Cougars get pep talk from Young

PROVO — The quarterback who drew the most attention during Friday's practice at BYU didn't take a snap or throw a pass. He was a 40-something guy clad in slacks and a dress shirt.

His name? Steve Young.

The NFL Hall-of-Famer and former Cougar star addressed the current BYU players after practice, delivering an uplifting speech at the request of coach Bronco Mendenhall.

Young is one of many former BYU players who have spoken to Mendenhall's team recently. Heisman Trophy winner Ty Detmer had his turn a couple of weeks ago.

"It's just more motivation," said quarterback Matt Berry, who wears Young's old number, 8. "They have a repeated theme, to take advantage of this opportunity of playing football at BYU."

"It's a tremendous experience for me and a blessing as a head coach to be at a place that has Hall-of-Fame quarterbacks," Mendenhall said. "I've never had the luxury of coaching at a place with this much tradition and this many significant individuals that are tremendous leaders — and care about BYU."

Young is optimistic about what the upcoming season holds for the Cougars. "Bronco can get it done. You've got to get the offense up to speed and ready for prime time, so there are some things they have to deal with this year," he told the Deseret Morning News. "But I think everybody expects significant improvement."

Young's pep talk wrapped up the Cougars' first week of spring practice.

BYU held an informal scrimmage — with referees on hand — on Friday. As expected, both the offense and the defense struggled at times and looked good at others.

Mendenhall was pleased with the way it went overall.

"I was encouraged," he said. "It sounded better than yesterday and it felt better in terms of players wanting to play. It didn't appear as practice to me today at the end. It appeared like players were playing football and were competing. We made significant strides over yesterday."

Running back Fahu Tahi was impressive, ripping off a pair of 45-yard runs. Defensively, Nate Hutchinson made a nice play, intercepting quarterback John Beck on a deep ball.