BYU

Cougar Cuts and Quotes: April 8th, 2015

Opening Segment:

Criddle: “I dropped off some old VHS tapes at this company and they took those tapes and put them online for me.”

Criddle: “I got the tapes from Delta Productions down in Arizona and they had tapes of my team playing in HS and JC.”

Gurney: “Walt Williams is my all-time favorite recruit in the fact that he never showed up, twice. I remember calling him and his girlfriend answered the phone and every time I called she said that he was out buying diapers for his kid.”

How We See It:

Criddle: “An insider from CBS Sports went to the Deseret News and talked about scouting and guys who are coming out of the state of Utah.”

Criddle: “He said of Jordan Leslie, that he was a guy that teams were hoping to pick up as free agents but after his 40 he has moved into the 6th/7th round.”

Gurney: “BYU needs to have guys drafted, usually they slide a little bit lower than where they are projected.”

Gurney: “I think that Leslie does get drafted, in the 6th or 7th round.”

Criddle: “I don’t know that he will.”

Gurney: “I don’t know that Skye PoVey will be drafted, but I do think that he will pick up a free agent contract.”

Criddle: “His performance says a lot about his work ethic. While he is a good athlete, he was prepared in the drills that he did.”

Criddle: “You look at PoVey’s combine numbers and he’s similar to Eric Weddle, obviously the stats aren’t there but size and speed, they are very similar.”

Criddle: “If any BYU player were to go into another program’s weight room, they would be the hardest worker on that team.”

Criddle: “What about Dre Wesley?”

Gurney: “I think that he gets a free agent contract. He is athletic for a lineman, good reach, slide step, he has potential.”

Robbie Bullough Interview:

Bullough: “I would say that BYU and UVU’s biggest rivalry is on the baseball field.”

Bullough: “A lot of times you have cousins and brothers on opposite teams and they are familiar with each other.”

Bullough: “In my completely unbiased opinion I called the catch better than BYUTV’s Spencer Linton.”

Bullough: “I’ve covered BYU for a while and that was the best defensive play I’ve ever seen, keep in mind the first game I covered them they turned a triple-play.”

Bullough: “It was a long game because BYU used 10 different pitchers.”

Bullough: “They need to get into the top-4 in the WCC to go to the WCC tournament.”

Bullough: “This is probably the best pitching staff that BYU has ever had while I’ve covered them the last 5-6 years.”

Bullough: “The softball team is off to a 26-8 start, their best since 2010 and they went to a super regional.”

Bullough: “Sydney Broderick is only a Sophomore but she’s earned 3-straight WCC players of the week.”

Bullough: ” I don’t think that any BYU players will get drafted. It would be a good slide BYU’s way if they were able to.”

Cougar Insider Report:

Holmoe: “As the AD, I get a lot of suggestions from people who say, ND did a scheduling agreement why doesn’t BYU?”

Holmoe: “We have reached out and no one is interested in doing a scheduling agreement like what Notre Dame does.”

Criddle: “IMO, BYU has exhausted their contacts. They aren’t Notre Dame, they don’t have any pull, there isn’t any interest from other conferences in expanding.”

Skye PoVey Interview:

Gurney: “I’m trying to track down Frank Jackson to talk to him about his recruitment and his plans going forward.”

Gurney: “Basketball has two signing periods in either November or April. Most of BYU’s players do sign in November.”

PoVey: “Training is pretty intense going into pro day. Jordan gave us the week after to take it a little light with lifting, I took off to St. George with the family to relax.”

PoVey: “I don’t think any scouts thought that I’d perform the way I did.”

PoVey: “Scouts thought that I had good film but they wanted to see the 40, I think I answered those questions.”

PoVey: “Most teams are asking about me as a safety, but I may end up moving to the offensive side of the ball.”

PoVey: “I’ve been running routes with Austin Collie and catching some balls from Stew. Stew said that I had good hands even tho I’m a D guy.”

PoVey: “With what happened my first year at BYU, there were a lot of guys that went down with injury so Coach Howell approached me and asked if I could help out the team by moving to corner.”

PoVey: “I think playing out of position ended up helping me out in my coverage this last year at safety.”

PoVey: “I was aware of what people would say because they would tag me on what they were saying online.”

PoVey: “I tried to put my head down and just go out and play my game.”

PoVey: “Scouts thought that I was a great tackler, the next thing that was brought up was my coverage from the safety position.”

PoVey: “A couple scouts caught me at 4.49, I was aiming for a 4.55 and that’s about where I was. I’ve also been able to jump very well my whole life.”

PoVey: “I think the feeling that the team got this last year that it was just us, just the team. There were some fans still supporting us but the excitement dropped off.”

PoVey: “Coming out of HS, I played at a school that was small and didn’t win a lot. I went to a JC and didn’t really play a ton but worked my way into a position. Then at BYU I had people who told me I wouldn’t be able to succeed but I felt that I proved them wrong.”

PoVey: “One of my favorite quotes came from Muhammad Ali, ‘I am the greatest, I said that even before I knew I was.'”

