BYU

Cougar Cuts and Quotes: March 31st, 2015

News and Notes:

Criddle: “Bad news: BYU Assistant Coach Mark Pope has been named as the new UVU Head Coach. This makes me a little sad because he’s a great recruiter for the staff.”

Criddle: “I’m a little saddened about the loss of Coach Pope but am excited for him all in the same.”

Criddle: “Tyler Haws and Kyle Collinsworth named to HM All-America team, Collinsworth also named to Lute Olsen.”

Criddle: “Jake Taylor named All-American in swim and dive, placed 4th in 200m back stroke.”

Criddle: “Preston Hadley hired to the DB Coach at Santa Ana College.”

Nitty Gritty:

Criddle: “Bronco Mendenhall said that the team would score a lot of points during the spring game.”

Criddle: “I think once Taysom gets into the 11-0n-11 he is going to want to scramble.”

Criddle: “Christian Stewart was 10/13 for 138 yards and a touchdown.”

Criddle: “Nate Carter rushed for 56 yards on 5 carries and a touchdown in the scrimmage.”

Criddle: “Nate believes he doesn’t get more love because of the depth at running back.”

Criddle: “Coach Anae and Atuaia hate it when you fumble the ball, when you look at how Nate played against Nevada he was tearing it up until he coughed up the rock.”

Lloyd: “It’s hard for the running backs to get a gauge of where they’re at during spring since they aren’t going live.”

Lloyd: “The defense didn’t do a ton, one notable play was Bronson Kaufusi running down Nate Carter from the back side.”

Lloyd: “You can see why they brought Christian back, Hunter still has a ways to go.”

Lloyd: “The fan fest was so much fun to be out there, be a part of the event, give the fans a good laugh.”

Lloyd: “Having just Hunter Moore out there would’ve made for an easy spring for the secondary and a tough spring for the receivers to gauge their progress.”

Lloyd: “When you look at the options [bringing back Stewart] is the best one you could.”

Lloyd: “Stewart has done everything he can to make BYU Football better.”

4:30 Segment:

Lloyd: “I don’t get a chance to go up to see guys who don’t play in Utah County all the time. But man, Zac Seljaas can play. I’m really excited for him to come in.”

Lloyd: “I like Nate Carter, he’s a guy who’s given his all to the program as a walk-on.”

Criddle: “Obviously there’s a reason he’s not on the field, whether it’s bias or there are better running backs, but every time he steps on the field he is electric.”

Lloyd: “It’s a lot different going up against the 1’s of a defense opposed to going against the 2’s.”

Lloyd: “Algernon Brown isn’t a guy who I think can turn a 5 yard gain to a 15 yard gain like Jamaal but he is very physical and can run over guys.”

Lloyd: “My problem with Nate Carter is that he doesn’t have those capabilities like the guys in front of him.”

Lloyd: “He has to be shifty because he’s not a physical guy, but he’s also not explosive.”

Lloyd: “If Jamaal Williams was running the ball along the sideline, he wouldn’t be caught by Bronson Kaufusi.”

Criddle: “I think there should be selective packages for Carter either in a 2nd or 3rd down package. He could even be used as a player similar to Trey Dye or Mitchell Juergens.”

Cougar Insider Report:

Criddle: “Our intern Zak Hicken brought up, what does Adam Hine bring up that Nate Carter doesn’t? This is something that I agree with, Adam isn’t great between the tackles, he mostly runs off tackle and I would argue that Nate could do that do the same degree or better.”

Lloyd: “Chris Badger said that he feels like the secondary guys are really supportive of each other and making sure they’re doing the right thing.”

Lloyd: “You look at last year and the secondary let a lot happen over the top against teams like USU, BSU, Memphis.”

Lloyd: “Inexperience contributed, but BYU really gave up a lot of points on big plays.”

Lloyd: “Christian is a guy that if he was running the offense it would be backyard football where he’s throwing the ball deep on every play.”

Criddle: “The best defenses I was a part of knew their assignment, but they also knew how to manipulate the scheme.”

Criddle: “They were intuitive play makers who put themselves in the right spot to make a play.”

Criddle: “I think Chris is going to have an opportunity because he’s a smart guy who can make plays.”

Criddle: “Mike Davis isn’t an intuitive football player, you have to tell him exactly where to be.”

Criddle: “As for Michael Shelton, he has some incredible instincts.”

Criddle: “Two players in the secondary who have great instincts are Michael Shelton and Jordan Preator. Those guys are ballers.”

Criddle: “If Preator can improve his top end speed he could play at the next level. You look at his length, he can disrupt receivers at the line.”

Jason Franchuk Interview:

Franchuk: “I’m writing for a site called teamusa.org covering olympic sports, bleacher report, usa today, covering some college basketball, I really enjoy it.”

Franchuk: “I know that Provo is a football town but I love this 3 weeks out of the year where so many communities get involved in the NCAA tournament.”

Franchuk: “I saw that Mark Pope was hired at UVU today and I’m really excited for him. That’s a huge hire for UVU.”

Franchuk: “I think that Quincy Lewis is someone who could be in the mix to replace Pope.”

Franchuk: “Losing Pope hurts BYU, he is a guy who played at Kentucky, he’s an NBA vet and has been around as a coach. He was probably their best recruiter and was instrumental in getting Fischer to BYU.”

Franchuk: “I don’t know what’s going on with Tim Lacomb or Terry Nash but you have to think that they are going to get an opportunity now.”

