WACoug wrote:

McGregor,

I am sure I can speak for all of cougarblue when I say thank you for this thread. We all respect your decision to not post so in depth per Bronco's wishes. I for one feel like a crack junkie who just got a fix after a long hiatus. :lol: B)

Ditto! I completely agree!

McGregor wrote:

1) Anae. First of all, I think a lot of the complaints about Anae are unwarranted. Uniformly there are football answers to all complaints I see, but I will save that discussion for another thread. But in 2008, you will see a more "open" BYU. Robert has been here long enough that he can comfortably run some plays within his system and style that we maybe haven't seen before. I know I've seen some plays in practice that have never made it to the game field.

My main concern with Anae is in-game adjustments. For example, how long he took to run the ball against UNLV and SDSU. Also, how he doesn't go with the hot-handed runner (like how he stuck with Curtis over Fui/Tonga/Unga for the first part of last year, and Fui/Tonga over Unga the first part of this year). Also his tendency to get extremely conservative when milking a lead (see: 0 points against UCLA in the 2nd half in Vegas, letting TCU and Utah back into the games in Provo). Sure, I'm very happy with him, but why not strain at gnats as long as I have an opportunity to ask "the man"?

McGregor wrote:

2) Collie. I'm a Collie homer, I admit. But think about what he accomplished this year coming off a mission and on a sprained ankle. Expect this guy to shave a tenth, or more, from his 40 time, expect him to polish off his already EXCELLENT route-running, and expect him to lean up a bit more. With all of this, and an entire off season building that connection with Max . . . Wow! I have it on pretty good authority that Collie expects that this coming year to be "Heismann-esque" (not that he will win it, but that at the end of the year, he will be able to fill a similarly-looking highlight reel).

But will Collie continue to push-off his defender on so many plays with an obvious full arm movement? Collie could win up the offensive PI king if he doesn't fix that aggressive little habit. I also really want him to be healthy enough to field almost all of our punt and kick returns.

McGregor wrote:

3) Max Hall. I expect Max to increase the velocity of his throws a little, and I expect to see him work all summer at moving through his progressions. I also expect that he's going to work on his foot speed.

How many interceptions will he throw? How many times will he fumble? Can he teach himself to look past Collie first, Pitta second, no one third (an over-exaggeration)?

McGregor wrote:

4) Jan Jorgensen. Favorite defender. Does anyone else need reminding that he's only a sophomore??? He will work on his technique, build a little more muscle mass, but work on his burst. While I'm at it, I think Denney will be the other DE. Add his development in, and I think we will have an amazing DL, almost regardless of who we plug into the DT. Also look for Steve Fendry to make some noise.

I agree. But please remind me again how UCLA's backup running backs ate our D-line alive?

McGregor wrote:

5) Harvey The Unga. So no one is going to mistake Harvey as a track star, but it would not be a stretch to accuse his freshman play as "junior." I think he's two years ahead of the curve. I expect that next year he will block better and catch better. I do think he'll try to get a little faster, too. I think his main concern, though, should be learning the offense and blocking. That's the main thing we miss without Curtis Brown. If Harvey learns this, I expect better protection for Max, and more swing passes to Harvey.

Unga is awesome. But how many yards will he have next season against Washington and UCLA?

McGregor wrote:

6) The secondary. I love the guys we have this year. BUT. Expect to see much, much more speed in the secondary. I'm predicting G Pittman as the next Morgan. Howard has already proven that he's quite capable--I have no worries about him. I think the CB position will be every bit as strong as it was this year, but a LOT quicker. Just think--If Coach Hill can compensate for lack of athleticism with our current DB's by teaching them the fundamentals, think what that teaching could mean to someone with more athletic ability. Crazy. I don't expect to see Tafuna, and I'm not sure Fowler will keep his job. I think before the season started there were freshman that were competing for the starting job. I just think Bronco wanted to keep these guys in the wings if he could.

Young still means inexperienced. We may have seen no repeat of the Tulsa game because we played no other team with Tulsa's ability to pass. Washington can pass, and perhaps in a year UCLA will be able to as well.

