Archived Topic

Bronco's Assessment of Upcoming 2012 Season

by byucougar1 · 1/12/2012

byucougar1

1/12/2012, 2:47:31 AM

He stated that our peers (other college coaches) feel that BYU is one of the best teams in the country. He noted that we have 29 seniors returning - 1/3 of the team, and they are good players. He says we will have a very strong team, good leadership and he expects great things from the team this fall. New coaches now have 1 year experience under their belt and a solid leader in Riley. I like his outlook and optimism.

mjk5

1/12/2012, 4:21:20 AM

byucougar1 wrote:
He noted that we have 29 seniors returning - 1/3 of the team

2013 will be interesting

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byucougar1

1/12/2012, 4:39:16 AM

In 2012 the Cougs are playing some big football names such as Georgia Tech, Washington State (new coach Mike Leach), Boise State, Hawaii (new coach Norm Chow), Notre Dame, Oregon State and Utah.

However, according to Bronco, "2013 will be the toughest schedule we will have played. When you see it, youâll say, âWhat, is he crazy?â "

cougman

1/12/2012, 4:40:08 AM

byucougar1 wrote:
He stated that our peers (other college coaches) feel that BYU is one of the best teams in the country. He noted that we have 29 seniors returning - 1/3 of the team, and they are good players. He says we will have a very strong team, good leadership and he expects great things from the team this fall. New coaches now have 1 year experience under their belt and a solid leader in Riley. I like his outlook and optimism.

Sweet. Let the hyping begin already. Learned my lesson this season.

Lawboy

1/12/2012, 4:46:38 AM

I heard that Deep Shades of BLue was claiming that the GT series for 2012/2013 might be off, or pushed back. I did not read or hear that personally, though. But it makes sense if true because we asked them to move the game from the first 4 weeks to late, and perhaps they could not work that out for 2012. I know many Big East and B12 teams need games, so could be true.

Mars

1/12/2012, 8:57:27 AM

byucougar1 wrote:
He stated that our peers (other college coaches) feel that BYU is one of the best teams in the country.

I don't think so. He said they said they saw him on ESPN. And he likes his team, though he said that in 2010 and 2011 too, and he shouldn't have.

byucougar1

1/12/2012, 3:42:28 PM

Clarification - one of the better programs - very consistent. This is verified by Bronco's record during his tenure at BYU, the number of consecutive bowl appearances and wins. Additionally, they all commented on the team's resiliency after the losses to TX and UT and how the team improved over the course of the season. Personally, I think the team and coaches began to fine their identity and what their strengths and weaknesses were - what they could accomplish with the talent they had. The utilization of Riley, Hoffman, Falslev, Alisa, Sampson, are just a few examples of players who rose up and became an integral part of the team.

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jonnylingo

1/12/2012, 4:27:14 PM

byucougar1 wrote:
Personally, I think the team and coaches began to fine their identity and what their strengths and weaknesses were - what they could accomplish with the talent they had. The utilization of Riley, Hoffman, Falslev, Alisa, Sampson, are just a few examples of players who rose up and became an integral part of the team.

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My brother in law was stating that alisa should start and that falslev should take jacobsen's starting spot during spring ball. Why someone like him can anticipate things like that b etter than coaches is beyond me. it was obvious that alisa was our best and taht falslev was simply better than jacobsen. I wish that our coaches could find this idenity and their stengths and weaknesses our in fall camp instead of half way through the season when it is time to play patty cakes.

Guest

1/12/2012, 4:52:46 PM

jonnylingo wrote:
Personally, I think the team and coaches began to fine their identity and what their strengths and weaknesses were - what they could accomplish with the talent they had. The utilization of Riley, Hoffman, Falslev, Alisa, Sampson, are just a few examples of players who rose up and became an integral part of the team.

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My brother in law was stating that alisa should start and that falslev should take jacobsen's starting spot during spring ball. Why someone like him can anticipate things like that b etter than coaches is beyond me. it was obvious that alisa was our best and taht falslev was simply better than jacobsen. I wish that our coaches could find this idenity and their stengths and weaknesses our in fall camp instead of half way through the season when it is time to play patty cakes.