Lloyd: “Do you think having Pope will level the balance of who goes to UVU from the state of Utah? Dick Hunsaker brought a lot of guys in from out of state to fill that roster.”

Criddle: “I think there will be some poaching going on, Coach Pope will look at young talented guys and see if he can bring them onto the staff.”

Lloyd: “I think it’s good to bring in new blood to a staff and change things up. It isn’t always a bad thing.”

Franchuk: “BYU needs to groom someone to be the next-in-line to be in charge of the program.”

Franchuk: “BYU has a smaller circle to bring people in from than say Utah or UCLA, I’m sure that Holmoe has short lists for both positions.”

Franchuk: “BYU took a nice step this last year by beating Gonzaga this last year. The next step is to become a bigger rival for Gonzaga and win a league title.”

Franchuk: “Coach Rose hasn’t had near the success in the WCC as he had in the MWC.”

Franchuk: “It surprised me that Gonzaga was that much better than the team they had a few years ago with Kelly Olynyk.”

5:30 Segment:

Pope: “I’m grateful for the players I was able to coach and the coaches I was able to coach with especially Coach Rose.”

Pope: “The most important thing that Coach Rose taught me was how to win. He did so better than any other coach I’ve been around.”

Criddle: “There was one coach at every one of Zac Seljaas’ games this year. They even flew out to his tournament in Vegas.”

Criddle: “I don’t think that UVU can compete with BYU in recruiting.”

Lloyd: “I think this is a great hire for UVU. Mark Pope is a guy who is going to bring fans in and keep them in the fan base. Dick came from the Rick Majerus coaching tree and is very abrasive similar to him.”

Lloyd: “UVU’s premier sport is Men’s Basketball. Compare that to the other schools in the state where the premier sport is football.”

Criddle: “I feel like some donor’s have backed off because they don’t have a say and aren’t getting any equity out of their investment.”

Lloyd: “I don’t think it would be a bad thing if BYU and UVU were to have a rivalry. It wouldn’t be bad if they were both good.”

Lloyd: “Could you imagine how fun it would be to have 4-5 teams from the state of Utah going to the NCAA tournament?”

Matt Brown Interview:

Lloyd: “At this point, I think that the negatives of UVU and BYU playing outweigh the positives. They are competitive in several sports but it’s hard to justify them playing UVU every year.”

Criddle: “The problem is that before, UVU was asking for too much from BYU. While they’re both in D1 it’s a different level.”

Criddle: “Matt, I want to talk to you about an article you put out, you said that it’s great that BYU recruits Texas, but they need to start looking to Ohio.”

Brown: “There are a lot of power programs in the state of Ohio that have an honor code so the recruits already have a similar set of standards to BYU.”

Brown: “There’s a reason that ND and BC recruit there and do so successfully.

Brown: “Once you get passed Ohio St and ND, there are some talented players out of the state. The 30th best kid in Ohio might be the 6th best kid in Utah.”

Brown: “If you get in their early you can build a relationship through the process and you will end up being the best offer that the kid has.”

Brown: “The most important thing in recruiting is relationships which is something BYU has in Guy Holliday in the state of TX.”

Lloyd: “Will BYU playing at Cincinnati give them an opportunity to recruit?”

Brown: “Not a lot of people go to Cincinnati football games. Now it could be an opportunity to give out tickets to some coaches and somehow network but it’s difficult.”

Zac Seljaas Interview:

Z. Seljaas: “I’m a team player. I’m not someone to go one-on-one but I will play team ball and shoot when I have to.”

Z. Seljaas: “I love playing defense making stops, making plays.”

G. Seljaas: “I grew up in Bountiful, UT born and raised and played at BYU-H.”

Criddle: “Why did you choose BYU?”

Z. Seljaas: “I loved the fit. I went to BYU on an unofficial visit and went into Coach Rose’s office and went and watched the players during practice and knew it was a perfect fit.”

Criddle: “What players did you feel like you had a good relationship with?”

Z. Seljaas: “I got along with Kyle and also with Nick Emery I grew up watching Nick and he was a player that I wanted to follow.”

G. Seljaas: “I love the style of BYU’s play. Zac is a player that likes to shoot but he also likes to set up his teammate. Coach Rose is a guy that trusts his players.”

Z. Seljaas: “Doing anything I can to help the team is great.”

Z. Seljaas: “I feel like I need to work on my strength in general, it’s a whole different level. There’s a lot I need to work on to compete.”

Z. Seljaas: “I think it’s going to be really cool to have the Annex for basketball, to have that place to go to work out.”

G. Seljaas: “Growing up, I’d go to the church house 8 hours a day and we’d focus on makes. A challenge we put out to our players is to make 35,000 makes before the next season and I challenged Zac to make 100,000.”

G. Seljaas: “It’s the practice that makes you better, but the perfect practice that takes you to the next level.”

G. Seljaas: “You need to be a lot stronger, to have that endurance to go through the entire season.”

G. Seljaas: “They see him a shooter, he can score but he can also rebound. He also has a defensive mentality and can press on that side.”

Random Thoughts

Criddle: “Winston is borderline fat, he’s got a gut, some moobage.”

Criddle: “It’s possible that Winston is throwing the ball a little bit harder because of the tissue that he has.”

Lloyd: “I wonder what it’s like to be a guy who’s a top-10 pick. Is there any complacency that sets in?”

Criddle: “Jameis Winston could still have the biggest set of moobs you’ve ever seen and he’s going to get drafted 1st overall.”

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