BYU football notebook: Lobo land like home for Cougar lineman

PROVO — BYU offensive lineman R.J. Willing is looking forward to Saturday's game in Albuquerque — not only to play football, but also to reminisce and catch up with old friends.

As a missionary in the Albuquerque, New Mexico, Mission, the 6-foot-5, 310-pound senior from Kahuku, Hawaii, spent several months on the campus of the University of New Mexico.

The Cougars take on the winless Lobos Saturday at University Stadium.

"It's kind of like going back home, so I'm excited," said Willing, who has fond memories of time spent at the university. "We walked around campus and that was our area. We'd do street contacting. Football would come up in conversations. People would see my size and I'd explain that I was on the BYU football team. I don't think I got a lot of grief for it."

Once, Willing recalled, he ran into former New Mexico coach Rocky Long.

"It was good," Willing said of their conversation. "I told him I was a BYU football player and he said, 'Nice to meet you.' I asked him if he'd ever talked to missionaries before. He said yes, and that he'd pass."

Though Willing's been home from his mission for a few years, he still keeps in touch with several families in Albuquerque and the surrounding area.

When BYU visited New Mexico two years ago, Willing "saw a lot of families that I taught and met. I'm just looking forward to that same experience with them again. I've been able to get a lot of tickets (for Saturday's game) from a lot of my teammates. I'll have a pretty big fan section from my mission there."

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: Quarterback Max Hall and defensive lineman Jan Jorgensen were honored by the Mountain West Conference for their efforts in a 52-0 victory over Wyoming last Saturday.

Hall was named co-offensive player of the week after completing 20 of 22 passes for 312 yards and four touchdowns, as well as rushing for 30 more yards, against the Cowboys. He shares the honor with TCU's Andy Dalton, who had 283 yards of total offense and four TDs in a 55-12 win over San Diego State.

Jorgensen, a senior from Helper, received defensive player of the week accolades after recording a team-high six tackles and 1.5 sacks (for minus-15 yards). He was part of a defense that forced three Wyoming turnovers and held the Cowboys to 113 yards passing and 112 yards rushing.

Air Force punter Brandon Geyer was named the MWC special teams player of the week.

INJURY UPDATE: Running back Harvey Unga (ankle sprain) and Jorgensen (bruised knee) will be ready to play this weekend, coach Bronco Mendenhall said Monday. The coach added that Unga won't see much action in practice early in the week in order to allow him to heal.

Mendenhall said he is pleased with the overall health of his team after the win over Wyoming. "It might be the first game the entire year where I can't give you an injury list that won't affect us for the next week, which is really good."

e-mail: jeffc@desnews.com