Nothing comes easy for players on the BYU football team -- even redshirts.

"It's a different philosophy," Mendenhall said. "What I don't like is the view of entitlement of a player being 'If I don't play, I get a redshirt year.' I think a redshirt has to be earned. Just because a player doesn't play for one year, that doesn't mean he'll be given the redshirt year eligibility-wise."

Generally, Mendenhall has released a list of redshirts during the first week of the regular season, the same day BYU is required to exchange information with its opponent. When the two-deep chart was made public, so was the list of players taking redshirt years.

Not anymore.

"Since that tone is set, I like it," Mendenhall said. "I think it prepares them more for the real world, where you can't really take a year off and be in an organization or team and expect it to be paid for. I don't like the idea of something for nothing. There have been some players before that I looked at, once they were not playing I don't think their commitment level was the same and I didn't like it. Organizationally, that was something that needed to change."

Mendenhall mentioned several freshman who may be in line to earn much more than a redshirt year -- actual playing time in 2008. True freshman linebackers Spencer Hadley, Iona Pritchard and Michael Alisa may get an opportunity to play right away on special teams. Alisa and true freshman safety Shiloah Te'o were among the No. 1 kickoff coverage unit during Friday's morning practice.

"With our freshman they most likely will be on all the special teams and traveling and maybe getting some work," Mendenhall said. "What was at first a concern with depth, the freshman have been evaluated correctly and they're doing a nice job. We're really pleased with our young linebackers."

• Practice report: In the morning session, Max Hall was 11-of-13, including a nice deep sideline ball to O'Neill Chambers. The true freshman made a nice over-the-shoulder catch and got his feet inbounds. Hall led the No. 1 offense on a touchdown drive on its initial possession, redshirt freshman J.J. DiLuigi following pulling guard Ray Feinga on a five-yard scoring run. Sophomore quarterback Kurt McEuen had a good team session as well, completing 8-of-10 passes. Junior Brenden Gaskins was 4-of-6.

Defensively, coaches took the opportunity to get junior college transfer linebacker Coleby Clawson some work with the No. 1 defense in the field linebacker spot. Junior linebacker Vic So'oto, freshman defensive end Matt Putnam and freshman linebacker Iona Pritchard had sacks, junior linebacker Matt Ah You had a pass breakup and junior defensive end Jan Jorgensen had a tackle for loss.

The evening session of 11-on-11 was highlighted by an interception from redshirt freshman safety Steven Thomas and a 25-yard touchdown pass from McEuen to sophomore wide receiver Landon Jaussi.

• Finally here: Junior college defensive end Bernard Afutiti finally made it to the practice field on Friday after paperwork issues were finally resolved. He's got a long way to go to catch up; Mendenhall said the entire defense has already been installed.

• Hold this: Mendenhall said the top three candidates to hold for field goals and extra points were senior wide receiver Bryce Mahuika, junior wide receiver Austin Collie and Gaskins and that the job was still up for grabs. Collie has yet to go full speed in practice as he heals from a stress fracture and Mahuika, who has had difficulty staying healthy his entire career, sat out Friday when a quad muscle tightened up.

• Extra Points: Friday was the first two-a-day practice session. The later practice was about an hour and 10 minutes. The younger players were given the largest number of reps on Friday to prepare for Saturday's scrimmage session at LaVell Edwards Stadium... Mendenhall said Putman might be the team's second-best pass rusher, behind Jorgensen.

• 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 on BYU football at cougarblue.com