A third of BYU’s spring football practice in 2021 is on the books, the same number – five sessions – the Cougars had last year before the pandemic, turning it all off.
Head coach Kalani Sitake gave an update on how the camp is going on Zoom Monday night and he was perhaps a little more optimistic than usual. Minutes after Sitake finished, the Nacua brothers – Samson from Utah and Puka from Washington – announced on Instagram that they were moving to BYU.
So there was a reason for the twinkle in Sitake’s eyes.
“I’m really excited about what I’ve just seen from the team and we’ll just keep building on that,” said Sitake. “Last year we finished after training # 5. Now we’ll try to count the next 10 and get a good momentum for the off-season and fall camp.”
It helps to get two Pac-12 receivers into the crease. Samson Nacua will be eligible as a graduate transfer immediately, while Puka Nacua will have to sit out for a year unless the NCAA soon allows one-time transfers without penalty, as expected.
When asked if BYU would like to add more players before the start of the 2021 season on September 4 against Arizona in Las Vegas, Sitake gave his usual answer – that recruitment never really ends.
“I’m always trying to improve and improve our team,” he said. “There are a lot of people who fit our program and we will keep working on it. As long as the (transfer) portal is one thing, we need to take care of it and make sure that it goes well with what we have here at BYU and that we are committed to what we are about. “
When Sitake came back on an update on the Cougars, he said some players were in trouble – nothing special – and they were gradually playing more and more real football, as he had promised they would last month.
“We have been able to play a lot of 11v11 football and are still working on it,” he said. “I think we’ll keep increasing it over time, especially as we work towards the back end of the shuttlecock. At the moment we’re still in the installation phase and trying to get as much in there as possible before we go and before we go to work. “
Sitake said he was still confident the Cougars could have a spring game; As of now, the numbers needed, especially offensive linemen, are good.
In terms of improvement, the coach said there was “a lot of room for it” and it was done. He’s more interested in developing depth considering the Cougars have a really tough schedule this season.
I thought I felt fine when I got back but there are little dinky injuries here and there, just normal missionary stuff, but now I feel my body is 100 percent. I’ve never felt in better shape than I do now. It was a cool difference to see. “- BYU quarterback Jacob Conover
“We want to make sure we have more than 11 starters on offense and 11 starters on defensive and we also have a good number of special teams working so we have to focus there,” he said. “I see a great development in our players and you can see that the guys who made some sacrifices got their bodies right and made them bigger and stronger.”
Of course, BYU has four quality contenders to replace Zach Wilson as starting quarterback, and Sitake said the competition is as close as expected.
The candidates “all have a high level of self-confidence,” said Sitake. “That’s because they worked hard. Now we have this great competition and you see the best of them every day.
Their job is to make it really hard for us coaches to choose who to choose and so far they are doing a good job at it. “
Sitake said the quarterback competition inspires other position players as they battle for their respective spots on the field.
The most experienced quarterbacks, Baylor Romney and Jaren Hall, spoke to reporters last week. Monday was the turn of the newcomer Jacob Conover.
Acting as Scout Team QB last fall “was a great time, I was enjoying every moment,” said Conover, “but now it’s time to shine and just rock and roll.”
Conover, a former four-star recruit whose mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Paraguay was interrupted by the pandemic, called it a “super healthy contest, even though everyone wants to be the guy.”
Conover said it took him a while to shake off the mission grate, but he’s getting there.
“Yes, a ‘mission body’ is a real thing,” he said, “and it takes about eight months to a year to finally feel 100 percent. I thought I felt fine when I got back but there are little dinky injuries here and there, just normal missionary stuff, but now I feel my body is 100 percent. I’ve never felt in better shape than I do now. It was a cool difference to see. “
Equipment Director Mick Hill is retiring
BYU announced Monday night that Mick Hill, the school’s longtime director of equipment operations, is retiring after 39 seasons on the football program.
Only nine football programs in the country recorded more victories in Hill’s four decades than BYU’s 334. Hill stood on the verge of 482 games, “perhaps more BYU football games than any other person in programming history,” according to the BYU publication.
“It’s going to be really hard to say goodbye to Mick,” said Sitake. “He was here when I was a gamer … Just to show the kind of people that are around our players and the impact they have on our lives. … We are very grateful for his decades of service. We will miss him. “
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