With Thursday's BYU football practice open to the public, it wasn't long before the first sounds of "Fuuuui!" rolled across the field.

What did they see? A pretty standard practice -- senior guard Travis Bright called it "just another work day" -- even though it was the first day in full pads. The practice was highlighted by a short touchdown pass from junior quarterback Max Hall to sophomore running back Harvey Unga to end the workout.

"It's good to have our fans out and have their support," Bright said. "We're doing what we can to represent BYU well. You know, tempers are starting to get a little high and we want to scrimmage. It'll be good to see without the quick whistles what the offense and defense can do."

September Hogan of Sandy was right up front at Thursday's practice, joking that she was there scouting out future son-in-laws for her daughters.

"Bronco (Mendenhall) has done an amazing job keeping the team humble and grounded," Hogan said. "The expectations are high. There's been some injuries and stuff, but sometimes that a good thing to know you're just one injury away from not having great year."

Hogan said her favorite player was Hall and she was not happy to be missing the UCLA game for her 20-year class reunion.

Ken Carr of San Diego was fortunate enough to have a family wedding in Salt Lake City correspond with his family's trip to Utah.

"I'm an alumnus and our family loves the program and the university," Carr said. "I read in the paper that practice was open, so I wanted to get here and sneak a peek. We're very hopeful for a BCS bowl game. It would be great for the conference and great for the university."

Mendenhall said he was pleased with how his team responded from the previous day.

"It was cleaner for the most part today," he said. "After basically the very blunt direction from yesterday off making sure the players were off the ground and not making cheap shots, maybe they missed a little bit by being overly cautious. But I think we got more plays and more work done. I was impressed by the clean way the drills were run so we could get the volume of plays and looks we need to see."

The touchdown pass from Hall to Unga detailed to Mendenhall just how hard those two players are to defend.

"Max and Harvey, that combination is very difficult to stop," he said. "We were in something where we were covering Harvey with two defenders and they still scored. He's just a very good player."

• Open mouth, insert foot: Mendenhall responded to questions about comments made on ESPN.com by freshman wide receiver O'Neill Chambers, which seemed to denigrate his teammates and bordered on boastful. Mendenhall said he found out about the quotes after getting an e-mail on his Blackberry.

"I view it as program failure," Mendenhall said. "The young men we bring in, no matter how much we educate them in the recruiting process, I can't say they'll be prepared for the type of interviews and attention they'll get, the emotion and energy. I can do a much better job of getting them to transition from 'me' to 'we.' Recruiting is all about the individual.

"We leveraged it this morning in terms of how to approach it. I didn't read it (the ESPN comments), nor am I paying that much attention to it. It was a great way to educate a young man and the rest of our team. I addressed it in a team setting and that's all I'm going to do. The point has been made."

Mendenhall said he's aware that the high expectations on the program this year has increased the national and local media attention.

"In general, the expectations and the attention are providing a new level of test for the coaches, the players and the program," he said. "It just shows what I've been saying from the beginning, that the grounding effect for the players is critical."

• Tom Sorensen update: Mendenhall said Tom Sorensen, who was slated to start at center, received injection in his injured shoulder and the hope is he will improve without surgery.

"The conservative approach comes from the recommendation of the doctor," Mendenhall said. "There will be a two-week period to see if the shots provide relief and he can perform at a level he's comfortable with and that we are comfortable with. Then we'll determine if the surgery will happen or not."

The recovery period either way appears to be four-to-six weeks. Meanwhile, senior Dallas Reynolds took all the snaps with the No. 1 offense at center in Thursday's practice. He struggled early with three bad exchanges and one bad shotgun snap but was more consistent in the second 11-on-11 drill.

• Practice report: Much of the first team session was spent in run blocking. Unga, redshirt freshman J.J. DiLuigi and junior Wayne Latu all broke off long runs during the day.

But there were still plenty of passing opportunities for the quarterbacks. Hall was 12-of-18 and had the short touchdown pass to Unga. Junior Brenden Gaskins and sophomore Kurt McEwen both went 2-of-5 during their time on the field.

Defensively, the secondary shone with junior cornerback Scott Johnson, junior cornerback Brandon Howard and sophomore cornerback Brandon Bradley all getting pass breakups. Sacks were logged by junior defensive end Ian Dulan, sophomore nose tackle Russell Tialavea and freshman linebacker Iona Pritchard.

• Cougar watch: Former BYU quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Ty Detmer was at practice on Thursday, chatting with former teammate Jamal Willis, who works as an academic advisor for BYU.

• Daily Herald Sports Editor Darnell Dickson can be reached at 344-2555 or by e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Read his blog at cougarblue.com

Camp Cougar

• Player of the Day: Redshirt freshman running back J.J. DiLuigi. He'll be a nice change-of-pace weapon out of the backfield with his quickness and elusiveness.

• Play of the Day: A picture-perfect catch by sophomore wide receiver Luke Ashworth, who went horizontal to pull in a Max Hall pass near the sideline.

• Quote of the Day: "I hope that's what we're practicing, running down and watching the ball go out of the end zone." ¬­-- BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall when asked how he planned to practice kickoff returns with a freshman kicker (Justin Sorensen) who can kick the ball out of the end zone.