NCAA College Football: BYU Cougars’ Offseason
BYU coaches will be very busy this offseason. With as many as 12 new faces, and some returning players, coaches will be taking full advantage of all the talent that they have in camp this spring. Returning starters like safety Andrew Rich, who’s sidelined with offseason surgery, will take on the role as mentor to some of the young players like redshirt freshman Jray Galea’i and junior Steven Thomas.
The linebacker position is looking rather thin, as they’re trying to replace three starters. There will be players that will be seeing some action this season like inside linebacker Aveni Leung-Wai, USC transfer Uona Kaveinga, who won’t be eligible to play until the 2011 season, as well as several walk-ons. Leung-Wai will be relied on a lot this season because of injuries to Shane Hunter and Brandon Ogaltree, Austen Jorgenson hasn’t returned to school, and three players who they signed out of high school haven’t arrived yet.
BYU have quarterbacks aplenty to choose from, Riley Nelson, James Lark, and Jake Heaps, who all had nice outings in practice, so it will be hard to make a choice as to who will be starting.
The best play came from Heaps, who connected with a wide open McKay Jacobson for a 57-yard pass, along with completing two of four passes for 72 yards. Lark went five for seven for 44 yards and Nelson threw for 33 yards on four of five passes with a touchdown to tight end Richard Wilson for four yards.