McGregor wrote:

7) JJ DiLuigi. He hasn't touched the turf yet, but I'm excited. We could write pages of why we didn't see the slot this year, but suffice it to say, JJ will bump out the competition. He will be cross trained at slot and RB, but will add a dimension to this offense that will open things up again.

I worry that J.J. will get buried by an O.C. that prefers to play upperclassmen first/more. Not a lot, but a little.

McGregor wrote:

8) No loss on the OL. Sete was great, but Sorenson will be NO drop off.

Which reminds me- Why should we keep Weber as O-Line coach? To me, the outsider arm-chair fan, it seems like he did a terrible job this year. Our upperclass linemen couldn't stop causing penalties to save their team's life. And somehow even a Reynolds kid came out of games looking bad!

McGregor wrote:

9) LBers. We know Doman can play. So can Hooks and so can Bauman. I expect that Van Sweden and Nelson will also get some serious looks. Brian Kehl will be missed, but I think the collective speed at the LB position will be enhanced, with no toughness or mass lossed.

Then again, Doman was hurt much of this year. Hooks had off-the-field problems, and never caught back up. Bauman was great of the bench, but what about the pressure of starting and the wear and tear of longer minutes? And who are the back-ups now? Also, you can't underestimate Poppinga's influence- he had more tackles than Kehl and was known to be the more vocal on-field leader.

McGregor wrote:

10) Special teams. I've talked about this elsewhere, but I think Sorenson beats out Payne. I think some of it will depend on Sorenson's mission plans, which I understand are not solid (but I've heard otherwise from reliable sources--interestingly, I heard BOTH from reliable sources). As someone mentioned on another thread, I think Sorenson's field goal ability and the field position with added depth on kickoffs will earn us at least 3 points a game, if not more. I think it's safe to say he will get us an extra field goal, and give us field position for an extra touchdown per game. Also, Austin Collie will be returning kicks. I expect that Bryce may not be returning punts, nor back with Austin returning kicks. G Pittman was looking like he may get that call. Also, if we land Chambers, he may have a shot. And finally, I think deep-snapping duties go to either Denney or Fendry, likely Fendry.

I forget that we need a new deep-snapper. I heard Sorensen was leaving on a mission first. Wasn't Mahuika a senior this season? I don't think we have a shot at Chambers. And what about DiLuigi doing some returning?

McGregor wrote:

11) Remember, for what it's worth, Tonga and Vakapuna will both be back.

Gaining how many yards per carry? Against non-MWC teams?

McGregor wrote:

12) Bronco. I think what is also EXTREMELY important to remember is that Bronco will be a senior. His 6-6 campaign was his freshman effort. He was still learning, and baking a cake without all the ingredients. 2006 was his sophomore year. Both he and the team finally had identity. That helped make a great class of seniors that much better. But he still had a lot to learn. In 2007, his junior year, he faced a monumental challenge: take an infant offense and make them compete. It didn't help that his secondary had a hard time staying healthy (or waking up). But he did it. He was able to make the results of the previous year, even if he didn't produce as much results. But he learned a lot. 2008 is Bronco's senior year. He knows how he wants to do things. He knows what makes HIS recruits tick. He knows his staff. He knows strengths and weaknesses. And most importantly, his players believe his word as gospel.

But can Bronco prepare a BYU team to win tough OOC matches on the road, especially against BCS teams? Can he coach wins over Top 20 teams consistently? Can he beat 10+ wins squads? Can he call a player to kneel with 13-seconds left in the half? Can he not punt down 17 at home in the 4th quarter from midfield? Can he win 11 games? Can he go undefeated out of conference play? Can he get us a blowout win over Utah? Can he run up the score, and get his team to step on the opponents' throat? Can his team not give up TDs in the last 2 minutes of the 2nd and 4th quarters?


I love my Cougars. But if we want to talk BCS Busting, we should really talk it out. Are we good enough? Why? How can we do it?

Everyone but airdog has got to see that the future is bright.

GO COUGARS!

