BYU

Cougar Cuts and Quotes: March 25th, 2015

Cougar News and Notes:

Criddle: “It’s a somber day for BYU sports, I would like to mention that a former BYU baseball player, Arik Mack passed away yesterday after a car accident in Spanish Fork Canyon. 19 years old, great athlete out of Maple Mountain who played at SLCC this past year. Our thoughts are with the Mack family.”

Criddle: “Yesterday we also saw that BYU debuted their new gray on gray jerseys, our intern Zak, isn’t a big fan of them but as a former athlete, I’m a big fan of anything that is new, that is a little bit different than what you were doing before.”

Criddle: “Also want to give a shout out to a BYU fan who’s been struggling with some health issues, Lorin John. Long time BYU fan, we would like to let you know you’re in our thoughts.”

Nitty Gritty:

Criddle: “I think it is somewhat embarrassing that you have to bring back Christian Stewart. I think if you asked Christian he would agree that it’s not the ideal situation for BYU football.”

Criddle: “I think that spring does matter, and the reason is chemistry.”

Criddle: “We can only see Taysom in 7-on-7 and 1-on-1 drills where he has been fantastic, but what he need to see is the 11-on-11 which is where I think he struggles. Taysom has a hard time seeing downfield and making reads and this is where he needs to be practicing this season.”

Dickson: “The problem with Taysom is that he’s wearing a red jersey, you can’t see how he’s going to perform until they are going live and see how he responds.”

Mendenhall: “We tried to get a rock band to come play a concert for us, but we weren’t able to make that happen.”

Dickson: “More than anything, the fans want to see some football. The loyal fans will show up and be ready for some football.”

Dickson: “If I were Christian, I’d go out there and throw the ball on every down, I would ignore the play calls coming in and do what I want.”

Mendenhall: “I’m most concerned about the secondary, the front 7 is experienced where we are very young in the secondary.”

Criddle: “Nick Kurtz is a great player, he may end up being a better player than Mitch Mathews, especially with his ability to go up and get the jump ball.”

Criddle: “Few guys run better patterns than ‘Stilts’, but BYU has some talent at the receiver position.”

Criddle: “The two places that I think where you are worried about because of depth are the defensive secondary and offensive line.”

Mendenhall: “I’m concerned with depth, not with how they’re playing. I’d like to have 3 more quality linemen out there.”

Criddle: “It sounds like backup center Parker Dawe may be a guy who steps up.”

Dickson: “Two guys who I think of are Austin Hoyt and Jaterrius Gulley could be two guys, Gulley moved over from the DL this year.”

4:30 Segment:

Dickson: “It’s been a while since a BYU offensive line has really arrived, the last one that I really think of is in 2001.”

Criddle: “One that I think of was that team that ran all over Arizona and Boston College, we had Ed Kehl, Jake Kuresa, and Dallas Reynolds. There were some NFL caliber guys on that line.”

Criddle: “Bronco once told me that it would take 10 years for him to fully get his system in so that he could get to that level of an elite coach.”

Dickson: “BYU has done a great job with scheduling this year and if they run the table they definitely will make a case to be included in the P5 discussion.”

Criddle: “I don’t think that BYU will end up in a P5 conference until 2023 or 2024, and the reason why is TV money.”

Dickson: “No one knows when the next conference shift is, it could be next week, next month, or in three years, but it is going to happen.”

Dickson: “It only takes one movement from one team or one conference to send all of college football scrambling.”

Criddle: “We may not know when it is, but we know that BYU has put themselves in great position to be in the discussion.”

Criddle: “Kelly Poppinga mentioned to me that North Texas had 0 soft tissue injuries while Frank Wintrich was the S&C coach there.”

Criddle: “One change I like to see is cutting back on weight room injuries, you don’t need to lift 5,000 lbs to have a great offseason.”

Criddle: “The worst workout that I think you can do as a football player is bench press, all of your athleticism comes from your core and lower body.”

Cougar Insider Report:

Mendenhall: “Some of the guys that I expect to step up are Manu, Jaterrius, and Ryker Mathews.”

