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Mendenhall feeling confident as spring football begins |
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JaredLloyd | Monday, March 19, 2007, 3:26 pm
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Darnell Dickson
Daily Herald
For the next month, a hundred BYU football players will take the field for spring football practice. The veterans know more is expected of them; the new players will be trying desperately to impress the coaches.
Among all that anxiety will be head coach Bronco Mendenhall, as relaxed as he’s ever been.
This will be Mendenhall’s third spring since taking over the BYU program in 2005, and he said he’s much more confident now than when he started.
“I was uncertain that first year,” Mendenhall admitted. “There was self doubt. I wondered if I was capable of being a head coach because I’d not been one before. I was taking over a program that had three losing seasons and some offseason problems. The job seemed bigger than I could do at the time.”
But, to use Mendenhall’s terminology, he “stayed the course” and his efforts culminated with an 11-2 mark in his second season (2006) with a conference championship, a classic win over rival Utah and a Las Vegas Bowl victory over Oregon.
“The thing I did believe from the beginning was that the direction was right to return the program to what it was supposed to be,” Mendenhall said. “Leading this program is a humbling experience. The confidence of the players has grown over three years because the coaching staff said what it intended to do and has followed through.”
But every spring brings new challenges, and spring 2007 has its share. Here are some of the items on Mendenhall’s to-do list: Choose a quarterback to replace the ultra-efficient John Beck; break in a new offensive line coach (Mark Weber); replace the terrific leadership that left with the senior class; find a cornerback to replace the underrated Justin Robinson; figure out a way to replace super-productive running back Curtis Brown; re-tool his special teams and prepare for the season opener against Arizona, followed by a road game against UCLA.
Is that all?
Fans will pay special attention to the quarterback race. For the past two seasons, Beck has been firmly entrenched as the starter. He led BYU to two bowl games and a Mountain West Conference championship as the trigger man for Robert Anae’s precision passing attack.
Now, with Beck eyeing a career in the NFL, the Cougars head into spring football with an honest-to-goodness quarterback race.
Max Hall, a transfer from Arizona State, impressed teammates and coaches with his play on the scout team last year. He goes into spring camp as the frontrunner for the quarterback spot.
“I like his presence, competitive spirit and his confidence,” Mendenhall said. “He’s not afraid to do or say things in any situation to lead. He’s helped our program significantly, much like Curtis Brown did on the scout team three years ago.”
Joining Hall in the quarterback competition are two junior college transfers (Cade Cooper and Brenden Gaskins), redshirt freshman Sam Doman and walk-ons Kurt McEuen and Mangum Parker. Mendenhall said he wants to name a starter by the end of spring to present strong leadership through the summer workouts.
None of the six quarterbacks in camp have ever taken a live snap in a Division I game.
Mendenhall has increased the difficulty of winter workouts and asked his players for an even stronger commitment. Even though BYU is coming off its most successful season in years, Mendenhall said he still has bigger goals.
“At the national coaching convention, the comments were we had a ‘great season’ and had a ‘great team.’ They didn’t say we had a great program,” he said. “At one point, this was a great program. All we’ve shown in two years is improvement. So many want to say BYU is back after last season, but bringing the program back is tied to consistency. What’s the mark? There’s always another mark to hit.”
BYU will practice four times a week leading up to the spring game on April 14. |
