJ Diluigi and transfers Andrew Rich and Coeby Clauson and Tevita Hola, who simply need a chance to show themselves.

What do I think?

I’ve tried to be conservative this spring, it’s been such a routine, unspectacular session with no QB controversy or big blue chip recruit to inspect.

In simple terms, this is the most experienced football team BYU has fielded since 2001. The offense is solid, if the right side of the line gets healthy. Defensively, the backfield is talented but inexperienced. The linebackers are interchangeable with those of a year ago although Bryan Kehl will be tough to replace because of his range in guarding the sidelines. This is the most talent the D-line has had in years.

Max Hall, Collie and Dennis Pitta, joined by Michael Reed, give BYU the most experienced punch in the region, certainly the best in the Mountain West, with Utah a close second. Hall, Collie and Pitta are so far ahead of where they began a year ago, it isn’t even in the same area code with this offense.

Austin Collie will be the best receiver BYU has had since Eric Drage and he may surpass Drage, he’s that good. I look back at the UCLA game and how he handled the Bruin All-American corner and I can see him dominating in the conference. He almost did so on a bum ankle last year.

Mix in Harvey Unga and a Fui Vakapuna, who looks completely back, and I know some former BYU QBs who are envious of what Max Hall has to work with this coming season.

This spring session was manipulated to near perfection by Bronco Mendenhall. He tweaked and pulled, pushed and polished. The Terrance Hooks injury was the only black mark on the entire agenda. “We’re very lucky, we had only one go down,” said Fowler.

Mendenhall said he has 15 scholarships to hand out for the class of 2009 and five of them are already spoken for. That leaves just 10 to flash in front of recruits left on his list. He will welcome back between 12 and 13 (he isn’t sure) missionaries in the next eight months and declares this is the last time the Cougars will have to manage with a reduced number of scholies. “We’ve got to the point where our coming and going of missionaries will be more managed and won’t impact our numbers this way.”

In other news. Former tight end Jonny Harline ruptured his Achilles Tendon while in Washington. There were several recruits on hand for Friday’s practice including Shiloah Te’o.