Consistent effort as camp continues

PROVO, Utah – BYU’s fall football camp continued Saturday with another consistent day of practice including position drills, special teams and blue zone work.

“I’m pleased with how they’re working; they’re improving each day with the small things and the effort is consistent,” BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall said. “We’re gaining momentum.”

Mendenhall attributes the 29 seniors with why practice has been more consistent, noting that he’s having to do less because the players are doing more. 

The Cougars started Saturday morning’s practice with special teams before moving to their daily strength and conditioning drills. Position groups continued to be a focus while the team also did a couple sessions of 7-on-7. Practice wrapped up with 11-on-11 team sessions in the blue zone.

The BYU offense started team segment off with a touchdown, with senior Riley Nelson connecting with junior Cody Hoffman in the back of the end zone for a 20-yard touchdown. Junior Michael Alisa scored on the ground three plays later with a 12-yard run. On the next play, Nelson found redshirt freshman Kurt Henderson for a 12-yard touchdown.

In his next series, Nelson hit redshirt freshman Mitch Mathews for a 12-yard touchdown. Nelson also moved the ball when he completed a 15-yard pass to junior Kaneakua Friel.

Nelson finished the day completing 6-of-7 passes for 70 yards and three touchdowns. James Lark, Taysom Hill and Jason Munns also took snaps.

Defensive highlights included senior Uona Kaveinga and junior Tyler Beck with sacks on Nelson and Lark, respectively, while sophomore Alani Fua had a tackle-for-loss with a pass breakup in the end zone by freshman Matt Hadley. Senior Preston Hadley recovered and returned a fumble.

“The secondary might be the best we’ve had, athletically, since I’ve been here,” Mendenhall said.

The Cougars return to camp Monday morning for another session of two-a-days. Mendenhall anticipates another full-pad scrimmage Thursday.