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BYU football: Renewed Unga likes hype-free spring drills

The Cougars will rock this fall.

UNDEFEATED is clearly possible.

UNGA will show he is an ALL AMERICAN against OKLAHOMA.

QUEST FOR PERFECTION II!

You could always run buddy. Problem was that you fumbled about 8 out of 10 times you did. Fix that and a whole new dimension is added to the offense. Way to telegraph your new desire to run to every offense that we face this year. Kinda like you do with your passes!!!! :(

Keep the arrogance a little lower this year. A little less Bocce ball and a little more film should benefit you.

Unga- You just stay healthy and keep doing your thing. Can't wait to see you in action again.

Try 2 out of 10. Hall did fumble a couple of times running, and that's what everyone remembers. But Hall can actually run better than Beck did for the most part. People also forget that Hall also got a rushing TD against Utah in the 2008 game. Hall can run the problem is obviously taking care of the football. If he's going to run he needs to tuck and run it. I think he's kept it out to make it look like he still might throw it and to keep the defense guessing, but it has simply backfired a couple of time. The risk is obviously that the ball isn't tucked away and secure.

Last season didn't surprise me at all. In fact I was impressed with a 10 and 3 season. I just new it would happen. People threw so much weight on the fact that the offense returned 10 of 11 starters from a previous 11-2 season, that they didn't even think about the defense only returning 3. They also played all the toughest teams in the conference on the road. A good percentage of the team were also underclassmen. Younger players, even talented younger players are still fundamentally flawed at times and don't have the skills that a lot of the older players have. Even though there is no hype this year I honestly think that this could be the Y's year to shine, and possibly go undefeated. I said POSSIBLY I didn't say probably. I will be bold enough to suggest to that this year is more of a possibility than last year was. Oklahoma is hands down the biggest obstacle, but a W isn't impossible. From there the home-road schedule really couldn't be more favorable, the defense returns 8 starters from last year, and the offense will be the same.

Unga is phenomenal, he will no question be the best back in the conference next year. Junior year and two starting years of 1100+ yards rushing. The only guys better than he was in 2008 were Rodney Ferguson, Gartrell Johnson, and Devin Moore, but those guys will be gone. People say he dropped off in ability but he is really unique. He's a 4.6 running back weighing 240 pounds, it's tough to get much faster at that size! He can run with incredible power and relative speed, something that is really quite rare. Beanie Wells of Ohio St. was the only back similar that I could see. He's a junior and already 7th all time rushing at BYU. Curtis Brown just broke the all time record two years ago and already Unga is on pace to break it again. Assuming that he stays for his senior season, (anything could happen). He won't just break the record, he'll shatter it! Perhaps he could possibly break Luke Staley's single season record? I don't know. Either way Unga will undoubtedly go down in the books as one of the legendary running backs at BYU.

I have always been a cougar fan and have seen a good and bad situation but I'm sorry for fading a little this year. why and who planted Hall it QB and then shut the door on the rest. My goodness, the kid was hailed as the next QB standout and blessed to be a savior but good gravy, the best thing would be to send Doman on vacation from sept to april and get someone who can play a game with fire and guts, like Gaskin. We had a QB in high school who was the brother of the coach and he played every down his jr. $ sr. year and the kid couldn't cut the mustard but he knew he would be playing each game, every week. You can tell me Hall is the prince of the QBs, but we had better get the QBs & RBs some playing time or we may be seeing, in the future, a whole lot of talent leave the nest. We have very good talent now and some on missions, and some coming up and we need to let these kids know we really want them and show by playing them.

Nice try ewe troll... go find a ewe blog to scribble on

Gaskins? Really? The kid so good that Bronco was giving Austin Collie reps at backup QB? That's who you want as QB?

Unga is a animal. I can't wait to see him run this year. The Cougars are lining up another fun year. Lock and Load!

