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News and Notes:
Logan: “You know you’re married when you spend the day by sleeping in, taking your kid to McDonald’s, going to Home Depot and getting a lawn mower then making a trip to Wal-Mart.”
Criddle: “I went and saw Passion Pit on Friday and let me tell you, they put on a good show. We went down to Zion’s and I sprained my ankle in my camp ground.”
Criddle: “BYU Football added Manase Tu’ungafasi to the 2015 signee class.”
Criddle: “Even though September is star studded, you have question marks with Nebraska and Michigan.”
Logan: “This reminds me of Texas last year where guys were getting kicked off. Now, it’s a little different but these two schools have guys leaving so it’s pretty unstable.”
Criddle: “Chris McGown is leaving BYU. You never know what is going on, if there are family issues, if he wants a new challenge, or if he just needs a sabbatical.”
How We See It:
Twestion: Is it feasible to have Manase Tu’ungafasi see substantial playing time this season?
Logan: “I don’t know. Would I like to see him get some PT? Absolutely. Do I think he will? I’m not sure. Probably not on the OL, but possibly on ST.”
Logan: “If he’s big and fast, why not let him play some ST? Heck, maybe he’s fast enough to go play on kickoff.”
Criddle: “The person we can compare this to the best is Ziggy. Look at what happened to Ziggy in his first game, he was decleated.”
Criddle: “Jordan Pendleton was telling me about this recruit that he’s been working out with and I get to the point where I’m oohing and aahing over this 17 year old kid…. it got awkward.”
Criddle: “While I’m contemplating whether this is weird, Zak turns and looks at me and says, ‘Look at Manase Tu’ungafasi with his shirt off, he is ripped, then it got real awkward!'”
Logan: “There are times where there are guys who are better athletes who don’t see the field because they don’t know X’s and O’s.”
Criddle: “I think that JonRyheem Peoples was one of the best talents that BYU signed the last few years but because Bronco doesn’t baby kids, he didn’t fit into the program.”
Logan: “It’s pretty crazy how the connection happened, I’ll save it for later but you’ll be surprised.”
4:30 Segment:
Criddle: “As soon as Manase ends up as an NFL draft pick, it’s game over, all these other NZ kids will start training to play football.”
Criddle: “There need to be some remote camps that are set up so coaches can travel overseas and see this talent out there.”
Criddle: “Even if they just go over the basics and do some one-on-one drills to help these kids.”
Logan: “It’s exciting because BYU isn’t likely to capture those 5 star recruits so to get these kids with potential is really exciting.”
Criddle: “I like this signee because this kid has played rugby. Ziggy’s learning curve was rough because he didn’t know the physicality of the game.”
Cougar Insider Report:
Criddle: “Did anyone know that there was any availability with this scholarship? Were they looking to pick up a JC guy?”
Criddle: “They felt that bringing in a true freshman with no football experience was a better move.”
Criddle: “I would like to say Charles West will be acquitted, but I don’t see it.”
Criddle: “Khari Vanderbilt is a guy that was targeted but he never signed with BYU.”
Logan: “BYU needs more help in the secondary than anywhere else because of the youth.”
Criddle: “The receivers that BYU has are great and borderline elite.”
Criddle: “I think that the run game will be okay but it won’t need to be relied on as much. Two guys I like are Nate Carter and Riley Burt, they need to get some love back there if Jamaal isn’t healthy.”
Criddle: “Nate Carter may get bowled over in practice, but it’s not going to happen in a game, he will cut and drive into people’s knees in pass pro.”
Criddle: “I think that Nate Carter has the best vision out of the running backs and has great quickness.”
Berry Tramel Interview:
Tramel: “When I had enough time to play golf, I didn’t have the money. Now that I have the money, I don’t have the time.”
Tramel: “I think the Big 12 will eventually have to expand. They screwed up by getting Louisville get away. There’s only one good option out there, BYU.”
Tramel: “I think they should get to 11 teams then eventually go to 12 when they need to. That would be some good football from Morgantown to Provo.”
Tramel: “The Big 12 doing a scheduling agreement is only a temporary band aid.”
