Cougars hit it hard with pads finally on

PROVO — There's hitting and then there's hitting.

And Thursday, BYU's first day in pads, head coach Bronco Mendenhall designed a practice centered on learning rather than proving who could manhandle another.

It may set the tone for the rest of the 12 remaining practices .

"I think it went well, we controlled the amount of aggression because of the fundamentals we still need to improve on the scheme and execution," Mendenhall said.

Coaches continually warned players to keep their feet and cut off hits with early whistles. This didn't prevent 225-pound running back Fui Vakapuna, just off an LDS mission, from mowing down a group of defenders at the end of a run, pancaking one linebacker — the most physical play of the day.

"When we allow too much contact the first day, it comes at the expense of a lot of the teaching and it works against the teaching and team format when we're working against learning schemes and execution," Mendenhall said.

Another factor is depth on both sides of the line. With some players out due to surgeries and rehab, the Cougars have just nine offensive linemen and only six defensive linemen are on scholarship for spring.

Mendenhall said he's willing to sacrifice physical play in spring because there is more important preparation to do in order to meet a goal of beating Arizona in the season opener. In other words, injuries in March could be devastating.

"It's a delicate balance," Mendenhall said.

Still, a veteran offense did not come out on fire on the first day of contact. In a skelly drill in which the offense is expected to complete about 90 to 95 percent of its passes, linebacker Cameron Jensen intercepted John Beck, and safety Quinn Gooch and linebacker Kelly Poppinga both picked off passes from Jason Beck.

Starting out slow is something Mendenhall said Robert Anae has seen his offense do in every case. "But with how they performed the first two days, I expected the offense, with all its returning starters, to look sharper," Mendenhall said.

BYU's new defensive set, which uses four linebackers instead of three, looks significantly quicker on the edges and in drops into coverages. Utilizing more zone and combo coverages, the defenders Thursday appeared to confuse the offense, which has been used to a lot of man coverage in the 3-3-5.