BYU football: Bronco Mendenhall encouraged by improvement, quiet on QBs

PROVO — With the first week of fall camp in the books, and with a little less than three weeks until the 2010 season kicks off at home against Washington, the BYU Cougars are making strides.

But there's still a lot of work to do.

That was evident on a sunny Saturday morning during the Cougars' 13-series, 70-play scrimmage before a crowd of at least 3,600 at LaVell Edwards Stadium.

"Anytime you come to the stadium, you've got to be a little more excited. I know I was," said junior wide receiver McKay Jacobson, who caught a pair of long touchdown passes. "It was great to be out here for our first scrimmage. We have a long way to go but we're headed in the right direction ... It's always fun to be here at the stadium. It means that we're getting closer to our first game."

Coach Bronco Mendenhall was encouraged by his team's overall improvement, considering the "sloppy" play he saw on Friday. "It was just reflective of a really good week of fall camp," he said of his players' performance. "I was excited. I thought it was an excellent day."

Mendenhall and his staff are carefully evaluating three position battles — at quarterback, tight end and middle linebacker.

Freshman quarterback Jake Heaps engineered four series on Saturday, completing 10-of-20 passes for 156 yards and a 45-yard touchdown pass to Jacobson.

"Jake just threw a good ball, something I could go get," Jacobson said of the TD.

On that drive, against the first-team defense, Heaps completed 5-of-6 passes for 85 yards.

Junior Riley Nelson, who had five series, completed 3-of-6 passes for 52 yards, including a 35-yard touchdown to Jacobson on a play that was aided by a broken defensive assignment.

Sophomore James Lark had two series, completing 7-of-9 passes for 61 yards and a 19-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Dallin Cutler. Redshirt freshman Jason Munns was 3-of-5 for 14 yards in two series.

Of the quarterback race, Mendenhall didn't divulge much. "It's too early to say," he said. "I'll be able watch the film. Anything I say about the quarterbacks will be really well thought out and really well evaluated. I might be able to tell you (early next week) what I thought."

"At times we were pretty good. We need to be a little more consistent," Jacobson said of the offense. "But overall, I'm excited about where the team is headed. The quarterbacks, when given the opportunity, they're trying to make the most of it."