PROVO -- As day two of spring practice began, BYU players continued their respective position battles, as well as learning more about the Cougar system.
"We spent an extra half hour in meetings today speaking just in terms of corrections to make in order for today's practice to be more effective and more relevant," said BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall. "We might do that again for Wednesday."
With the departure of several seniors on the defensive side of the ball, newcomers and former players are stepping up to fill those positions. At field corner, Brandon Howard and G Pittman are seeing time with the first and second teams, respectively. Kellen Fowler and David Tafuna have emerged as strong competitors at the safety position.
"We think we have the right candidates at each spot, now it's just competition and getting experience," said Mendenhall. "There's a lot of learning and plenty of mistakes, but that's where most of the teaching is coming in."
After participating in position-specific drills, the team ended practice with no-contact 11-on-11 team drills. During the first drive, quarterback Max Hall completed a nine-yard pass to Austin Collie, followed by a four-yard connection with Tyler Kozlowski. Hall finished the set with his third consecutive completion, this time to reigning Mountain West Conference Freshman of the Year Harvey Unga.
With quarterback Brenden Gaskins in for the second drive, the junior completed passes to J.J. DiLuigi, Matt Marshall and Dennis Pitta, before Andrew Rich intercepted a tipped ball at the 40-yard line. With the position of backup quarterback in question, Mendenhall sees spring practice as a good time to assess the competition.
"I feel spring is a more important time than fall for the backup quarterback," he said. "We can distribute the reps more evenly and put them in more contact situations than we can in fall camp."
The Cougar defense continued its pressure, keeping the offense from reaching the endzone in the last three sessions; however, Hall found Collie for a deep 30-yard reception just as practice came to an end. Hall finished the day completing 7-of-10 passes for 73 yards while Gaskins completed 6-of-6 passes for 45 yards.