Tramel: “The teams that schedule BYU would just find a weaker team to make their schedule easier.”
Tramel: “Baylor played 3 bad teams, the Big 12 talked up their 9 game conference schedule but it ended up hurting them.”
Tramel: When you talk about having 12 games, you really only have 9 or 10 tough games.”
Criddle: “The Big 12 Title winners in recent years have been Baylor, Kansas State, and Oklahoma State.”
Criddle: “The problem with the Big 12 is that they’ve been bit in the behind because of the CCG so many times.”
Tramel: “Oklahoma St has done a better job, but they just don’t have a great schedule this year.”
Tramel: “Baylor is dropping the ball, they’ve really dug their heels in and said they won’t be playing anybody.”
Tramel: “The Big 12 doesn’t have a ton of power at the top where they are saying, ‘This is what we’re doing and this is how we’re doing it.'”
Tramel: “No body is really running the conference. It’s kind of an anarchy where Texas and Oklahoma are the biggest powers and do what they want.”
Tramel: “I think that Bowlsby was ready to do a CCG until all the AD’s said that they were happy with the current structure and he had to back pedal.”
Tramel: “Back in the day only the Big 12 and the SEC had CCG’s. Now everyone except for the Big 12 has them and they’re getting left behind.”
Tramel: “Art Briles saying that they will just go undefeated and go to the CFP is like me saying I’ll go to Houston and just avoid traffic.”
Tramel: “You need to schedule tough in the non-conference so you have something to fall back on if you lose in conference play.”
Tramel: “I don’t think the CFP will go to an 8-team playoff for several years. The conference’s pretty much own the bowls and I don’t see it happening.”
Tramel: “With an 8-team playoff, it gives a team like BYU a better chance to get in by going 11-1. Right now, BYU would have to go 12-0 to get in.”
Tramel: “I don’t think it’ll open up opportunities for teams outside of the current P5.”
Steve Kaufusi Interview:
Kaufusi: “I know someone who used to be a coach at Kahuku HS and told me that they had a kid who came to one of the camps that they put on and while he didn’t play they were pretty impressed with his size and athleticism.”
Kaufusi: “I was kind of behind the 8-ball because he had already made trips to Utah and Oregon State.”
Kaufusi: “I reached out to him over facebook to see if he would be interested in coming to visit BYU.”
Kaufusi: “He came back and said that he appreciated us taking an interest in him but he was going to go to Oregon State.”
Kaufusi: “At that point I wished him the best and that he could succeed in Oregon St. While I was in Tonga I went on a radio station and talked about the recruiting process and his Dad heard me on the radio.”
Kaufusi: “His Dad told him to message me on facebook and so he did and we were able to meet up.”
Kaufusi: “All his teachers and principals spoke highly of him and we learned that he was the captain of his school’s rugby team.”
Kaufusi: “A lot of the contact is coming from him late at night for us so there were times that I would lay awake by the phone.”
Kaufusi: “He was still pretty set on Oregon State so I thought the only way we could sway him was to bring him on a trip.”
Kaufusi: “His Mom lives in San Francisco and she flew in to take the trip with him.”
Kaufusi: “Even though his Mom was set on BYU, we had to wait on how he and his Dad felt about it and he told us he was interested.”
Kaufusi: “I was at my twins’ graduation when I got the call so I was running in and out getting everything figured out.”
Kaufusi: “The environment was one thing and he said he felt really comfortable here.”
Logan: “It’s difficult to explain to non-LDS recruits how special BYU really is. You can’t really understand it until you get on campus.”
Kaufusi: “As much as we’d love to have him. I see him as a better fit on the OL, he has NFL measurables for a tackle.”
Kaufusi: “We plan to continue to recruit the islands to find these athletes and see if they have what it takes to be a D1 football player.”
Kaufusi: “They do have American Football in NZ, but it is mostly club football and is still growing.”
Kaufusi: “Tonga has recently become a member of the World Federation of Football and now the schools are passing out equipment.”
Kaufusi: “I knew that Ziggy had something special but I just had to remember patience. You have to teach them terminology, technique, and they’re still trying to get the language straightened out.”
