Jay Drew's update on spring practice--has some good stuff.
If they stay healthy, senior
Fred Warner and juniors
Butch Pau'u and
Francis Bernard will form one of the best groups of linebackers in recent BYU football history.
...
"Yeah, yeah, absolutely, absolutely," [Bernard] said Wednesday when I asked him if the problem that caused him to be suspended [for the bowl game] has been cleared up. "I am just excited to be here in spring ball, excited to be back with the boys, so we are just going to get it rolling. … I am excited for what is to come and for the future."
A couple leftover tidbits from tight ends coach Steve Clark:
If the season started today,
Laulu-Pututau would be the starter at tight end, with freshman
Matt Bushman behind him. Last year's starters —
Tanner Balderree and
Hunter Marshall — had surgery recently and will re-join the team in the fall.
"We use a lot of two tight end sets, so it would probably be those two, is the way we would start," Clark said.
Clark said Bushman has the potential to be really, really good.
"He has put on a little weight — he's just right off a mission. So we have to be a little patient with him. But he caught seven balls in our team [sessions] on Friday. Yeah, he's got a great feel for the game, good hands, big body, just needs to get more strength," Clark said.
Clark isn't concerned that Bushman is also giving baseball a try.
"The baseball coaches there say he could get drafted. He's that good of a baseball player," Clark said. "But he's on scholarship for football. Football is paying the bills right now. So, we have him when we need him … But he goes up and goes through batting practice with them. But when we need him here, he's here."
"I am happy with the numbers at running back," [Sitaki] said. "We have a bunch of guys. it is just a matter of who is going to get the bulk of the carries. It is hard to replace an athlete like Jamaal [Williams]. But you do it with numbers and a lot of guys who are skilled. So we will let them compete and the best will start the game. We are not going to rely on just one guy to carry the load. I think Jamaal deserved that last year and throughout his career. We will see if someone emerges this year, but for now we feel really good with [by] committee, the whole group. We will just see how they progress in the offseason and through spring ball."
Here's Sitake's rundown of the battle at safety:
"Well, having
Tanner Jacobsen and
Micah Hannemann there, we were able to move
Matt Hadley a little bit, and give him a look at running back. We feel good with the guys who could be at that position. We also have the ability to move any of our corners to safety if we feel like we have the need. But we feel good with the numbers that are there with [Utah transfer]
Austin Lee and some of the others that are starting to emerge as guys in that position.