Good things happen to you, both on the field and off. I infer that Collie must have been doing something to take the luck and blessings away. I'm glad he speedily repented to get back in Hall's good favor.

It is Mad Max in the Green Jersey…

Max has been reading cougarlegion.com and has read how he is known by teammates as an arrogant jerk (which he showed on Friday) so this article is him trying to spin his public persona. Probably too little too late.

But he is good and will win lots of games for us, so we will put up with his arrogance. But mark my words, if he struggles, the team will abandon him double-quick.

Typical ewet troll response. Max is a competitor who expects perfection from himself and his teammates. The success of the entire team depends on each player performing to the best of his ability. No one on the team is so stupid as to "abandon" their starting quarterback; although, I'm sure that BYU-haters like douginlehi would love to see that happen.

interesting look at the team player dynamics. not sure what to make of this article. Hall seemed to be respected by the team last year. Hall seems to have the coaches' blessings as they got rid of several on-paper better QB's from the program in favor of the John Beck molded QB Hall (both played at same HS under same coach with similar style to BYU).

as a reader, my next question is David Angilau's suspension due to violation of team rules or school honor code? i am getting the feeling that the byu football players may still be outside the full reaches of the honor code. it's like the byu football team has their own secret honor code society that only applies to them (and maybe stiffer penalties). it would be interesting if Mr. Harmon or Mr. Jeff Call did a story on what the BYU team rules are and how they differ from say the Utes or the USC Trojans, etc. i would assume that the NCAA football coaches have some interesting team rules across the country. Obviously, chastity may only apply to BYU but "Word of Wisdom" i could see at any school.

To douginlehi --

How do you really know all this unless you were on the team. Gimme a break.

Sarcasm aside, Bronco's vision of returning to tradition is working. I'm sure LaVell is very pleased with the direction of the program as are most True Blue Cougar fans.

BYU athletes should be expected to be living the highest standards, as should LDS athletes at every other school, Utah included.

Football is an emotional game for players, coaches and fans. So the QB lets some of those emotions bubble over and he gets mad at somebody. Seems like a pretty normal response for a human being. However, I would love to be there the next time the guy gets torqued and stomps off past the gaping media types just to see if somebody takes Hall up on his request.

Look at the bright side. The unknown defense was able to shake up the veteran offense with ten returning starters. Looks like the defense will be ok.

I like Hall a lot but let's not hold our breath that Friday won't repeat itself. I just hope it is not the difference in a tight game down the road. Hall is who he is just like all of us. You can't change who you innately are. You can do your best to modify or control it but in the end we are all who we are - just like being an introvert or extrovert. Hall's intense, competitive personality will be with him when he is 87, he just needs to be able to recognize how to control it but he will never change it. I agree that he did get the team/coaches support over a couple of QBs who are probably more talented - Bower and the kid from Snow who transferred to Oregon - and his fiery leadership probably had a lot to do with that.

The offense may sputter just a bit this Spring, but when the fall comes around I think they'll be something else. Unga is pretty much getting a breather now.

Yeah, he's the gooderest!

Nows the time to make the mistakes....... just don't make the mistake of not learning from each one.....get them out of the way now so they don't come back on you.....and there is nothing wrong with frustation....it keys you up to do better....the old addage Max is that if you're not making mistakes then you are only putting forth minimal effort...so put the Max in......Max

Brigham Young #14 8-0 2007
Brigham Young #15 8-0 2006

Just in case you ewettes fans have forgot what living right does for you. On and off the field.

Now go back to work and sell those time share packages...

I never get tired of the "Magic Happens" comments!!! even at 3 in the morning you clowns just seem to keep pulling them out!! Why don't you haters try something original??? GO TO SLEEP and try to come up with something new....That is getting SOOO old!! L-A-M-E

I have to admit that this year makes me a little nervous because of all the hype coming from the media, players and fans. Last year was supposed to be Michigan's year to the BCS championship title game. They had everyone back on offense, Henne, Hart, Long, Manningham, etc. The local and national media was making a huge deal about them and then everyone knows what happened to them the first game. I feel that there is a very close similarity between this year's Cougar team and last year's Michigan team. I'm afraid that with one loss (or an injury), this Cougar team could go into a tailspin. They could easily lose 5 games this year...

Some other players that were labeled arrogant: Joe Theismann, Jim Mcmahon, Joe Nammath, Tom Brady, Hey you may not want him in your fab five but leading your favorite team?? I am ok with that.... and so is Napolean Bonaparte.

I am pumped for this year!! I could easily see the Cougars going undefeated. I have no problem with Max, I think he is the guy that can take us to the BCS!!

People are reading this article and making sarcastic responses about BYU at 3AM?!?!? Wow, I guess that each of us has to start our day in our own way.

