Scott Johnson lost until bowl game
Scott Johnson, the BYU corner injured in the CSU game, will be out for at least three weeks with a double groin tear, according to Bronco Mendenhall.
Johnson had both legs spread out in coverage when two CSU players hit him and drove him to the ground. “I 10 years, you I don’t think you could duplicate that injury,” said Mendenhall.
BYU will experiment with playing safety Andrew Rich at the boundary corner position. “It’s a position similar to that safety spot and we’ll try him there today and see how it goes.”
Mendenhall said Brandon Bradley (lower leg bruise) will be back for this game with San Diego State.
Reporters at Monday’s press conference wanted to get takes on the Utah-TCU game Thursday.
Mendenhall said it was date night and he and his wife Holly wold be out at the movies. Max Hall, after thinking for a minute, said it was the night for TV’s “Office” and he’d be watching that show.
Hall stood up for J.J. Diluigi and his fumble. “I felt sorry for him and I put my arm around him and told him he would be a big player for us in the future. He works hard.”
DiLuigi has carried seven times this year and had 2 fumbles, the latest in a key part of the CSU game fourth quarter.
Other items of interest from Mendenhall:
–BYU’s defense called 12 blitzes to get pressure on CSU’s Billy Farris and none of them got results. When Jan Jorgensen did sack Farris, it was off a screen play and when he forced a fumble, it was on a three-man rush. “We did better with a three-man rush than we did with the blitz.”
– Mendenhall told reporters he is not going to worry about style points and margin of wins. “This team is 8-1 and that’s the best start I’ve had as a coach.” He said he has asked that his players and staff enjoy the wins, savor them and smile and not feel negative about wins.
– While Mendenhall was not ready to talk about any other changes on defense until his staff has worked it out, one can assume — players like David Nixon are already — that QB Stephen Covey will be moved to play safety.
– Mendenhall said BYU’s defense held up pretty good against CSU’s conventional plays. His defense failed when four gadget plays were run against them. “We prepared them for what they did well against and what we didn’t prepare them for they did not do that well and that is my fault for not preparing them for what they did not expect.”