Hengst wrote:

NorthernCougar wrote:

treck wrote:

Collie is way better than Watkins hoped to be, plus Collie's supporting cast is stronger and if opposing teams want to focus soley on him, they will get burned by any number of players...Pitta, Unga, Fui, Reed, etc.

Agree 100%. Collie was better as a freshman than Watkins ever was. He had the fundamentals and the skills necessary to be amazing. I still say he was the best freshman receiver I have ever seen...anywhere.

I said that his freshman year and I still stand by that statement. Barring injury, Collie will be the best receiver BYU has ever had and likely the best we will ever see. He is in a category by himself and I can hardly wait for the next two season.

There are 10 things that have to happen for collie to be the best receiver ever to play at BYU:

#1 Hall has to improve, Collie won't be a great receiver unless the QB is getting him the ball.

#2 Collie must stay injury free, this means that Bronco better find someone else to return kicks, better to have a mediocre mahuika return and have collie out on offense catching passes than to have good collie returns and risk injury.

#4 Reed and Pitta must continue to be threatening options for defenses, if everyone can just focus on collie he'll have a hard time accomplishing the following.

#5 He must be a 1000 yard guy. Either this year, next year or both he needs to catch more than 1000 yards in a season.

#6 Unga must continue to play well. Nothing like a good running game to make it easier for a receiver to go over the top.

#7 Collie must improve over his freshman and sophomore years. He's been great, but if he doesn't get better he won't be "the best."

#8 The o-line has to protect Hall well. Collie can't catch the ball if Hall can't throw it.

#9 Anae needs to be creative with his play calling to give him the best opportunities to succeed.

#10 He has to make big plays in BYU's non-conference road games.

If all of that happens, not only will collie be the best at BYU ever, but BYU should be bowling with the big boys.

Excellent points, Hengst. (I would comment about giving you Karma, but I see that may have negative repercussions... )

Regarding #2, I think Collie's injury was a fluke in the Tulsa game - his ankle got twisted on an usual tackle and he played hobbled for most of the year.

It's been a LONG time (too long) to see something exciting on kickoff returns. Too often, the ball ends on the goal line and we just simply return it to around the 20 or 25, anyways.

I think Bronco will seriously look at the kickoff (and, in general, Special Teams) as a way to change/gain field position. Some of those run-backs changed the perspective of the game. Rather than starting on 25, we start on the 35 or 40 (or BETTER), we gain anywhere from 1-4 extra "plays" that we don't have to execute.

Adding in to that, we all expect kickoffs to get better when Sorensen's foot will be behind the ball. Forcing teams to start at NO BETTER than their own 20 means that THEY will have to execute that many more plays for a score - more opportunities for them to make a mistake.

I believe that's one of the reasons we lost the regular-season game with UCLA last year (besides the fumbles, the penalties, and the officiating....) - it was a difference in field position. They started better than there 35 and we started no better than our own 20.