"The play of our Kat safety position with Dustin Gabriel and Cole Miyahira is such that we didn't anticipate Mike breaking into the two-deep there," Mendenhall said.

With H-backs Nate Meikle and Bryce Mahuika battling minor injuries, Mendenhall believes Hauge could see playing time running and catching the ball. "He has experience as a running back, just like Bryce and Nate."

Even without the move, Mendenhall said Hauge's help on special teams full-time would have kept him from redshirting the former Utah prep star, a true freshman.

"It was kind of talent and need driven," Mendenhall said. "We like the H-receiver position. Mike fits that mold. He's a guy who can do something with the ball after the catch. If you watched him in high school, he runs hard and he has good hands."

Mendenhall said freshman Harvey Unga (Timpview High) is in the mold of Fui Vakapuna and Curtis Brown and will work with the running-back unit at this stage of his career.

"One of the biggest challenges our freshmen have is to have the ability and keep up with the insertion, the mental aspect and that becomes the determining factor.

When asked what newcomers have been impressive, Mendenhall pointed to the play of two right out of high school — Hawaii's Ian Dulan, a 6-1, 274-pound defensive lineman, and an offensive lineman from Alta, Braden Hansen. The coach said both simply get it after a few days.

"While I wouldn't separate many of them physically, the mental part of it does. Eventually, we'd like to get to a point in the program where a great young player comes in and has tremendous players in front of him that he admires, listens to and learns from and then when it's his turn he'll take it rather than coming right in, feeling he's better than everyone and should play right away."

The Cougars will have two sessions today and scrimmage on Saturday. One player who was excused from drills for the next four days is all-conference running back candidate Curtis Brown, who will marry Kim Dabo on Saturday in the Provo LDS Temple. Brown has been told he's expected to report back to camp Monday morning at 9 a.m.

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E-mail: dharmon@desnews.com