BYU, Vegas Bowl snapshots

WHAT THEY DID: The Cougars practiced Monday at Valley High School under sunny skies, but it was a cool morning in Las Vegas. A brisk, bone-chilling wind blew throughout the practice.

Coach Bronco Mendenhall wore shorts, as usual, but he also wore a blue BYU hoodie.

"It felt like we were just here," Mendenhall said, referring to holding practice at the same facility where BYU practiced in preparation for last year's Las Vegas Bowl. "It's amazing how much time and how much work has gone past. We come back to this environment, and it feels like we just left."

In the afternoon, the players and coaches participated in the team welcome reception at the ESPN Zone.

WHAT THEY SAID: "My in-laws are helping me. They're doing a big part of making it enjoyable for me and my wife. It's been fun to have them here. I'm just trying to enjoy every minute of it. It's my last college game ever, so I'm just trying to have as much fun as possible."

— BYU tight end Daniel Coats, on his bowl experience so far. Coats is the father of three children (a 3-year-old daughter and twin boys who turn 1 on Christmas Eve), who accompanied him, his wife and in-laws to Las Vegas.

WHAT'S NEXT: Coaches and players will visit with patients at the Sunrise Children's Hospital in the morning prior to another practice at Valley High School. In the afternoon, the team will take part in two service projects set up by the BYU football program. Selected players and coaches will visit the Boys & Girls Club of Henderson, where they will help build gingerbread houses with the children. Others will go to the Center for Independent Living in Las Vegas to do some remodeling work. In the evening, the Cougars will go to the Outback Buffet Bowl, then attend the pep rally at the Freemont Street Experience.