Max will be fine.....he is one of the best qb's in the country.

As Sir Cedric Willingham said, "It is far easier to whisper advice from behind the scenes rather than risk its merit at the point of attack."

I'd rather see the team fall short of high expectations, than to achieve mediocre goals.

As long as they don't get over-confident and expect to achieve their goals without the necessary preparation and work, there's nothing wrong with setting high goals.

Let's review:

2:47 a.m. (Jealous Ute)--It's okay, every MWC team has Collie-envy,

4:48 a.m. (Ute Troll or just a Hatemonger)--Spreading rumors never made anything true. Play on the field, and scoreboard, is indicative of a different reality; the team is behind Max and Max spreads it around and gets the most out of the team.

6:55 a.m. (Conspiracy Theorist)--
A lot of speculation. Hall won the position and it was no secret how. He did it on the field, head to head. That's Bronco's style at every position. The honor code is very clear and it applies to everyone. Team rules are agreed to by every player and don't necessarily have to be disclosed to you.

8:12 a.m. (False Fears)--
Who cares if Hall has an intense & competitive personality. Great! That is what solved the problems of Friday, not what led to them. The offense got a good reminder to not get overconfident and lose focus. Their efforts weren't acceptable. Frustrated that practice ended before it could be fixed is a good thing. Also, I don't buy predestination. Max may very well be intense at 87, but behavior is chosen. Competitive edge is built.

SOME REAL INSIGHT PLEASE!

Please quit with your constant sarcasm and bashing! It's completely childish and we're all so sick of it! You yewt can go troll elsewhere, please! Go away!

Look out BCS....Bronco and his Boys are headed your way in 2008! The cougs should be ranked #10 by the time they roll into Rice Eccles in November to take out the utes.

If you are talking about the Austin Collie catch against Utah last year you need to learn more about football and defense. Utah blew coverage; that left him wide open. That isn't luck. It's Utah playing crappy defense and Collie making a nice grab.

Hmmm. So BYU must not be living as righteous as Georgia/USC/Hawaii/Kansas and all of the other BCS teams.

GO UTES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On the wings of hype; Jeff Call and especially Dick Harmon will usher in champion "virtual season." And then a re-branded and highly energized UCLA team will stand on the field. UCLA Defensive lineman, speedy strong linebackers, and swift defensive secondary will make mince meat of BYU's "Madd Maxx" hype. Wish and hope are laudatory messengers. But who can and will deliver it - running yards, passing yards - when the Y plays a top rated team? In the Mountain West the Y does OK; but when they step out of the league and play real top notch teams, they most often falter. Hall has a good arm; but is he mobile? No. How often does he call audibles? Rarely. How adaptable is he when a #1 receiver is covered? He rarely adapts. Throwing the long or medium range ball down the middle? Rarely does it, sticking with short slants or post calls.
BYU's offense next year - against good teams, it may shine of mediocrity. I wish otherwise, but I've not seen evidence of it in the past decade. I wish the writers would come down to earth, and abandon the hype universe.

This is the only things you utah guys know

1.BYU football
2.Utah Jazz
3.Getting into debt.

hey ernest T. B ass you think Max Hal;l is the one of the best QB's in the country? HUH? BYU and Utah fans don't know anything outside of utah sports.

I am just excited for football as the next guy, reports on practise is a little compulsive. One day the defence does well and complimented. The next day the offence does well and they get complimented. It will and should go back and forth day by day. A lot will change before fall. Give it a rest.

Blasting Cougar fans for talking about Cougar football in a Cougar football article. The audacity and naivete of those Cougar fans!

Selective amnesia...

That same speedy, strong, swift UCLA team was outplayed TWICE last year by a good BYU team -- check the stats -- and was lucky enough to win one of those games. UCLA may be a better team this year, but so will BYU.

...and you've obviously forgotten about the hurt BYU put on Oregon just a little over a year ago.

Hawaii is not a BCS team. They went to a BCS game and got spanked. They are in the WAC. Last time I checked the WAC was not a BCS conference. Once again, a Ute fan showing off his high quality education. Next up, the colors of the rainbow and counting (because apparently they can't read stats either).

The comments made by "Media hype and expectations" are the most reasonable I've seen out of a fellow BYU fan in a while. I know to most of you are naive enough to think this season is going to be 1984 reincarnated, but until BYU shows they can beat a team better than a 5th place Pac-10 team or a decent conference USA team, they shouldn't be convincing anybody of an undefeated season.

Does anyone else think the term "yewts" is as juvenile as I do. Can't we as BYU fans be more mature than that?

