PROVO — Daniel Coats has hiked up his game.

Pushed by newcomer Jonny Harline and the return of Phil Niu at BYU's tight end position, Coats shifted gears this summer mentally, emotionally and physically. And it shows.

To observers of the first week of fall drills, one of the standouts has been Coats. His hands are back. Now, will he continue to impress as the Cougars put on pads and start hitting one another?

"I worked out a lot on my hands and just getting into shape," Coats said after Friday's morning workout.

"I worked on the jugs machine (football throwing apparatus) all summer. Also, John Beck worked with me. If I get better, he gets better."

To increase hand-eye coordination for receivers, offensive coordinator Robert Anae put to use some machinery the Red Raiders had at Texas Tech. Anae got BYU to buy two "lobster" machines commonly used to fire tennis balls across the net. The machines can be loaded up with hundreds of tennis balls and the velocity can be adjusted.

"We caught 100 balls out of that machine a day," said Niu. And how fast were the balls coming out of the machine?

"I don't know exactly how many miles per hour, but it was fast enough to bruise your hands."

Coats said the tennis balls worked for him.

"A problem for a lot of players is that they take their eyes off the ball, look at defenders and stuff," he said. "This helps with your hand-eye coordination. If you can see a tennis ball coming at you, it makes a football look like a watermelon. If you don't catch it, it can leave welts on your hands."

The hands.

Niu does not take credit for Coats' increased consistency catching the ball from spring drills and the 2004 season, but he said he and Coats spent the summer taking passes from a jugs machine.

"I worked on him keeping his elbows together on catches," Niu said.

Others suggested Coats work on making the tough catches that weren't right in his bread basket — to extend his range because not all passes come with wrappers and bows.

Coats said he likes BYU's new offense and he wants a key place in it. There is talk he could be used as a fullback at times because of his outstanding blocking abilities.

"It used to be that we either ran or threw deep," he said. "Now, we've got the ball going all over the place, you don't know what's coming. It's a variety. I like it."

Coats says it will be a challenge for defenses. "Our guys are used to it. But at first, it caught them by surprise and it takes a while to get used to the ball going all over the field."

BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall will observe the shift from shirts and shorts to shoulder pads and on to full gear and contact today. In preparation for two-a-days on Monday, the Cougars will hit beginning with this morning's session.