Kaufusi: “Anyone can coach a blue chip, but a real coach can really help someone improve their ability and learn the game.”
Kaufusi: “These kids have to realize that the game is physical and really go through it themselves and realize that they love the game.”
Kaufusi: “There are times that you want a freshman to get some experience, but it doesn’t always work that way.”
Criddle: “Whenever Bronco gives me a hard time about being on the radio, I’ll tell him that they have Manase because of the radio.”
Criddle: “If you can beat out Kalani Sitake oversea’s, I applaud you.”
6:00 Segment:
Criddle: “I had Gary Sheide on last week and man, I just don’t know that people realize all that he accomplished in his career.”
Logan: “I’m too young to know what’s going on with him.”
Logan: “Everyone thinks I don’t like old people but I’m just young.”
Logan: “I think that this will give us an opportunity to see how good BYU is. If we let Taysom run the show then we can learn more about a few players.”
Criddle: “I think it’s important that BYU will have a senior QB. I think that 2012 could’ve been better had Riley not been hurt.”
Criddle: “I feel like BYU finally has a chip on their shoulder. The most effective motivation is negative motivation.”
Criddle: “If you get a chip on your shoulder and you’re not complacent and you’re hungry and out to prove yourself.”
Criddle: “Taysom not getting any hype is getting him hungry. Bronco Mendenhall will be out there to prove his defense is good.”
Criddle: “It was a huge slap in the face to Tejan to not get nominated to that list. I guarantee he has a chip on his shoulder.”
Criddle: “I think that the seniors will be hungry, they went through the pride cycle last year and it really hurt them.”
Mauss: “I’m excited to see Taysom improve just enough to make the offense better and really utilize that talented receiving core.”
Criddle: “You need people out there who can say they have been there done that and Taysom has that around him this year.”
Criddle: “I don’t know if there’s a QB at BYU who has ever had as many ups and downs as Taysom has.”
Criddle: “How low is that to have so much success and then be injured.”
Logan: “Imagine if he had a Dr go in and tell him that he could never play football again?”
Logan: “There are time when you’re trying to accomplish something and God closes the door on you.”
Logan: “With all these injuries, I would question if it was my time.”
Logan: “If something happened where I wouldn’t have been able to play anymore, that would be depressing.”
Logan: “There are times I get caught in day dreams and wonder, ‘What if I was 5’10”?'”
Logan: “It was embarrassing for all my friends to have Cal swag, Fresno St swag, even San Jose swag.”
Logan: “Once I got into JC and was all-american and all-conference both years and I was getting passed over, I was humbled.”
6:30 Segment:
Criddle: “Riley was a leader, he did everything off the field that he was supposed to do. He united the team.”
Criddle: “He looked good in the Wazzou game, he was bigger, stronger and played well.”
Criddle: “Next game, he played against Weber St takes a keeper up the middle and an LB put a helmet in his back and it was fractured.”
Criddle: “He didn’t even take a snap in practice the week before Utah. James Lark took all the reps in practice then got benched.”
Criddle: “BYU lost that game 3x’s not because of Riley Nelson but because they didn’t have a kicker!”
Criddle: “It’s not Riley’s fault that he was in there playing, it was the coaching staff’s fault.”
Logan: “We used to take pride in people not scoring. We didn’t care if you got a turnover on the 1-yard line, you were going to get stopped.”
Logan: “There were time’s in 2010 that we’d have to run perfect 10’s even though he didn’t give up any points the week before.”
Logan: “Ray Lewis used to say that all they’d need to win a game was two field goals because they weren’t going to give up any points.”
Criddle: “I hate that we put it all on Riley, if he’s healthy you beat Utah, you beat Notre Dame, you beat Boise State.”
Logan: “If you are the best defense ever you have to be able to win the game by forcing turn overs and scoring yourself.”
Random Thoughts:
Criddle: “In 2012, in the bowl game, who found the will to win?”
Logan: “Kyle did!”
Criddle: “Had Riley been benched earlier, Taysom would’ve came in and you would’ve won 10 or 11 games.”
