BYU football: Riley Nelson shines at QB on BYU Alumni Day

PROVO — Competing in front of about 1,000 visitors – including a vast congregation of former BYU players – the Cougar offense put on a show during Friday's scrimmage.

On an afternoon that saw plenty of big plays, junior quarterback Riley Nelson turned in an impressive performance, completing 3 of 4 passes for 137 yards and two touchdowns.

"I wasn't really paying attention to which quarterback was moving us," said coach Bronco Mendenhall. "It was fun that the offense had a couple of nice connections, throwing and catching the football. I was a little bit distracted with alumni and the things surrounding practice. It was fun for the players and the former players."

Even running back Harvey Unga had a chance to display his quarterbacking ability. On the first series, Unga took a handoff from Nelson, then completed a halfback pass for a 75-yard touchdown to wide receiver O'Neill Chambers.

Later, Nelson threw a 75-yard TD strike to McKay Jacobson and a 56-yard touchdown to J.J. DiLuigi.

"It was fun to get out here and do a little bit more scrimmaging," Jacobson said.

True freshman QB Jake Heaps completed 6 of 10 passes for 85 yards while sophomore James Lark was 1-for-2 for 31 yards.

What does it all mean? Because of the volume of players who are out with injury or won't arrive until August, Mendenhall's not so sure.

"There's too few players playing together on either unit at the same time to assess really where we are," he said. "We'll have enough talent, we'll have enough leadership and I think we'll be physical enough to do what we need to do. I probably won't have a great idea of this particular team until fall camp. There are too many variables right now."

BYU begins the final week of spring practices on Monday. Drills conclude next Saturday at LaVell Edwards Stadium with a football clinic for kids, followed by a practice that is open to the public. Mendenhall announced earlier in the week that the program will not hold a spring game in part due to the lack of healthy offensive linemen.

Friday was all about welcoming back former players. Mendenhall started Alumni Day festivities during his first season at the helm in 2005, and participation grows every year. Among those who attended were legendary coach LaVell Edwards and players spanning several eras.