PROVO, Utah - After a break in the practice schedule on Thursday, BYU had an upbeat practice session at the Indoor Practice Facility on Friday.
The team and coaches spent their usual practice time at the Provo Beach Resort instead, a decision that drew what head coach Bronco Mendenhall described as "probably the loudest I've heard our team cheer in six years when I told them there was no practice."
Mendenhall partially credited the break to a concentrated effort on Friday by both the offense and the defense.
"It was a great practice - really sharp," Mendenhall said of the day off. "From what I saw today, play and production have already come back to us."
Today's morning practice began the final day of regular fall camp before a team scrimmage on Saturday and Ole Miss prep beginning Monday.
The Cougar offense started team segment off with a touchdown, with Jake Heaps finding JJ Di Luigi deep for a 60-yard touchdown. After Matt Reynolds cleared out a rushing Kyle Van Noy coming around the end, Heaps rolled to the open space to his left, buying time and pointing downfield before hitting Di Luigi perfectly over the shoulder for the day's only score.
After being sacked on first down by Hebron Fangupo and Carter Mees, Riley Nelson completed back-to-back passes to David Foote and JD Falslev for a first down. The defense held its ground from there thanks to two more sacks, including one by Jameson Frazier and another from Daniel Sorensen, to halt the drive.
In the third and final segment, Heaps completed a 15-yard pass to McKay Jacobson and a five-yard pass to Cody Hoffman before a sack by Matt Peterson ended the day.