Part of the problem is that Alisa, though a fine back against the worst of the worst, pretty much disappeared anytime we played someone with a good rushing defense. I'm not sure how great we would think Alisa is, if he had played against Texas or Utah.

Y 4 Ever

1/12/2012, 4:56:29 PM

hawkwing wrote:

Part of the problem is that Alisa, though a fine back against the worst of the worst, pretty much disappeared anytime we played someone with a good rushing defense. I'm not sure how great we would think Alisa is, if he had played against Texas or Utah.

As did the rest of our run game.

Cougs_Rule

1/12/2012, 5:42:09 PM

Why would he be quoting other coaches? Because he learned that he should not be putting quotes and hype out there himself? So, he'll just slide that in what other coaches said and still accomplish the same if not more "credible" hype? To do what? Build our expectations and say--hey we can still win that NC.??

I know I sound critical, and maybe even "darned if he does and darned if he doesn't". BUt this still is sounding like "over promising and risking under-delivering."

I'll take the excitement about players, chemistry, more experienced coaching, but "we have a lot of work to do" sure seems a lot more realistic and convincing. I guess he did try to accomplish that in the context of the whole interview.

jonnylingo

1/12/2012, 5:53:59 PM

hawkwing wrote:
byucougar1 wrote:
Personally, I think the team and coaches began to fine their identity and what their strengths and weaknesses were - what they could accomplish with the talent they had. The utilization of Riley, Hoffman, Falslev, Alisa, Sampson, are just a few examples of players who rose up and became an integral part of the team.

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My brother in law was stating that alisa should start and that falslev should take jacobsen's starting spot during spring ball. Why someone like him can anticipate things like that b etter than coaches is beyond me. it was obvious that alisa was our best and taht falslev was simply better than jacobsen. I wish that our coaches could find this idenity and their stengths and weaknesses our in fall camp instead of half way through the season when it is time to play patty cakes.

Part of the problem is that Alisa, though a fine back against the worst of the worst, pretty much disappeared anytime we played someone with a good rushing defense. I'm not sure how great we would think Alisa is, if he had played against Texas or Utah.

True, but it is hard to imagine it could have been any worse and it still does not change the fact that he was better than the others against weak teams as well.

byucougar1

1/12/2012, 6:27:38 PM

I think the Alis situation was similar to the Riley scenario. Bronco was the tip of the spear pointing Riley to play safety because of his leadership, athletic ability and intelligence. Riley countering with "but I am a QB and want to play as a QB". Alisa was recruited as a LB, was playing as a LB, and was moved to RB when Iona Pritchard went down. He had to gain the trust of the coaches during practice and in spot situations during games. I knew he had something in the first game against Ole Miss when he caught the swing pass for good yardage and first down. However our coaches are very loyal to the starters or ones penciled into start. It took them awhile to realize that he could be better than the trio of JJ, Kariya, Juice who were proven commodities. However, Alisa always ran hard and always seemed to be driving forward after contact but maintaining his speed. Something the other backs couldn't do for sustained period of time. Come to think of it, they took their time inserting Falslev in for the incumbent Jacobson when the rest of us saw that Falslev showed more grit and ability to get open/catch difficult passes. Time to knock down walls of resistance and just put the best athletes on the field regardless of years of experience - let the real players play.

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SpiffCoug

1/12/2012, 6:51:40 PM

I'm excited about the 2012 prospects. I think we can be very good.

Lawboy

1/12/2012, 7:01:10 PM

We have a chance to be good in 2012. OUr D will be rock solid. Our O just needs to carry its weight and not be a burden on the D, as in the Crowton era.

Y12

1/12/2012, 7:23:08 PM

29 seniors caught my attention more than than anything else about next year. That is a lot. No excuses for this team.

They should be hungry, but I am not getting my hopes up.

I always believe BYU can win, but I am still bruised from this year.

byucougar1

1/12/2012, 11:21:43 PM

I am tempering my expectations for next year but believe that we have turned a corner in that Bronco is infused again after his first year of independence. He mentioned in the interview that the MWC had become routine, same venues, schemes, etc. Real challenge was always TCU and Utah - sometimes AF, CSU. Playing opponents with storied programs, national recognition, in new venues all under the ESPN banner is something exciting and invigorating - again the exposure and chance for fans to see the team is refreshing. Looking for the 2nd year of independence to show improvement in coaching staff and players as well as all of them to catch the vision and opportunity to shine in high profile televised games - Carpe Diem.

