PROVO -- The third week of Spring practice ended with plenty of offensive success as BYU's team segment focused on situational drills.
After taking a look at film from Thursday's practice, Mendenhall said he felt like the team needed more work on situation awareness.
"Yesterday there was a lack of awareness," Mendenhall said. "Today was a good day of situational work, and I think we learned a lot of valuable lessons. The offense had much better momentum in the Blue Zone and did a good job in the two-minute drill. I was impressed with the amount of progress from one day to the next."
Max Hall, working primarily with the first team offense, had four touchdown passes in the various situations. The team worked on "going out" from the three-yard line, scoring from within the "Blue Zone," covering 60 yards in the one-minute drill and scoring from the 25 in the overtime drill.
After the defense prevented any significant gains in the first three series of the "going out" drill, safety Kellen Fowler came on a blitz to record a sack (non-contact) on quarterback Cade Cooper. From there, the first-team offense and second-team defense shined throughout the rest of the drill.
In the first "Blue Zone" drill, Hall found Harvey Unga on third-and-four for a 14-yard touchdown connection. The second-team defense held the offense to just three yards on its first possession. In Hall's second "Blue Zone" attempt he wasted little time getting the ball into the end zone. Hall found Vic So'oto for a 20-yard score on the first play.
Hall continued his impressive practice segment in the one-minute drill. He guided the offense down the field in just 32 seconds. Hall completed all five of his passes for 60 yards, including a 26-yard scoring strike to Dennis Pitta.
Cooper led the second-team offense to the four-yard line before time expired on a 19-yard completion to Reed White.
In the overtime drill, the first-team offense found the end zone again. On third-and-four from the 19, Hall found running back Wayne Latu, who broke a tackle and rambled 19 yards for the touchdown.
In the final three situations of practice, Hall completed all eight of his passes for 113 yards and four touchdowns.
"Max and Cade continue to compete just as much as another other position," Mendenhall said. "We try to put the team in as many different situations as possible and see what players respond."
The Cougars will enter their final week of Spring practice next week. The team will practice on Tuesday and Thursday before the annual Blue-White scrimmage on Saturday, April 14.