Dickson: “Ryker’s problems have always been physical, he came in and played well as a freshman and was on track to be the next great tackle at BYU.”

Greg Wrubell Interview:

Wrubell: “Any season that ends as being an at-large pick in the NCAA tournament has to be seen as a success.”

Wrubell: “The team left Malibu in fourth place and did what they had to do to make it to the tournament. The most notable win of the year had to be that win in Spokane.”

Criddle: “What was your favorite memory of the season?”

Wrubell: “My favorite memory of the season was that win in Spokane. It helped contribute to that budding rivalry between the two schools and it’s the reason that they were selected to the tournament.”

Wrubell: “There were too many times in the second half that BYU was giving up fast break turnovers on the other end.”

Wrubell: “I don’t recall a game where there was so much disparity on points off of turnovers, BYU lost the battle 25-0.”

Wrubell: “I think that if Collinsworth didn’t get into foul trouble, BYU would’ve been okay. If he didn’t follow up that Chase Fischer 3 with his fourth foul, BYU would’ve been okay. It speaks to how important Kyle is to BYU’s success.”

Wrubell: “I think BYU’s first four turnovers were offensive fouls which are very peculiar.”

Wrubell: “Once Kyle went to the bench with the fourth foul, that lead went form 9 to 2 in a heartbeat.”

Wrubell: “After seeing this bracket open up, it really makes you wonder, what could have been?”

Wrubell: “I think Gonzaga is better this year than they were two years ago. Pangos being a senior makes a huge difference.”

Wrubell: “I think that BYU will sorely miss Tyler Haws, a guy who can come out and score 25 points night in and night out, it’ll be hard to replace.”

Wrubell: “One guy who I think will be huge for BYU next year will be Kyle Davis, he adds a little vinegar to that front court and should have some success.”

Dickson: “I think that the lineup that Coach Rose ran for most of the season was different than for what he planned, with having guys like Davis and Aytes coming back next year, what difference do you think that’ll make for next year?”

Wrubell: “One thing you need to also consider is the development of Corbin Kaufusi and Nate Austin being  available next year. This will really change the dynamic of this team.”

Wrubell: “Coach Rose is a guy who likes to work from the inside-out.”

Criddle: “How serious do you think that Kyle will look at going to the NBA this year?”

Wrubell: “I think that Kyle will make himself more marketable next year, he could have an all-american type season and add some elements to his game to improve.”

Wrubell: “I’m really sold on Kyle Davis and his style of play.”

Wrubell: “I know that Mark Pope’s name has been associated with the UVU Head Coach opening, but that’s something that we’ll have to see as that develops.”

Wrubell: “I think that Tyler did a great job working on his outside game. Obviously his strength is the mid-court game but you’d think that he’s done enough to have enough skills to play at the next level.”

Wrubell: “I know one thing that I won’t be looking for on Friday is the future star quarterback at BYU.”

Wrubell: “I don’t know that half the players who are expected to start the season on opening day will play on Friday night.”

Criddle: “What do you think of the QB situation at BYU this year? Why do you think they didn’t bring in a JC guy to help out with spring?”

Wrubell: “I think that it doesn’t do much to bring in a guy who won’t be in your top 3 QB’s in the fall. It just ends up as a scholarship that’s being used up.”

Remington Peck Soundbite:

Criddle: “One thing that Bronco isn’t concerned about is the front 7, you lose a few guys from last year like Alani Fua and Marques Johnson, but there are some guys who will be stepping up.”

Dickson: “Would you rather have one guy step up at each position or three serviceable guys at each position?”

Criddle: “You definitely want guys in the depth chart pushing the guy in front of them, but you want talented players who step up and play.”

Criddle: “Where Kyle Van Noy was elite was his preparation in the film room, he’s a great athlete but his study is what separated him.”

Peck: “Guys are being pushed to work hard and are doing what they can to persevere.”

Peck: ” I think that the reason that spring ball is such a grind is that you don’t get a reward to play an opponent at the end.”

