PROVO, Utah – BYU football finished its 10th day of fall camp with its first scrimmage at LaVell Edwards Stadium on Saturday.
The scrimmage included 107 plays with 75 live reps. The team will continue fall camp next week. Post-scrimmage comments from BYU head coach Kalani Sitake and other members of the team are included below:
Head Coach Kalani Sitake
On how the scrimmage went today
It was good. We had 107 plays total. 75 live reps and one’s and two’s and three’s got live reps. We held a couple guys out on the live plays but other than that everyone got live reps. So, if they are new to the program they got some plays. The graduate transfer running backs played, as well as some of the guys that were injured in the past. We wanted to see how they would react to some of the surgeries that they had. This was a good practice for us and I thought it went really well. There are some things to work on. I’ve got to watch the film but overall I thought a pretty even day so far.
On if the offense or defense won
The offense put up a lot of points but the defense got some stops and we were able to get some rotation in there. I think it’s a different deal when you're missing some. I think we held out five guys on defense for the live part but other than that I think everyone played. But it was nice to see the guys get out there and play some physical football and make some plays. There is a lot of film to watch with 107 reps.
On how it felt practicing in the stadium today
Great. We (also) came in here yesterday and it’s nice to see the (new) second level platforms. But, I think for our players in order to visualize everything it's good for them to get here and get used to being in the stadium. We are educating them a little more on who LaVell Edwards is and why the stadium is named after him.
On players that stood out on the field today
Ty’Son Williams did really well today. I had him break the team because he stood out and he’s starting to feel more comfortable in the program. I think he’s earned a lot as far as looking at legitimate ways to be a leader. I think the guys respect him and he did so many good things today.
I thought the running backs did really well. Lopini Katoa, Ty’Son Williams, and Emmanuel Esupka did some good things. I really liked the offensive line. I thought they did some good things. I thought Zach looked good and Jaron looked good too. We did decided to make Baylor Romney and Joe Critchlow go live while we try to figure some things out and they were happy to do it.
On if they team is where he would want them to be at this point in Fall Camp
Yeah, I mean there are things that we can work on. There are mistakes that you get frustrated over and we tend to nit pick as coaches because that's what we get paid to do. But, I’ve been encouraged with what I’ve seen especially the physical part of our team. It’s going to be really exciting for us when these guys take the field, and we have to build on that. I liked what I saw from both sides with the tackling, the blocking and the fundamentals of football were really clean. I’m really happy that our guys performed well and I think we came out of it fairly healthy.
Offensive Coordinator Jeff Grimes
On Zach Wilson's performance
I thought he did well overall. Like every player, there are probably a couple of plays he wished he had back. Overall, I know his completion percentage was high, and I thought he operated really clean for the most part."
On receivers' performance
"I think they did well. I think there were maybe a couple of catches I thought they could have made but they didn't. Other than that, I thought they caught what came to them. It seemed like our perimeter blocking was pretty good. We're in position right now where we're trying to assess who some of the next best guys are, and some of those guys are young and are still learning the offense. So, we had a few missed assignments there, but that's to be expected with young guys, especially in their first scrimmage."
On how the receiving core is coming along
Really good. We've got some young guys and we're kind of trying to find out who the next best guys are. We've got five or six guys that have experience and have playmaking ability. They continue to come on and make plays, and now we've got a couple of other guys added to the mix. Keanu Hill in particular is a guy that has really shown some ability to make plays. Sometimes when you come in to LaVell Edwards Stadium, some guys get a little bit nervous and don't perform as well as they could. Other guys maybe step up their game even a little bit more. It looks to me like Keanu is that kind of guy. He's not overly nervous, and he's played in some big games at a really good high school program. So, he's a guy that I don't think the moment will ever be too big for him."
Defensive Coordinator Ilaisa Tuiaki
On how the defense did today
Before watching film, I thought that there was some good things and some things that we need to improve on. Coming out, the main thing we wanted was to stay healthy, but also there's some competitions at certain spots where we've got to make sure that those guys have opportunities to show in real tackle football what they can do. I thought that some guys took steps forward, some guys took steps backward, and we'll continue to shuffle the depth chart around. A couple of guys showed that they can play for us and a couple of guys that showed that they may not be ready for that big stage yet. But, I thought it was good. I thought it was good overall.
On the middle linebackers
I think we've got the guys that can play. It's just buckling down who the starter is. Right now, I think we've got four guys that are capable of doing it, and they're all doing a really good job. We're going to evaluate the film and see where they're at and move from there."
On if he is comfortable with his frontline defense
I don't know if comfortable is the word. Their readiness is probably what it is. I know that we'd be a different defense if we lost any of those guys just in a scrimmage. And so, we've got to get those guys to the Utah game, and that's the most important thing."
Quarterback Zach Wilson
On how the day went for him
It was really good; obviously the quarterbacks success depends on the rest of his team and I think those guys are really doing well. The receivers are making plays and the offensive line's protection looks great and the running backs really stepped up today as well.
On who stood out today
Ty’Son Williams stood out to me just because I haven’t seen him play before. Lopini Katoa is a stud and I know he is a hard-working kid. He’s a great running back for us but I was anxious to see how these new running backs would do and I thought Ty'Son did really well. I thought the receivers did a great job knowing what routes they’re supposed to run and how they’re supposed to run the routes and just making plays on the ball.
On if he’s impressed by how quickly Ty’Son has able to work in with the offense
Yeah you can tell this guy is a football player. He knows what he’s doing whether he knows the play book or not, because it's brand new, but he’s a football player. He knows how to run the ball and he’s definitely that kid that wants to do extra. He wants to go in there and make sure he's getting the extra work running the plays because he knows how important that is.
On how his game has changed from last season
I think my mental game has gotten a lot better. There is still so much to progress on but I’m trying to find a situation for every play we have called whether it’s a coverage or a stunt at the line or a blitz. Last year, it was when to react and be an athlete. I think that was part of the reason I was able to get on the field because I was an athlete and could get out of the pocket. So, now it’s using that athletic ability but also being smart and trying to apply it to the offense.