MWC meetings late in Day 1

Bronco Mendenhall praised the transfer effort of TE Vic Soto and said sophomore receiver Luke Ashworth will not be moving over to play safety.

“Vic is surprisingly adept, not that I questioned his ability,it’s just his intensity and passion to learn it and contribute,” said Mendenhall of the starter at the end of spring drills at outside linebacker.

“He came in and asked us where he could help the most. I didn’t have to ask him.”
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Mendenhall confirmed a summer rumor that former Timpview star Luke Ashworth, off a mission this past winter, came to him and asked to play on defense in the secondary. But after working out a few problems, Ashworth returned and asked to play at receiver once more this coming fall. “That’s the best place for us to help our team and he feels best there.”

As far as incoming freshmen, WR Atem Bol from Texas will not qualify and will likely play at Snow College. Also, RB Seta Pohahau from San Mateo, will find out this week, as early as Tuesday or Wednesday, if he qualifies. Both situations are language related academic challenges, something Mendenhall said his staff might need to look harder at when evaluating recruits.

In the case of Pohahau, he is about “a hundreth” of a point from achieving the scores he needs in two classes the NCAA allowed him to repeat during the summer to qualify with the required 16 credits.

Mendenhall said Manase Tonga, who was suspended from school after the spring semester, could be back as early as January but it is not his call as the coach. “He has to have two or three courses completed with a minimum of a 3.0 in order to be considered. Sadly, he is the first academic casualty at BYU in seven years. Without getting into details, in order to have that he’d have to be below a standard for three straight semesters. It was a program failure and a failure for me to point it out to him, to have a change in behavior.

“I’ve learned some lessons in what I can do to prevent something like this. I want him back. He’s one of our leaders and someone I trust. He wouldn’t be back until January if he is admitted.”

Mendenhall said only two players, and both are not headliners, are questionable for fall practices. They are WR Ryan Neeley and DB Chris Warner. He expects O-Linemen Garrett Reden and Travis Bright to be fully capable of practice for two-a-days and NG Russell Tialavea has had his best year of working out as a Cougar.

With the absence of Tonga, Mendenhall said the most likely scenario is for Fui Vakapuna and Harvey Unga to play in the backfield at the same time. He senses J.J. DiLuigi will also have a say. “We also have Brian Kariya (Davis High 5A MVP state championship team), who is built like Manase back from a mission.

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In four years of covering Mendenhall, I’ve never seen him laugh so hard as he did Monday after he stated his philosophy of recruiting high profile athletes to BYU and how it was so contrary to the regular ways and means of college football.

Mendenhall declared he believed it is “demeaning” for an adult college coach to convince an 18-year old to come to his place to play football. He won’t do it. “It goes against my core philosophy.”

He then laughed out-loud how that sounded because it’s what most schools do and even make promises.

Mendenhall has been involved in several high profile recruits the past few years and he refused to cave in and become a beggar for the sake of getting a blue chipper.

“Our strategy is unique,” Mendenhall said. “I have to be convinced that they (a recruit) wants to come to BYU and that they don’t have to be coddled or convinced.”

But do you lose some players?” someone asked.

“Yes, and some are good LDS players. But I want players who really want what I call a passion for BYU and a chance to play at BYU and I don’t have much time for those who want to be convinced. Some would argue that’s the reason we won’t succeed and I argue that’s the reason we are. There are some walkon players who are very close to scholarship players. I think it is degrading to a coach to try and convince an 18-year old man why they should come to their place.

“I know it’s contrary to most recruiting thoughts but I like young men who know what they want and are willing to pursue it and know where they’re going and why.”