M
mcgregor1. Great way to finish out the season. There were some disappointments, but this OSU win leaves the team confident that they can compete with anyone, much like they felt after the OU win.
2. Jaime Hill is an amazing DC. I will suggest that he is the best DC BYU has EVER had. Sure, there are probably some personality defects in there, but his understanding of the game, his ability to teach, and his ability to checkmate his opponents are unparalleled in our history, and are hardly matched in all of D1 football.
3. I'm in the Jake Heaps camp. We will have some amazing backups that would probably start at other D1 schools, but right now I'm thinking Heaps will be the man. Munns is probably the only one that would give him a serious run for his money, but his timing won't put him in a good enough position to compete. I do know that coaches were really high on Munns pre-mission. Nelson is serviceable, but his arm strength is not good enough for this offense. I can explain further later.
4. I actually enjoyed Max Hall's post-Utah comments. I wasn't, however, a big fan of that pilot running that banner over the Poinsettia Bowl. He should have left it at "George is still running."
5. Coach Mendenhall is maturing as a coach. One criticism has been his bowl performance. This year he proved that he could prepare his team to play a well-prepared, and TALENTED, team. OSU has athletes. BYU's are better.
6. This year's recruiting class is INSANE. Take the bottom half of this class, stick them in a class 3 seasons ago, and we would be drooling over them. Notables for me are the incredibly strong LBer class; with Fua and Stout, few talk about Keoshian, who apparently was labeled by one coach as an NFL lock. And we seem to forget a really strong defensive backfield class, with Johnson and Gaines, among others. And finally, Quezada seems like the real deal at TB, and Philips seems like a faster version of Nate Meikle at the slot.
7. Logan and Bradley may be the best CB tandem since Morgan and McTyer. Their solid play has enabled the rest of the defense to be less concerned about what's going on at the corners. That has freed up the safeties, which we've all noticed making tremendous plays all season long. But probably most important is that it has allowed the safeties to help the MLBers, an unfortunate weakness on an otherwise strong defense.
8. The DL was a bit disappointing this year, but I'm not surprised. I think in years past our DL was GREATLY enhanced by the play of Cameron Jensen and especially Kelly Poppinga.
9. Those who criticize Chambers are a bit ridiculous. This kid is good. I'm genuinely confused by some of the ire he draws from this crowd base. I have to draw on Bronco for this: those that criticize Chambers are evidencing their lack of football knowledge. Chambers has EXCELLENT hands (though not perfect), is a fantastic blocker, and has great vision. All this as a sophomore. The only thing I wish for him is to shave off a tenth on his 40 time. With that, by his senior year he will go down as one of BYU's better receivers of the decade.
10. We will miss Unga, but with his departure I will look for BYU's backfield to start to take a different shape. I think the next Unga will play fullback. Consider the possibilities of someone Harvey's size, speed, and vision blocking and running as a fullback, and someone a little smaller but much faster sitting back there with him. I think that's the direction things will go, and I'm pretty sure that's the preferred arrangement of this coaching staff.
All, it has been a fun season, and I look forward to another great one next year, and possibly a very special one the year after that. These are good times to be a Cougar. BYU is beginning to put its best talent ever--teamwise--on the field, and is being coached by someone that may prove to be the best ever to coach at this institution.
Cheers,
JL McGregor
Dallas TX
2. Jaime Hill is an amazing DC. I will suggest that he is the best DC BYU has EVER had. Sure, there are probably some personality defects in there, but his understanding of the game, his ability to teach, and his ability to checkmate his opponents are unparalleled in our history, and are hardly matched in all of D1 football.
3. I'm in the Jake Heaps camp. We will have some amazing backups that would probably start at other D1 schools, but right now I'm thinking Heaps will be the man. Munns is probably the only one that would give him a serious run for his money, but his timing won't put him in a good enough position to compete. I do know that coaches were really high on Munns pre-mission. Nelson is serviceable, but his arm strength is not good enough for this offense. I can explain further later.
4. I actually enjoyed Max Hall's post-Utah comments. I wasn't, however, a big fan of that pilot running that banner over the Poinsettia Bowl. He should have left it at "George is still running."
5. Coach Mendenhall is maturing as a coach. One criticism has been his bowl performance. This year he proved that he could prepare his team to play a well-prepared, and TALENTED, team. OSU has athletes. BYU's are better.
6. This year's recruiting class is INSANE. Take the bottom half of this class, stick them in a class 3 seasons ago, and we would be drooling over them. Notables for me are the incredibly strong LBer class; with Fua and Stout, few talk about Keoshian, who apparently was labeled by one coach as an NFL lock. And we seem to forget a really strong defensive backfield class, with Johnson and Gaines, among others. And finally, Quezada seems like the real deal at TB, and Philips seems like a faster version of Nate Meikle at the slot.
7. Logan and Bradley may be the best CB tandem since Morgan and McTyer. Their solid play has enabled the rest of the defense to be less concerned about what's going on at the corners. That has freed up the safeties, which we've all noticed making tremendous plays all season long. But probably most important is that it has allowed the safeties to help the MLBers, an unfortunate weakness on an otherwise strong defense.
8. The DL was a bit disappointing this year, but I'm not surprised. I think in years past our DL was GREATLY enhanced by the play of Cameron Jensen and especially Kelly Poppinga.
9. Those who criticize Chambers are a bit ridiculous. This kid is good. I'm genuinely confused by some of the ire he draws from this crowd base. I have to draw on Bronco for this: those that criticize Chambers are evidencing their lack of football knowledge. Chambers has EXCELLENT hands (though not perfect), is a fantastic blocker, and has great vision. All this as a sophomore. The only thing I wish for him is to shave off a tenth on his 40 time. With that, by his senior year he will go down as one of BYU's better receivers of the decade.
10. We will miss Unga, but with his departure I will look for BYU's backfield to start to take a different shape. I think the next Unga will play fullback. Consider the possibilities of someone Harvey's size, speed, and vision blocking and running as a fullback, and someone a little smaller but much faster sitting back there with him. I think that's the direction things will go, and I'm pretty sure that's the preferred arrangement of this coaching staff.
All, it has been a fun season, and I look forward to another great one next year, and possibly a very special one the year after that. These are good times to be a Cougar. BYU is beginning to put its best talent ever--teamwise--on the field, and is being coached by someone that may prove to be the best ever to coach at this institution.
Cheers,
JL McGregor
Dallas TX