PoVey: “I’ve always believed that if you let other people define you then they will. But if not, the sky can be the limit.”

PoVey: “Last year was very unique with injuries and young guys having to step in. Defending 90 plays is a different dynamic than when we would defend 60 plays.”

PoVey: “Dallin came to both me and Craig and told us how he was feeling. There are no bad feelings towards him but everyone gave a similar answer where he has to do what he thinks is best for him and what makes him happiest.”

PoVey: “I would say to anyone in a similar situation to me to not listen to the naysayers. It’s easy to criticize players but you have to ignore it and work hard.”

PoVey: “I refused to be outworked. I always wanted to run the most sprints, lift the most weights.”

Criddle: “I know a lot of fans say that the only reason you played is because our brother-in-law was the coach, what do you think about that?”

PoVey: “It’s funny man, if I make a roster there’ll be some reason why I was picked opposed to anyone else.”

PoVey: “I saw online, ‘Haters will say that you walk on water because you don’t know how to swim.'”

5:30 Segment:

Gurney: “I don’t know that BYU has the depth this year at Safety to play a lot of Nickel this year.”

Gurney: “I wish the fan base would be able to not dog on a player until it almost becomes personal.”

Gurney: “Skye would always meet with the media and handled himself really well even through the crap he received at BYU.”

Criddle: “He did what he could to prove the haters wrong.”

Criddle: “To clear up my comment yesterday, Tom did say, ‘BYU has talked about a scheduling only agreement but there was no interest.’ Then I said in my opinion, ‘BYU has reached out to their contacts and hasn’t heard back.’

Holmoe: “I’m just going to be open with you and say that is some advice we get from our fan base. That there is a possibility of going back to the MWC but at this time it isn’t our focus.”

Wayne Tarawhiti Interview:

Criddle: “What do you think of having the bye? Does it help you out?”

Tarawhiti: “I think it helps us out, some guys with lingering injuries were able to get healthy.”

Tarawhiti: “UCLA is a real Jekkyl-and-Hyde team. Utah played them and beat them pretty good, then they played Cal really close the next week.”

Tarawhiti: “Anyone can win on any given day, our focus is beating UCLA right now and then whoever comes between Central Washington and Utah.”

Tarawhiti: “There are a lot of things that could help out players on the football team where they could play rugby during the offseason.”

Tarawhiti: “The biggest thing for us is that we’ve always had a huge Polynesian community so we have always had a history with rugby.”

Tarawhiti: “If the ball goes out of bounds, the only way to bring it back in is called a ‘Line-Out.'”

Tarawhiti: “We have a play for every ‘Line-Out’ that we do, and we expect to win 100% of them.”

Tarawhiti: “We have given up a bit of physicality by not bringing Paul back, but now we work on handling the ball and keeping the ball in bounds.”

Tarawhiti: “I would prefer to play the U our next game. It’s a dead set rivalry whether it’s a debate, marbles, or bowling.”

Tarawhiti: “Cal is a good club and they’re proud of what they do. We would love to play them in the final because we play our best rugby against them.”

Tarawhiti: “Jonny can obviously kick the ball, but he could also bring the offense some options for how they try to move the ball.”

Tarawhiti: “There are more pros than cons if Jonny were to join the football team next year.”

Criddle: “Special shoutout to Ty Detmer who was named to the Texas Sports Hall of Fame.”

Gurney: “He never had that tight spiral, never had that great drop but he was a fun player to watch.”

Gurney: “I don’t know if BYU football was ever better than when Ty Detmer was quarterbacking the team.”

Criddle: “Nate Meikle said that one time he came into the locker room to grab some gloves and some guy was sitting behind the desk so Nate asked him for gloves. Turns out it was Ty Detmer.”

Gurney: “One of my favorite Detmer interviews was when he got in the face of one of his teammates and those guys had to be separated.”

6:30 Segment:

Criddle: “With the Big 12’s tv contract, there isn’t really anything that’s going to happen until 2023-2024.”

Gurney: “Reading Holmoe’s comments about the Big 12, I don’t think anything is going to happen anytime soon.”

Gurney: “I don’t think conference realignment is done. There will be more movement and BYU has to be more proactive.”

Gurney: “BYU can’t just keep treading water for revenue purposes, for recruiting purposes. They need to get it done.”

Criddle: “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with Independence. As a former football player I want to compete against the best.”

Criddle: “Between playing CSU and UNM or Mizzou and Wagner, I’d rather pick Mizzou and Wagner. I want the giant.”

Gurney: “If Taysom stays healthy I think BYU has a great chance.”

Criddle: “I think that if you give Bronco Mendenhall a little more power to run the program that he wants to it could be taken to the next level.”

Criddle: “It’s things like access to the IPF and access to LES.”

Random Thoughts:

Criddle: “I wonder how long BYU can keep Frank Wintrich, the first year is always the honeymoon year where everyone is excited. But from what I hear he is very good at his job and there’s an opportunity to move up.”

Gurney: “You better believe that Mike Davis is going to blow Leslie and Daniel’s time out of the water when his time at Pro Day comes.”

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