"I eat, drink and sleep football. I watch tape," Tyler said. "When I get home I actually have a hard time sleeping. All I can think about is football. I'm just focused on football right now. With my dad being who he is, it's been instilled in my family."

INJURY WOES: While BYU has lost two defensive starters (safety Dustin Gabriel and defensive lineman Russell Tialavea) and a backup running back (J.J. DiLuigi) to season-ending injuries so far in fall camp, Mendenhall says his team has sustained fewer injuries than his previous two seasons at the helm.

"If you go back to my first year of being head coach, the number of injuries was astounding. The second year there was less and this year there is far less," he said. "Other than the catastrophic, freak accident on Russell, J.J. had an existing stress fracture and Dustin came in with (injuries), so other than Russell — and you have to put a huge asterisk by him — I'd have to say for the most part, we're hanging in. It's the best you can do."

Mendenhall is holding a few starters out of contract drills as a precautionary measure.

"We have two weeks until game week. With the way they're competing in general and their workload, we need our team healthy when we play," Mendenhall explained. "It's becoming difficult to manage moving the team forward with the intensity level we have and not sustain more bumps and bruises."

EXTRA TIME: Tuesday's practice session lasted longer than usual, and it was by design. Mendenhall wasn't happy with his team's execution.

"We weren't concentrating, we weren't starting with the kind of precision and execution our standard is," he said. "When that happens, it's the volume of plays that are done at a high enough level, so it took longer today. The players know that practice is based on volume of plays, not periods. They go until they can self-correct. It's arguable whether that happened today."

D-SECONDARY: BYU's first-team defensive secondary consisted of cornerbacks Brandon Howard and Ben Criddle and safeties David Tafuna and Quinn Gooch.

Howard has been battling Kayle Buchanan for the field corner spot.

Buchanan is out with a minor shoulder injury. Tafuna is replacing Gabriel, who is scheduled to have surgery on both feet and will miss the 2007 season.

"David is gaining confidence in his assignments daily," Mendenhall said. "He already had a solid understanding, and that carried over to execution in all circumstances is what he's improving on the most."