BYU

Cougar Cuts and Quotes: April 2nd, 2015

Nitty Gritty:

Criddle: “BYU hosts the annual Y-Awards and it’s incredible what they do with it. It is a one-of-a-kind event at BYU and it’s great that can recognized what these athletes do.”

Criddle: “Some of the athletes that were recognized were Jen Hamson and Tyler Haws, both had great seasons.”

Criddle: “Male Rookie of the Year: Tejan Koroma.”

Criddle: “Look at what he did against the DT from Texas, Tejan and his massive biceps man handled him.”

Criddle: “Comeback Player of the Year: Kyle Collinsworth.”

Drew: “It’s a great credit to him, 6 triple-doubles improved his FT shooting. He had a great year.”

Criddle: “It’s not only credit to Kyle but to the surgeon and the S&C Coach at BYU.”

Criddle: “Walk-On of the Year: Mitchell Juergens.”

Criddle: “Most important award of course. Juergens was a guy who fans didn’t love but he played well and reminded me of Nate Meikle.”

Drew: “A lot of fans were confused why Juergens was starting over Dye who was a very touted player, but Mitch Juergens does remind me of Meikle and he was probably the most reliable punt returner on the year.”

Drew: “Dave Rose said that it’s much easier to hit a three pointer in the 1st half than it is in the 2nd half.”

Drew: “No one works harder than Tyler did, you know the stories about him waking up at 6 AM to shoot at the church, and his teammates never said anything bad about him.”

Drew: “I don’t know if how Jimmer has done in the league will hurt Tyler, but I hope he gets his shot.”

Criddle: “Game of the Year: BYU vs. Gonzaga.”

Drew: “I was up in Spokane that night and my take away that night was the shock that spread across the crowd. They were stunned.”

Toby Christensen Interview:

Criddle: “Todd was a counselor in one of my YSA wards in Alpine. It was during the time that he was sick and I had to give a talk, and it wasn’t a great talk but he came up to me and shook my hand and said, ‘Good job, great talk.'”

Derw: “When Todd Christensen passed away it was very widely covered by the media. The SL Trib put out a story and it was the most read article on the Trib’s website of the year.”

Christensen: “Right around the time that I started to hit puberty, I would answer the phone and people would mistake me for my father. My Dad used to go on radio shows as a call-in interview, he’d sit in our laundry room where we had our phone. So one day I asked him, if the radio show calls in and they think it’s me can I do the interview? So they thought I was my Dad and I did the interview.”

Christensen: “I love the Anderson hire, Bronco got a lot of heat last year for his relationships with former players and this is a way to held build those relationships.”

Christensen: “Nyborg was doing a good job last year, calling former players to call and invite them to hang out at games.”

Christensen: “Anderson is a guy who has worked his way up. He started at Ricks to play and came to BYU and recently he was an Assistant Coach at Nicholls State.”

Christensen: “Anderson isn’t a guy who got the job because of his name, he got it because he worked hard and earned it.”

Christensen: “It’s a great fit, he wasn’t the greatest player but has worked his way up coaching and got the job because of his dedication.”

Drew: “I look back at the Martzen hire and a few eyebrows were raised because he wasn’t a part of the BYU brotherhood, at the time he was picked out of 100.”

Christensen: “Justin wants to win recruiting in Utah. BYU used to own the state but now they are getting beat pretty badly, they need to crawl back into that.”

Cougar Insider Report:

Criddle: “So Jay, you say that Utah State will be renaming their stadium after a corporation?”

Drew: “Yeah, don’t be surprised if it’s named after a structure from West Valley that houses the Utah Grizzlies.”

Steven Beo Interview:

Beo: “I really love the school, everything about it. There isn’t anywhere else I’d rather go.”

Beo: “It’s hard to concentrate during the recruiting process so I felt that now was the time for me to make the decision for me.”

Drew: “When did the recruiting process begin?”

