The 7-on-7 tournaments can be team-building experiences. Since at least the early '90s, when Snow College held an annual passing tournament, football programs have had 7-on-7 competitions marked on their summer calendars. One of the reasons for that is players are likely to bond while competing against other teams.

"Kids will compete and play, and they'll come together as a team," said Mountain Crest coach Mark Wootton. "That's why I like it. In every game, they have to rally at times. That's good for trying to build a team."

What's the value

With minimal contact among skill players, no brutal play in the trenches, and fewer than 11 players on the field, Mountain Crest quarterback Alex Kuresa said 7-on-7 is nothing like real football. He said it's like a completely different sport.

So why do they bother?

Plenty of reasons, coaches say, and one of them isn't just to fill time until they can officially start practicing later this summer.

"I think the value is our guys are starting to see routes against our coverage defensively," said Bear River coach Chris Wise. "(Offensively) they're starting to see routes versus coverages. They get the repetitions of routes being run. They start to figure out little nuance things like getting off the line."

Wootton likes them because he starts to get an idea which players are going to lay it on the line in the fourth quarter when games matter in the fall.

"They play so much (in tournaments) they get tired, they get fatigued, and you can kind of find out who your champions are," Wootton said. "When the sun is hot, all these teams are playing, and you'll see who's going to keep competing."

The players that seem to benefit the most from 7-on-7 are the quarterbacks. Olsen ripped through the competition in the Ute Shoot. He later found some things he needed to work on while throwing two interceptions in Alta's elimination loss to Arizona's Mountain View at BYU's passing tournament.

"It's good for your reads," said Copper Hills quarterback Josh Soter. "It helps me to see my reads quicker and find open guys quicker."

For Kuresa, who broke into Mountain Crest's starting lineup as a freshman last season, 7-on-7 is valuable just for the experience of continuing to play with older and more seasoned players.

"It's good for your technique mainly, trying to get all your stuff down, and get everything ready for the season," Kuresa said.

Not the real deal either