Mars wrote:

My main concern with Anae is in-game adjustments. For example, how long he took to run the ball against UNLV and SDSU. Also, how he doesn't go with the hot-handed runner (like how he stuck with Curtis over Fui/Tonga/Unga for the first part of last year, and Fui/Tonga over Unga the first part of this year). Also his tendency to get extremely conservative when milking a lead (see: 0 points against UCLA in the 2nd half in Vegas, letting TCU and Utah back into the games in Provo).

One thing we must always keep in mind is that there are always two teams making adjustments. I get the feeling that fans seem to think that, for instance, UCLA comes with a gameplan, and BYU comes with a gameplan. It takes us a drive to figure out what UCLA is doing, but takes the coaches until haltime. That's simply not the case.

What happens is that both teams come out with a gameplan. As each drive develops, ALL coaches are seeing what is happening, and communicate their observations. We call plays accordingly. BUT, that's exactly what the other team is doing. Soemtimes we make a change simultaneous with a UCLA change that turns out to be a bad fit for us. It happens. But I promise, coaches are playing the chess match all game long.

As for certain players: that's a position coach call. Reynolds tells an assistant on the sideline who should go in next. Remember, too, that sometimes a player is sent in not knonwing what Robert will call. Harvey can't be in the game for every play, and sometimes it's the case that the plays he's in there for are passing plays, then he gets a breather on the run plays. I think the coaches are cognizant of this, but there are also a lot of calls changed at the line.

Mars wrote:

How many interceptions will he throw? How many times will he fumble? Can he teach himself to look past Collie first, Pitta second, no one third (an over-exaggeration)?

I agree. But please remind me again how UCLA's backup running backs ate our D-line alive?

Unga is awesome. But how many yards will he have next season against Washington and UCLA?

Young still means inexperienced. We may have seen no repeat of the Tulsa game because we played no other team with Tulsa's ability to pass. Washington can pass, and perhaps in a year UCLA will be able to as well.

I worry that J.J. will get buried by an O.C. that prefers to play upperclassmen first/more. Not a lot, but a little.

Which reminds me- Why should we keep Weber as O-Line coach? To me, the outsider arm-chair fan, it seems like he did a terrible job this year. Our upperclass linemen couldn't stop causing penalties to save their team's life. And somehow even a Reynolds kid came out of games looking bad!

Then again, Doman was hurt much of this year. Hooks had off-the-field problems, and never caught back up. Bauman was great of the bench, but what about the pressure of starting and the wear and tear of longer minutes? And who are the back-ups now? Also, you can't underestimate Poppinga's influence- he had more tackles than Kehl and was known to be the more vocal on-field leader.

I forget that we need a new deep-snapper. I heard Sorensen was leaving on a mission first. Wasn't Mahuika a senior this season? I don't think we have a shot at Chambers. And what about DiLuigi doing some returning?

Gaining how many yards per carry? Against non-MWC teams?

The UCLA game was fought in the trenches. On offense, we played against a stacked box. If you have 5 lineman, it's tough to block 7 or 8 guys. No line is going to look too great. The way to combat that is effectively spreading out field. We were not able to effectively do that. But to blame it all on the line would be unfair. I do, however, realize that there were several missed assignments. Unfortunately, UCLA was a great defense with an excellent DC, with tons of time to prepare.

On the other side, Jan was doubled. They knew that Jan would cause problems. If you're an OC, you have two choices: run AWAY from Jan, using one man to block him. That's not the best idea, because is good enough to shed a blocker, and fast enough to catch up with the play. The other option is to run AT Jan. Then, you double up on him.

Jan will need to work on his technique to bust up double teams.

I'm not sure how much it matters that the CB's are inexperienced. Experience certainly helps, but plenty of freshman have walked into starting roles at CB. It should be the safety position that worries. But remember that neither of our two safeties began the year as starters, and neither had too much playing time (especially Kellen).

I expect that DiLuigi will have a shot at returning.

I do think we have a shot at Chambers.

McGregor, you are the man. Thank you for the update and optimism. I am optimistic and hopeful that the stars line up right and we see some pretty impressive things in the coming season. I guess now I need countdown calendars to NLOI day, Spring ball, Fall camp and Opening game for 2008!

Go COugs!!!

Is Tonga's brother coming back?