Second week of fall camp begins

PROVO, Utah – BYU began its second week of fall football camp Monday after completing its first full-padded practice over the weekend on Saturday.

The Cougars also donned their new Schutt splash shields for player safety on the helmets on Saturday and used them again on Monday.

After a practice with full contact over the weekend, the offensive line continued to make its mark as one of the deepest units of the 2020 squad. BYU returns the tandem of Brady Christensen at left tackle and James Empey at the center position, who both ranked in the top 20 of Pro Football Focus' top returning offensive linemen for 2020. Joining the two juniors is seniors Tristen Hoge and Chandon Herring, along with youngster Blake Freeland who impressed in his seven starts as a true freshman in 2019. 

Keanu Saleapaga, Kieffer Longson and Clark Barrington all return with several starts under their belts. Those eight players have a combined 115 starts entering the 2020 season.

In addition to those players, JT Gentry, Brayden Keim, Harris LaChance, Mo Unutoa and Joe Tukuafu all return for the upcoming year. Newcomers Jori Benson, Chandler Bird, Connor Pay and Seth Willis make a stacked offensive line room. 

The following quotes are from Monday's post-practice Zoom media availability. 

Head coach Kalani Sitake
Full interview here
On standouts from Saturday’s full-padded practice
I think, Tyler Allgeier and Jackson McChesney did some really good things with the ball in their hands. Matt Bushman had a great day.

You know, I think the receiving corps did a great job young freshmen Kody Epps are starting to step up and you can see that he's got a lot of confidence in himself, and the skills and but I hate singling out all those guys, I just did it. I would say overall, they were all functioning really well and showed some depth.

A lot of young guys are stepping up and then you know we have guys that are here on their own time watching a lot of film guys have spent a lot of time together and then just invested. We have a lot of guys to stay in here late at night watching film and that's I think that's a huge compliment to the coaches that recruited guys that love football. And so I think there's a culture of guys from learning from each other and love the game of football and I think you should see some really good success from that.

On following safety and health protocols outside of football
Yeah, I mean that we're educating them on ways to. I mean, they want to play football. We have to take the proper precautions to make sure that we do our part. And you know that we try to minimize infection as much as possible. You know, so I think being honest with their symptoms and we were still going through the screening process and checking in and doing temperatures. But I think for the most part we have a lot of confidence in the sports medicine department and our players. I think educating them and having them realize it. Being, you know, honest with how you're feeling and then also being mindful when you're going home for the most part our guys are, I think, when they do go home. I think a good portion them are too tired to do anything. But if they do we're asking them to be careful on to wear masks and take the take the proper precautions to keep themselves and then others safe.

On one thing to improve on from last year on offense and defense
Offense score points and defense don't let other teams score points. We are live. I mean all of our red zone last Saturday was all live and the offense did a great job.

Defensively, we've got to be a little bit cleaner on our techniques. So we can be in position to make the plays, but for the most part, it wasn't a shooting ourselves in the foot defensively and offensively. It's just out-executing.

Especially the first day of pads and I thought the offense to the great job. The guys have been working hard and it showed and defensively we just got to get a little bit cleaner but I think it's really good competition.

On the offensive line’s evolution since he has been at BYU
You just look at their presence and they are bigger. So if you're 6-foot-4 and 300 pounds, you actually look small on the line, you know the rest of the guys are are much bigger. I mean, you're looking at the guys that came with a thinner frame you even guys like Tristen Hoge, who has added and added more muscle to his frame. We have a lot of big guys, you know, but I think the key is that they're getting older. So that's the difference there.

There's more veterans in the group and more experience players that are taking the lead and it's a good sign when you have the leadership coming from the offensive line on the offensive side of the ball. We have a lot of guys that have played a lot of reps and you're looking at the experience that we have from the O-line from the tight end position from the running backs. You know, it helps make up a lot of the, the lack of seniors and veterans that we see in the receiver receiving corps. So overall I think the offensive line is taking the leadership of the of the offense, which is actually affecting and having an impact on the defensive side as well. So it's a good thing when when the all lines, leading the team, but overall size and stature is a big difference.

Offensive lineman Brady Christensen
Full interview here
On physicality of practices
Yeah, it's been awesome. That was a big emphasis for the line and offseason is just get more physical as it always is. But just to be able to go out there, we only had six practices in spring ball. So it's been just amazing to get back out there and be able to hit again and we went live on Saturday. And just to feel football again and it's just been awesome. The O-line has been playing physical and we've been playing hard and definitely I feel like we've improved.

On the offensive line gaining toughness
Yeah, I think that's a broad question. I think there's a bunch of ways to work on toughness, you know, but especially for me I focus in the run game. I need to be more physical and just finish blocks and just really get that big pop at the line of scrimmage. So we can actually get push on the line of scrimmage so running backs have lanes to cut. That's been a big emphasis for me and everyone else and then just like just being tough and everything we do technique in the drills. We do everything, every aspect, just have that mentality of we're always going to finish, we're always going be tough and we're always just going to do our best.

Quarterback Zach Wilson
Full interview here
On his physical readiness, compared to last season coming off an injury
Yeah, I would say it's tremendously higher not just for me, but the whole team. You know personally, I feel like this is a one of the biggest offseasons for me. I feel like I've been able to take my arm from being not 100 percent last year but it's not just100 percent and then better than it was before surgery so I would say that was probably the biggest thing for me is just having that offseason and that time in the weight room. The time with the boys just going to lunch, whether it's hanging out on the football field throwing extra or whatever. I'd say we are strides ahead than where we were last year.

On competing with the other quarterbacks
Yeah, no doubt. I mean, it's just, it's part of the game, right? It's at every university, especially on our team. Competition makes everyone better. It's making me better. It's making the other quarterbacks better. And you know, that's exactly what we need on this team. Competition is what strives to make you better.

On the uncertainty surrounding the 2020 season
Yeah, my biggest thing is that we're going to be a dang good football team this year. And that's what I'm excited about is we're out here in fall camp, and we're going to levels that we've never been in our third year as an offense. Things are just working on the little details just taking everything to the next level. So I'm confident that we're just going to be a way better offense and a way better team. And for right now, you know, we still got a week one scheduled, we're still playing Labor Day and you know that's what we're looking forward to. We're still planning on that game. We're still preparing for that game.