Free Agent Signings

BYU Free Agent signings: Braden Brown, Rams; Brandon Ogletree, Dolphins; Uona Kaveinga, Broncos; Braden Hansen, Raiders.



Where is Riley Stephenson?

Not bad at all, Cougs. For some reason I am most excited to see Ogletree in the NFL. He had some doubters about his abilities, but I'm happy he has the chance to show what he can do.



Yeah, I'm curious too. Stephenson was an incredible kicker, I wonder where he'll land.

defensive tackle Romney Fuga signed with the Denver Broncos. The Seattle Seahawks extended a minicamp invite to defensive back Preston Hadley to provide an opportunity to make the team.



The agent for punter Riley Stephenson and DS Reed Hornung is still working on getting them deals. Punter and DS less of a priority early on.

Not too shabby. Would like to see a few more guys picked up in the draft, but not a bad year.

scott715 wrote:
The agent for punter Riley Stephenson and DS Reed Hornung is still working on getting them deals. Punter and DS less of a priority early on.

Punters and kickers rarely get UFA deals--instead they get walk-on invitations similar to what Preston Hadley got from Seattle. Stephenson is an above average punter, but he has a tendency to be erratic. His booming kicks and high average the past two seasons on his punts were more a factor of continually horrendous field position than any elite talent. He'll get a walk-on shot, but I wouldn't hold my breath for anything more than airfare and some living stipend during camp or OFAs.

snoscythe wrote:

The agent for punter Riley Stephenson and DS Reed Hornung is still working on getting them deals. Punter and DS less of a priority early on.

Punters and kickers rarely get UFA deals--instead they get walk-on invitations similar to what Preston Hadley got from Seattle. Stephenson is an above average punter, but he has a tendency to be erratic. His booming kicks and high average the past two seasons on his punts were more a factor of continually horrendous field position than any elite talent. He'll get a walk-on shot, but I wouldn't hold my breath for anything more than airfare and some living stipend during camp or OFAs.

It looks like Sellwood from the :utard: signed with Falcons so maybe there's some truth to your field position theory. Rielly was great as long as long as he wasn't being confused with being a kicker by the coaches.

I am curious to know who actually makes the roster. we all know mccay jacobsen got a free agent deal. we also all knew he wasn't going ot make the roster.



so who makes it and who doesn't? I think fuga and brown are our best shots.

Once again, Utah beat us at UDFAs this year.



perhaps a small consolation for losing to them again..

CougarClaw wrote:
Once again, Utah beat us at UDFAs this year.



perhaps a small consolation for losing to them again..

On a quick glance, it may appear that Utah beat us in that regard, but if your goal is to get to the NFL, you'd probably rather look at percentages than gross numbers, wouldn't you?



Utah had 26 players at the end of their eligibility after 2012--seniors who didn't get a medical redshirt to get a 5th year. Of those 26, 10 will be in NFL camps.



BYU had 15 players at the end of their eligibility. Of those 15, 6 will be in NFL camps so far.



So, BYU has a 40% NFL advancement rate, and Utah is at 38.4%--a statistical dead heat....but I think we'll see Hornung and Stephenson in camps, just maybe not with contracts.

Stephenson had one bad game. Granted, it was a really, REALLY bad game and came against TCU in a last gasp bid for long-term bragging rights.

Other than that, though, he's been pretty good.

I like Hornung. His tackle causing a fumble on a punt in the Armed Forces will go down as the single greatest, most athletic play by a deep snapper in BYU history. Without that, we likely lose that game.

CrimsonCoug wrote:
Stephenson had one bad game. Granted, it was a really, REALLY bad game and came against TCU in a last gasp bid for long-term bragging rights.

Other than that, though, he's been pretty good.

Stephenson had 6 shanked punts last season (an unblocked punt that goes out of bounds between the 20s and nets less than 40 yards) and he had two punts where he was punting inside the opponent's 35, but sent it 5+ yards deep in the endzone. If we make a shank a punt that goes out at the 19 or 20, he gets three more



The shanks were SDSU (2x), USU (2x), Utah, and BSU. The long punts were in the ND and Hawaii games. Not even counting his punts of less than 40 yards when was kicking from within BYU's 40 yard line (i.e. he had 60 yards of field to work with but couldn't get it across the 20), Stephenson had a bad punt rate of 14%. Add in the 19 yard line oobs, and its 19%. That's not NFL caliber performance, and it's probably why he got snubbed on the punter awards despite his gaudy average. He'll get a chance to workout, but that shank rate is what's kept him from getting any sort of $ yet. The Ute's guy had a shank rate just below 10%.

Any update on Ogletree? He does not show up on any of the official rookie FA signing lists down here in S. Florida, included the Miami Dolphins website. Did he get scared off because we didn't get the stadium deal done?

snoscythe wrote:

Stephenson had one bad game. Granted, it was a really, REALLY bad game and came against TCU in a last gasp bid for long-term bragging rights.

Other than that, though, he's been pretty good.

Stephenson had 6 shanked punts last season (an unblocked punt that goes out of bounds between the 20s and nets less than 40 yards) and he had two punts where he was punting inside the opponent's 35, but sent it 5+ yards deep in the endzone. If we make a shank a punt that goes out at the 19 or 20, he gets three more



The shanks were SDSU (2x), USU (2x), Utah, and BSU. The long punts were in the ND and Hawaii games. Not even counting his punts of less than 40 yards when was kicking from within BYU's 40 yard line (i.e. he had 60 yards of field to work with but couldn't get it across the 20), Stephenson had a bad punt rate of 14%. Add in the 19 yard line oobs, and its 19%. That's not NFL caliber performance, and it's probably why he got snubbed on the punter awards despite his gaudy average. He'll get a chance to workout, but that shank rate is what's kept him from getting any sort of $ yet. The Ute's guy had a shank rate just below 10%.

That's really interesting. Thanks.

I take it he never got a walk-on invite. Or we just haven't heard of it.



News on Ogletree?