Consistency right now is what our focus is on, on both sides — just putting together series and numbers of plays together with cleaner play, fewer mistakes and more productivity.” – Bronco Mendenhall
PROVO — Yes, it’s been an eventful opening week of fall camp for BYU.
A couple of days before practice began, the school announced that running back Jamaal Williams had withdrawn from school.
Then on Tuesday, outside linebacker Colby Jorgensen suffered a serious neck injury and underwent emergency surgery. At that same practice, tempers flared among players and some pushing and shoving led coach Bronco Mendenhall to halt practice and put players through brutal conditioning drills that lasted about 40 minutes.
Later during that practice, four players, all offensive linemen, suffered heat exhaustion and had to be treated.
On Wednesday, news surfaced of linebacker Sione Takitaki being cited with misdemeanor theft charges. He has been suspended for the season-opener at Nebraska, which is three weeks away.
Whew.
The Cougars will cap the first week of fall camp Saturday with a 10:15 a.m. scrimmage open to the public at LaVell Edwards Stadium.
Mendenhall said his goal for the scrimmage is “just to assess where our team is. I’m not going to be more specific than that. I’m just looking for a great indicator of where we currently are as a team to then set practice and our planning for the future.”
Wide receiver Mitch Mathews, who has been sidelined due to injury, said the offense has performed well so far.
“The first few days, the defense beat us, then we put on pads and it seemed like we were kind of rolling,” he said. “It means we’re physical. We rely on our physicality to push people around. From a receiver standpoint, we’ve had a lot of different guys make plays. It’s been fun to see a lot of reliability from the younger guys. The offense as a whole, I’ve seen great strides in the few years I’ve been here with (quarterback) Taysom (Hill). We’ve started really fast at fall camp.”
How does Mendenhall assess the offense and defense during the first week?
“I’ve really seen it as kind of inconsistent on both sides. There are stretches where the ball moves really quickly and big chunks offensively and stretches where it doesn’t go so fast. I think we have really good talent offensively. I love our scheme. Consistency right now is what our focus is on, on both sides — just putting together series and numbers of plays together with cleaner play, fewer mistakes and more productivity.”
Linebacker Fred Warner said there’s plenty of room for improvement.
“Overall, we’ve been working really hard. Assignment-wise, execution-wise, we’re still a little off but it’s the first week. It’s expected. A couple fights broke out so our discipline isn’t quite there yet. I feel like we’re not quite there yet. … The offense is looking pretty good. They’ve scored on us a couple of times (Wednesday). Execution and discipline. Everybody needs to work on something.”
“It’s exciting to see guys making plays, stepping up and filling roles,” defensive lineman Bronson Kaufusi said of the defense. “I’m excited where the defense is and where it’s going to be.”
After a much-publicized brawl after the loss to Memphis in the Miami Beach Bowl last December, discipline continues to be a focus for Mendenhall. That was clear by his reaction to the punishment he meted out during Tuesday’s practice.
“I might have had a relapse into the ‘no-tolerance’ Bronco rather than the ‘seasoned-head coach, experienced’ Bronco,” Mendenhall said. “The setting called for it, and the specific topic needed to be addressed, I don’t have any tolerance for. That’s what set me off.”
The coach added that he’s still trying to figure out his team, and Tuesday’s incident “was a good indication of kind of uncovering their soul, so to speak.”
Mathews said he and his teammates want to put the unsettling experience at the Miami Beach Bowl behind them.
“What happened in the bowl game is over and done with. There were some scuffles and fights in practice, and it’s something we don’t want to bring back up ever again because it was kind of an embarrassment to us,” he said. “We’ve all gotten past it. It’s just little disciplinary things that we need. It’s one of those things that we learned from. It really hit home, like, ‘remember where you came from.’ We’re a lot better off than when we were playing in the bowl game. We’re ahead now. ‘Don’t look back’ is the moral.”