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Mythranor

1/13/2012, 4:19:57 AM

Here's what I can find as far as players we might lose after next year, including seniors (who might get injured and play another year) and the two Juniors who might have a shot at entering the draft early (Cody Hoffman and Kyle Van Noy) though I'm not sure how likely it is that either of them makes that decision even if they are good enough.

QB: Riley Nelson, James Lark

RB: David Foote

FB: Zed Mendenhall

WR: Rhen Brown, Dallin Tollestrup, POSSIBLE: Cody Hoffman to early grad

TE: None

OL: Braden Brown, Ryan Freeman, Braden Hansen, Walter Kahaialiâi, Austin Nielsen

DL: Romney Fuga, Eathyn Manumaleuna, Jordan Richardson, Russell Tialavea, Ian Dulan

LB: Ezekiel Ansah, Connell Hess, Austen Jorgensen, Uona Kaveinga, Brandon Ogletree POSSIBLE: Kyle Van Noy

DB: Joe Sampson, Preston Hadley, DeQuan Everett

S: Mike Hague, Robbie Buckner, Carter Mees

Special Teams: Riley Stephenson P, Reed Hornung DS

So of the 31 players we might lose next year (29 probable seniors, 2 unlikely but possible juniors) 10-12 of them are likely to be starters next year (right around half of our starting line up), 7 have played enough minutes that we will probably miss them at least some, and 12 of them have not made a significant contribution on the field, but might make one this year. Here's how I have them broken up.

Starters: Riley Nelson, Cody Hoffman Possible, Braden Brown, Braden Hansen, Romney Fuga, Eathyn Manumaleuna, Uona Kaveinga, Brandon Ogletree, Kyle Van Noy Possible, Joe Sampson, Preston Hadley, Riley Stephenson (10-12)

Significant Minutes (not starters): Zed Mendenhall, Walter Kahaialiâi, Jordan Richardson, Russell Tialavea, Austen Jorgensen, DeQuan Everett, Reed Hornung (7)

We definitely seem to get hit on the defensive side of the ball worse where we potentially could lose 2/3 of our starting D-Line, 3/4 of our starting linebackers (if Jorgensen starts at MLB along side Kaveinga this year it could be all 4), and both of our DBs.

On offense, we lose 2 starting offensive linemen, our starting and backup QB (as has been discussed continually on here) and possibly our best wide receiver.

Fortunately for 2013 most of our big games are at home. Houston and Notre Dame look to be the toughest road games this year, with a possibility of Washington State with Mike Leach in his second year as head coach.

jonnylingo

1/13/2012, 4:27:33 AM

My early prediction is 8 wins. I don't think we get more. We have nd, utah, gtech, and boise state on the road. I think we might take one of them and then drop another game somewhere along the line. we have oregon state and washington state at home which could be difficult games.

there is chance we do better but i will wait to see how we play against washington state in the opener before i hop on that bandwagon. I really do think that riley will be a lot better though by then if he is healthy. and our receiver core is freakin awesome right now. falslev, hoffman, and apo are incredible. if our oline is better and our runningbacks are better then i will believe. there is hope though with adding hine and pritchard though and hiopefully q is healthy and back to his old self.

and i don't think alisa was linebacker until pritchard went down. i think he came into this year a running back. I think they were hoping to red shirt him but clearly couldn't after pritchard went down. i may be wrong though. mckay should have been benched game one or two this year for Falslev.

byucougar1

1/13/2012, 4:36:29 AM

The previous post is a good news - bad news statement. I am more inclined to believe we have a very good season in 2012 given the maturity and experience of the seniors (10-12 are starters). What is even better news is that most of them are on defense (OL/LB/DBs) which is our team strength. Our offense should also be good as we have returning starters as seniors at key positions (Nelson, Lark, Brown, Hansen).

Bad news is that we are gutted the following year on defense and 2013 will be a challenge unless the back-ups get significant playing time.

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