Peck: “We’ve seen Bronson playing at both linebacker and on the defensive line this spring.”

Peck: “There are great players on both sides, it’ll be fun to see how the battle goes on Friday.”

Peck: “Parker Daw is a guy who has done a great job stepping up on the offensive line and providing depth.”

Riley Jensen Interview:

Criddle: “Today, UCF had their pro day and Beshard Perriman ran a 4.15 and 4.26 40, that’s University of Utah speed since all their guys run low 4.2’s.”

Dickson: “The situation and depth for the team will be much different than the current make up.”

Dickson: “One thing that Luke said before the WCC tournament was that, ‘All the players on our team are great guys, whether they are LDS or not I promise you they are great guys.'”

Jensen: “One thing I’m concerned about is every time I listen to the show you’re talking about guys looks Ben.”

Jensen: “We have some talented players in the MW Elite Camp in Heimuli-Lund, Keaton Torre, and Simi Fehoko.”

Jensen: “I know that Torre has talked to Utah, Utah State, and Stanford and that he’s been down to BYU.”

Jensen: “In person, Torre has the biggest arm that I’ve ever seen.”

Jensen: “If you get a chance to watch Bingham, you have to go watch them this year.”

Jensen: “To me, Torre fits into the Stanford style of offense better than any other schools.”

Jensen: “Torre was so stressed out about decommitting and I told him that that’s what having freedom is, is being able to pick where you want to go. These are good problems.”

Jensen: “As good as the all-poly camps have been in recent years, it’s also creating problems for the schools in the state of Utah.”

Jensen: “It’s hard to play a game and you have no family members there for you after the game.”

Jensen: “If I was recruiting for BYU I would use their scheduling, they play teams all over the country and are bringing in big name teams.”

Jensen: “One cool thing about the all-poly camp is that we have big time coaches there, a few years ago we had Jim Harbaugh and he was willing to do whatever he could to help coach up these kids.”

Jensen: “You can’t go anywhere else in the country where there are over 100 D-1 coaches in a single camp.”

Closing Segment:

Criddle: “Who do you think will put up big performances Friday?”

Dickson: “One guy that I like is Jordan Leslie, he was a key in the transition from Taysom to Stew and really helped him become the QB that he was.”

Criddle: “Another guy to look out for is Ross Apo, it sounds like he’s doing really well in his drills, vertical is looking good. He struggled mentally but he’ll put up a big number.”

Criddle: “Arellano will get a good chance as well, he’s a punter with a good leg and should be able to showcase his talents.”

Dickson: “Fua will be another guy to watch for, he never put up huge numbers but I saw him play in high school against Jake Heaps team and he was the best athlete on the team.”

Criddle: “The best athlete who will be down there will be Rob Daniel, he’ll put up huge numbers in the 40 and will put up 20+ in the bench, he’ll have some suitors.”

Dickson: “I also want to see Paul Lasike, he’s a guy that can pass block, run block, catch passes out of the backfield. I know he wants to coach in the future and getting a chance to go through this experience will help as well.”

Criddle: “Harvey Jackson will be there as well, the transfer should put up big numbers and it was heartwarming to see that BYU has a special place in his heart.”

Criddle: “I think one thing that hurts Bronco is that he doesn’t watch a lot of college football, if he did he wouldn’t do stuff like icing a kicker on a PAT.”

Dickson: “I wouldn’t want him voting in the coaching poll because he wouldn’t know what else is going on out there.”

Random Thoughts:

Criddle: “Darnell, you recalled a time when Todd Watkins ran a streak down the sideline and John Beck connected to him and the fans erupted like they won the national championship.”

Darnell: “The last spring game I had before I went to Nebraska was in 2011 and I remember it was snowing and the game went to OT and Bryan Sampson caught a touchdown pass from Riley Nelson to win the game.”

Criddle: “I remember that, didn’t they carry Riley off the field in their shoulders?”

Darnell: “The fans go to the spring game to have a moment they can remember.”

Criddle: “I think that Keaton Torre will take into consideration how close BYU, Utah, and Utah State are to his family.”

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