Jeff’s like, ‘Listen, man. I’m telling you. You’ve got a chance to make this team,’. He said, ‘They’ve got a guy there that’s in, like, his third year named Stockton that I’m not so sure about. He hasn’t played very much. – Billy Donovan

The BYU Cougars have some major questions to answer after just one day of fall camp, but they're already fully on the radar in Los Angeles.

In a UCLA football training camp primer, Joey Kaufman of the Orange County Register writes that the Sept. 19 contest between the Bruins and Cougars is a "key game" for UCLA.

"A week before the Bruins start Pac-12 play, they meet up against an experienced BYU squad in a late-night showdown," Kaufman wrote. "The Cougars bring back a talented quarterback and dark-horse Heisman Trophy candidate in Taysom Hill, who led them to a 4-0 start last season before a season-ending knee injury in the fifth game against Utah State."

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For Bronco Mendenhall and company, the game in Pasadena, California, will be the third in a brutal four-game stretch to open the 2015 campaign. Also on the Cougars' schedule in September are Nebraska, Boise State and Michigan.

On the flip side, Kaufman writes that the showdown at the Rose Bowl will finally provide UCLA with a challenge after it opens the season against Virginia and UNLV.

"The Cougars have 14 starters back, including Hill," Kaufman wrote, "and should provide the Bruins with their first test of the season."

Utes also get love in L.A., and a comparison to Ringo Starr

BYU isn't the only football team from the Beehive State to have the attention of the City of Angels.

Once criticized after comparing the University of Utah's arrival in the Pac-12 to Ringo Starr's timing in joining The Beatles, Chris Dufresne of the Los Angeles Times writes that the Utes should finally be deserving of respect.

Recounting how Utah wasn't Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott's first choice when he was looking to expand the conference, Dufresne writes that "the Utes joined the league just before it signed a $3 billion television deal. The only question was whether Utah could handle the drum kit. After a few rocky seasons, the answer appears to be yes."

With 17 starters returning, including Heisman trophy hopeful Devontae Booker, Dufresne opines that the Utes have far outshined Colorado, which joined the Conference of Champions with Utah, and will do so again in 2015.

"You know what Ringo said about earning respect," Dufresne writes, “‘it don't come easy.’”

Stockton almost passed up by Donovan?

If former NBA head coach Jeff Van Gundy's crystal ball would have been clear back in 1987, Billy Donovan's name could have been in the Utah Jazz's record books far more often than John Stockton's.

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In a profile on Donovan, the new head coach of the Oklahoma City Thunder, Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman writes that Van Gundy predicted Donovan would make the Jazz roster after Utah selected him in the draft.

Writes Mayberry: “Jeff’s like, ‘Listen, man. I’m telling you. You’ve got a chance to make this team,’” Donovan remembered. “He said, ‘They’ve got a guy there that’s in, like, his third year named Stockton that I’m not so sure about. He hasn’t played very much.’

“Training camp starts and I call Jeff after, like, the first day of double sessions. I said, ‘Hey, Jeff, remember that comment you made to me about you’re not sure about Stockton? That’s the best guard I’ve ever played against in my entire life.’”

Ryan McDonald is a sports reporter at DeseretNews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ryanwmcdonald.

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