Hits and misses as Cougars reach spring's halfway point

PROVO — With two weeks of spring ball in the rearview mirror, and two weeks remaining until the annual spring game, BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall has a pretty good handle on his team, both its strengths and weaknesses.

"What I like is the raised expectations of our football program," he said following Friday's practice. "They want to, and are expecting, to excel each day. Our coaches expect that to happen. So one season has promoted and produced a higher level of expectation than some of the uncertainty in the first year. That's very evident."

Mendenhall is happy with the depth at running back, the experience at quarterback and the personnel at linebacker.

But, naturally, he has some concerns — namely the lack of depth on the offensive and defensive lines and the development of the secondary.

"We have two weeks to master and learn the (new 3-4) defensive scheme that we're playing. So far, that's coming along, I think, right on track," Mendenhall said.

"It's amazing that we're already two weeks into it," said senior quarterback John Beck, who completed 8 of 9 passes for 91 yards against the Cougar defense on Friday. "It's my last spring ball. For the first two weeks, I think the team's done well. We've seen things we can improve on. We're finding guys who can make plays at critical times. We're understanding how talented we are on offense and how good we should be."

Hundreds of former players representing several different eras, plus a handful of former coaches, like LaVell Edwards, watched the Cougars practice Friday. In what is becoming a yearly event, Mendenhall invited all former players to return to campus and enjoy an up-close-and-personal view of the current squad.

"It's phenomenal. It reinforces what makes this program so great, with its tradition," Mendenhall said. "I'm sure every one of the 21 conference championships are represented here in some way. The national championship, the Outland Trophy, the Hall of Fame head coach are represented with players and former coaches coming back to just be involved because they are asked. I really appreciate it. It's great for our players to see that they are continuing this and they're responsible for it. That's important."

Before practice, former Cougar offensive lineman John Tait, who has played in the NFL since 1999, addressed the team. "He said, 'Live it up. You only get one chance,'" Beck said.

After practice, Beck talked to 1990 All-America tight end Chris Smith, recalling the games that he watched Smith play in years ago.