Bower and the other great JC who injured his foot may have had stronger arms than Mad Max. But that does not necessarily translate into "talent". Max won the job because he is more accurate, picks uo the reads quicker and more consistantly, and his leadership qualities. Bower was really young and may have developed to become a great quarterback, but potential does not necessarily equate to talent. Time will tell. I hope they both do great with their new teams.

We're talking about practice? Practice? There aren't any games till fall, so we're talking about practice??????? PRACTICE?????? Man...

LOL. BYU is living righteously enough to be permanently stuck in the MWC, banished forever from any chance of playing in a BCS Championship game. The best they can hope for is the meaningless "Shut Them Up" bone that BCS graciously donates to one second class mid major each year.

by definition...

BYU only needs to beat all of the teams on this year's schedule to go undefeated.

As Hawaii, Boise St. and Utah have already demonstrated, going undefeated will ensure a berth in a BCS bowl.

Playing in a BCS bowl is NOT the same as playing in the mythical/pseudo national championship game, which is a beauty contest reserved only for teams in the "beautiful" conferences.

I haven't heard this mentioned anywhere but, with his redshirt year, Unga is eligible for the NFL after this season. I see him very capable of a 2,000 all-purpose yard season and he is the TOTAL package - fast, strong, good hands, etc. It is not usual to see a Cougar declare early but this kid may be an exception.

BYU realist: I agree. It would be much more mature for us to call them "non-zoobies" (hold on, that might offend someone). Well, its either that or "doo-doo heads"

Why don't we talk about BYU men's volleyball, where there is a system in place that allows BYU to be national champions (and they've done it twice during the last decade).

Not the exception. I hate to break your bubble. Most QBs are arrogant jerks. This also seems to be true of today's WRs and RBs.

I knew Steve Young back in the day and he wasn't winning any congeniality contests. My daughter has told me some eyebrow raising stories about some of the more recent BYU QB's.

I sure like Bronco and I hope he is preaching humility to these kids. Especially since 99% of them won't make the NFL.

The only QB that I have met that seemed truly humble and very personable was Ty Detmer.

That was a young man who's parents taught him how to live right on AND Off the field.

Actually, 3 times, but who's counting...

but they did beat the system once by helping keep non-player from being deported back to Cuba and letting a player use a bicyle and finding temporary housing so an athlete didn't have to sleep on the street

My daughter was very impressed with Steve when he took her and her companion out to dinner while they were serving missions in Italy.

A quarterback has to be extremely competitive if he's going to be the type of leader who can motivate his team when things aren't going well.

it's sad to see the ute fans trying to talk rubbish about BYU when they haven't beaten us in football or mens bball the last two years.
Also we are 16-0 in conference the last two years in football.
Utes, you can have the gymnastics but leave the big sports to us, haha.

Re: Anonymous, I heard Bronco say several times last year he was holding Hall back to only calling plays with safer passing routes and slowing giving him freedom to call audibles. I think with his experience and all of spring to work on plays Max will be given more freedom than last year. Maybe we’ll find out how mobile he is. We know Max can take a hit, he might not still be holding the ball, but he is not a fragile.

Hall - the combination of an average arm and a high sense of confidence can mean a lot of TDs AND a lot of INTs. Ty Detmer was a good example of this. John Beck's strong arm along with his confidence allowed him to avoid some of the ints that Detmer didn't and I'm afraid Hall won't. But Hall's confidence (like Detmer's) will translate into plays that otherwise wouldn't have developed either.

Young - I'm glad he finally got married. Doesn't the temple have a limit on number of brides left at the alter? He had about reached his limit.

John Beck is really showing what a great NFL QB he is. Hopefully the fins finally get a real QB in the draft.

Alex Smith 50 million dollar contract! John Beck 2 million dollar contract ! Before there careers are over my bet is still on Beck ! Think before you make such a lame statement !

To: BYU Realist.

You are right. It isn't good to call them "Yewts" That is why I call them: "Run and Pukes" Don't you think that is much better?

Offensive lineman - 325#. Quarterback - don't know what Max tips the scales to, but that is a terrier & a pitbull matchup. Confused always say, be kind to very large creatures, especially if they are protecting you.

Beck is still Miami's future and he is a true student of the game which in turn will land him the starting job for the Fins in the regular season. Alex has only the height advantage on Beck but John clearly has the better arm. Beck has a quicker release (required to be a solid NFL QB) and he graduated from the Y which is the quarterback factory. The only two great college QB's at the U were Smith and Mitchell. That's it period. Beck will toss as many as 15 touchdowns and throw for 2000 yards in his first real season with at least eight starts. Now Max Hall will be the next Cougar QB legend in Provo by leading his explosive offense to an undefeated season and a BCS berth. If the team stays humble and continues working their tails off, it can and will happen and I'm saving up to go. I can and will make it happen! COOOOOOGS!!!