Unga moves past Jenkins

PROVO — He's big, and when he gets a few steps and a head start, he can be very fast.

Now, BYU freshman Harvey Unga is both a running back and proven big-play slot receiver out of myriad formations.

On Saturday, in BYU's 35-16 win over Colorado State, Unga passed Ronney Jenkins as the best freshman running back in school history.

"My intent is to try to keep Harvey Unga grounded and try to keep him growing and learning with his work ethic developing," said BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall. "He has so much ahead of him and we all know he is very capable and to this point he handles it really well."

Unga carried the ball 11 times for 51 yards against a Ram defense stacked along the line designed to stop him. But Unga added three catches for a whopping 110 yards that included a first-quarter 53-yard catch and run as he weaved past CSU linebackers and cornerbacks to set up BYU's first touchdown.

BYU could have rode the 'Unga Show' even more on Saturday. Certainly, Unga and tight end Dennis Pitta (four catches for 70 yards) could have been utilized more than they were against the Rams.

Unga and Pitta could have shared 12 passes and made a bigger impact.

But coaches had a game plan to run the ball as they could, fit in Fui Vakapuna (10 carries for 39 yards), and get the wide receivers back in the offensive schemes. They also hoped, if the score allowed, to get as many front line players out of the game and save their legs for a short week showdown with TCU on Thursday, according to Mendenhall.

"There were a lot of things open in that game we could have taken advantage of," said quarterback Max Hall. "We wanted to work on our outside game and still had some guys make catches with the inside game. It just shows we aren't a one-dimensional offense and we can spread it all over the field."

The Cougars outgained CSU 461 to 311 yards.

"But we left some points on the field," said Hall.

As for Unga, he's become BYU's utility player for the offense. On the day, Unga had 161 yards. His rushing total for the season climbed to 734, one more yard than Jenkins had in 1996. He's averaging 91 yards per game and has accounted for 46 percent of BYU's rushing attempts and 65 percent of the team's total rushing yards.

"I'm grateful for the accomplishment and everything," said Unga. "But I see it as a stepping stone to what could happen and what will happen to me in the future. It's a motivation factor for me to have that record for what I have in mind for the future and I just have to keep working hard."

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E-mail: dharmon@desnews.com