BYU football coach LaVell Edwards says his Cougars are better than last year, with one exception - quarterback.
"Obviously, that's a big exception," he added.Speaking at the annual WAC Football Media Kickoff on Sunday, Edwards said that despite the uncertainty at quarterback, he doesn't expect that position to be a problem. Lefty Steve Clements and righty John Walsh have contrasting styles, but both throw well.
Edwards even hinted that Walsh and Clements might enter the season as co-first-stringers.
"I honestly thought coming out of spring practice that we'd have an idea" about the No. 1 QB, he said. "It very possibly could be both of them."
What he is more concerned about is depth at a few positions, especially offensive line.
Right now the Cougars have seven players to man five offensive-line positions. They're good players, Edwards said, but if a couple of them get hurt the team would have to call on freshmen who just aren't ready yet.
Another question-mark area is defensive back, where the Cougars have pinned their hopes on a pair of junior-college recruits. "We simply have to have at least one of those guys come along and be a starter," Edwards said.
And then there's the kicking game, which has been handled capably by Earl Kauffman for the past three years. This season Joe Herrick will punt, while David Lauder, of Viewmont High and Ricks College, will placekick. Of Lauder, Edwards said: "He kicks the ball out of the end zone oftentimes. Hopefully he can kick it straight."
The coach said the losses of Mark Atuaia (mission) and T.D. Biegel (injury) have thinned BYU's backfield ranks, but also noted that what is left is very good. Talented sophomore Jamal Willis returns as the starting halfback, with redshirt freshman Hema Heimuli at fullback and Dixie College transfer Kalin Hall backing up both positions.
And Willis, Edwards said, should figure more prominently in BYU's offense. "We've got to get the ball into Jamal's hands 18 or 25 times a game, maybe sometimes more than that."
What worries Edwards most, however, is the schedule. Much was made last year about BYU's tough early opponents - Florida State, UCLA and Penn State - but the coach said he'd rather face them than a conference foe, on the road.
"Three of our first four games are conference, two on the road," Edwards said. "I don't like the schedule."
BYU's first game is against UTEP Sept. 5, at El Paso. Five days later they face San Diego State in Cougar Stadium. After a nonconference contest with UCLA, the Cougs then travel to the Islands for a matchup with Hawaii.