BYU football: Defense dominates scrimmage

PROVO — Jaime Hill's defense took control of BYU's initial scrimmage of spring practice on Friday, humbling a veteran and confident offense in what head coach Bronco Mendenhall described as a "wake-up call" for the most experienced part of his football program.

On the first day in full pads, the defense leveled big hits, made big stops and put up a statement-like performance against the offense, which has spent the first two weeks of spring strutting around delivering big plays.

"I don't think concentration was there. I didn't think it was clean play; I didn't see composure and I didn't think it was as focused as it should be for an experienced group," said Mendenhall.

The scrimmage was intended to go 15 plays, but Mendenhall extended it once he saw how sloppy things started.

The defense struggled to stop the run, and when the offense tried to pass, protection broke down to the point that tempers flared.

Quarterback Max Hall, frustrated to the point of earning a penalty for voicing his frustration, completed 5-of-7 passes for 120 yards. But 79 of Hall's yards came on the final play, a broken-coverage pass to tight end Andrew George, who slipped behind freshman safety Chris Warner for a catch of 15 yards, then turned and sprinted to the goal before linebacker Terrance Hooks finally got a hand on his jersey.

Hall quickly left the field after a team huddle at the end of drills.

"Max was really frustrated, but that's what a quarterback is going to do when the offense doesn't do what it's supposed to," said receiver Austin Collie. "He's not to blame on that."

The offense, playing without star running back Harvey Unga (held out) and with limited use of Fui Vakapuna (cut chin), used a lot of different personnel, displaying freshman J.J. DiLuigi and Wayne Latu with the majority of the run work. Offensive coaches also inserted Kurt McEuen and Brenden Gaskins in place of Hall at quarterback multiple times in the 30-minute scrimmage.

Latu had the most success, pinching off a series of 8- and 10-yard runs for a total of 30 on four carries. Junior corner Scott Johnson intercepted Gaskins early, breaking on a pass and making a big return.

Said Collie: "It was the first day we haven't played in a while, and we were working on the kinks, but we can play better than that. It's just execution and discipline. A lot of us weren't disciplined and weren't executing. Some of us lost our composure, especially me, and that's something we have to work on."

Collie said the Cougars' offense expects perfection.