Beo: “Coach Nashif came to my AAU games last summer and this last season Coach Rose and Coach Nashif started coming to a lot of my games.”

Beo: “I’ll be walking on as a preferred walk-on.”

Beo: “I’m not basing my decision off of money or scholarships. I want to go where I can succeed and enjoy playing.”

Beo: “I’m kind of defined as a combo guard, I can run the 2 and the 1. This last year I ran the 1.”

Beo: “This next year I want to work on my penetration, I’ve always been able to shoot well from the outside.”

Beo: “I picked the school that I loved the most and that was BYU.”

Beo: “I haven’t taken any other official visits, but I’ve done unofficial visits to UW, WSU, and Boise State.”

Beo: “I really got along with Chase Fisher, I had a chance to go to practice and then lunch with them after and enjoyed it.”

Beo: “I consider Coach Nashif as one of my good friends. He’ll call and see how my games are going, what’s going on in my life.”

Beo: “I can shoot, I can drive, I need to work on being more physical and bulk up.”

Beo: “Richmond is a 4A school which is the biggest classification in Washington.”

Drew: “Steven walking on to BYU is huge for the scholarship crunch with Mike and Haws coming back at that time.”

Drew: “Right now if Austin is coming back and goes on scholarship they are two over the allotted number so it’ll be interesting to see what they do.”

Criddle: “It boggles my mind that BYU is able to find so many kids that are willing to come to BYU not on scholarship.”

Drew: “Most of the time when that happens, kids say that they grew up wanting to come to BYU.”

Drew: “I think that’s a unique phenomenon.”

Criddle: “Jimmer came in and worked his tail off. So hard that the coaches had to come in and tell him to slow it down.”

Criddle: “One thing that I like out of Steven is that he can finish with both hands,  decent athlete but shoots well.”

Brandon Bradley Interview:

Bradley: “Before we were going up last night we decided to call Bronco onto the stage. We found out that Bronco’s nickname was ‘White Chocolate.'”

Bradley: “Bronco said that he had some pretty interesting nicknames in college. I get into the office Tuesday and Zach Nyborg texted us coaches his nickname.”

Criddle: “I feel like the WR’s have been beating up on the DB’s, what do you think contributes to that?”

Bradley: “I think it’s that the WR’s are talented, look at Mitch Matthews he is pretty dominant. But I also think a lot of it is because there are a lot of young guys back there and there are some growing pains.”

Drew: “Do you think it was a good move to bring Stewart back to help test the DB’s?”

Bradley: “I do. Stew is a great QB and he helped our team really improve this spring.”

Bradley: “There aren’t many QB’s who throw as good as Stew so I think it helped the team a lot.”

Criddle: “Do you think the WR’s are spoiled with having Stew throw to them?”

Bradley: “Oh definitely, with the timing and everything that goes into it.”

Bradley: “I think Eric Takenaka is the real deal. I coached him at Snow so I have some experience. It doesn’t take a lot of time for him to understand things.”

Bradley: “Takenaka has a great verticle, good shoulders, can run the alley. We are very excited about what he can become.”

Bradley: “I think it’s possible that Micah can push Preator for the BC spot. He has made some great strides and is very versatile.”

Bradley: “I think he has the ability to be a FC, he moves very similar to Kai Nacua so you could even see him at safety.”

Bradley: “If it was up to me I’d have Takenaka and Kai at the safety spots. Preator at BC and Hanneman or Shelton at FC.”

Random Thoughts:

Drew: “I’m writing a story about BYU if they hit their ceiling. Where do they go from here? I’m going to ask some national and local experts.”

Drew: “Can this program get over the hump? They’re in a bit of a rut this year with injuries.”

Drew: “I think that they do need to take their recruiting to another level. Do you think that the guys coming in are going to be better than the guys they have this year?”

Drew: “I think they need a low post scorer. That piece would’ve helped them a lot.”

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