A 45 point pounding could ruin BYU for the year.
They will not win that game. The trick is make it a respectable enough game so as not to shatter their confidence the way TCU did last year.

I don't know if he was necessarily saying that Gaskins should be the starter, but I do have my own concerns about what happens when Max leaves. There is no one else with much experience, though the transfer from Utah State may prove to be huge.

RE: Oklahoma

I guess you could be right. Oklahoma should be ranked the #1 team in America next fall in my opinion. They return just about their whole offense. Hopefully BYU can hang in there. This game is early in the season, however. Even if the Cougars take a drubbing I think they'll be ok. Avoiding injury will be the key. Key players like Hall, Unga and others will have to stay healthy for the Cougars to be successful. RE: Woody Gaskens to start?? Is he your cousin?

When Max leaves, and this sounds brash, but things could very well improve. Max Hall was a 2 star quarterback when he was recruited, and both Jason Munns and James Lark are more highly recruited than Max Hall was. Also, it's anything but a lock, but if we land 5 star QB Jake Heaps, that will be absolutely huge. So the future at QB is a lot higher than you may think.

James Lark is likely to be the next starting QB.

I think that BYU should have a great shot at winning the conference. They have a lot of guys back and they play TCU and Utah @ home. They WILL NOT BEAT OKLAHOMA!!!! If that game were in Provo, it would still be a small miracle if BYU beat Oklahoma. There was a small miracle in '90.

Coach Bronco Mendenhall said that Unga is "probably the most healthy he's been," adding that Unga's play this spring reminds him of the way Unga looked going into his freshman year "when he had what I consider an excellent year. The way he's running and carrying his weight now is more similar to that than it was a year ago."

Unga got fat. He still had plenty of muscle, but he was fat. That was Vakapunas problem, he was fat. Unga could play at the next level if he keeps the fat off.

I can't stand Max Hall. I wish that Bronco and Doman would put the starting job up for chance this year and make Max actually work hard and beat out the other competitors. Max is full of arrogance, and he really could use a lesson in humility. Unfortunately his coaches and his teammates let him slide the blame for all of the mistakes he made in the Utah game, that game was lost because of Max's arrogance, still...no humility. Good grief...I was in the stands and could tell what he was going to do each play. No wonder the Utah players on the field had no problem picking up on his plans as well. It scares me that Max thinks he can run the ball...past experience tell me that he needs to stay in the pocket. He had way too many fumbles last year. Maybe Coach Doman can teach him a few things about how to be a great scrambling QB. I still remember LaVell's last football game against Utah. I wish we could get more QB's at BYU to play the way Brandon did on that day!

Re: Re:UNDERDOG...HEE HEE HO HO....Eweeeee better go look for your mommy out there in the pasture as I think the Underdog Man got ya!

I wouldn't call 31-6 a small miracle. That's a drubbing, flat out ownage performance. This year's team is probably a little different. I'm getting tired of the doubters. Are the odds in BYU's favor against Oklahoma? Certainly not. But don't rule out the possibility of an upset. Upsets were the theme of NCAA football in 2007. Honestly if Stanford can beat USC and Appalachian State can beat Michigan, then BYU has a chance against Oklahoma. I'm not saying a win is probable. I'm simply saying a win is possible, and that's what every TRUE fan should hope for. Even if we don't win, if BYU plays tough and doesn't back down, and doesn't get intimidated, and plays their fastest and hits hard, and keeps the game respectable and gives 100% effort, that to me is just as important as winning. If they roll over and die without a fight that's what I'll be disappointed in.

I don't think BYU will have much of a problem replacing Max after this year, I think Riley Nelson should be a good replacement but who knows. as far as beating Oklahoma I can't see it, Maybe Bronco should call Kyle and inquire about how to get a team up for a really big game.

Unga was used too much which resulted in injuries. He was still man enough to play but other teams need to be expecting a run or a pass at 3rd and 3. Good luck Unga, stay thin, and continue to play hard.