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Kalani Sitake moved from fall camp to game prep this week by refining his depth table, assembling a scout team, and posting a travel list for the trip to Las Vegas for the opening game against Arizona of the Pac 12.
To do this, he had to give some of the starters more reps in workouts, especially 11 on 11s. In Saturday’s scrimmage, he restricted the fight against running backs and the QBs are taboo. It’s a fine line for coaches to try to protect player health while accelerating through aggression and physical play.
On Saturday, Fesi Sitake brought the Washington transfer Puka Nacua onto the field with more repetitions and made some nice catches. The BYU defense played with their heightened emphasis on putting pressure on opposing QBs early in the scrimmage, and they were effective on Aaron Roderick’s offense.
The predictions from Cougar Insider
Question of the Week: Now that we know Jaren Hall will start quarterback against Arizona, what season will he have? Predict his strengths and weaknesses, provided he can stay healthy year round.
Jay Drew: Jaren Hall should have an above-average season for the Cougars in 2021. Asking him to put together the kind of season Zach Wilson did last year, however, is quite a challenge given the quality of the opponents Hall faces.
The last time we saw Hall – the first half against Utah State in 2019 – he was sensational. Concussions robbed him of showing more of what he could do that year. So now is his time and I expect him to shine because he has a big arm, great running skills and good leadership skills. His teammates seem to like him and will rally behind him.
He also has strong coaching in his corner – as Aaron Roderick proved last year with his work with Wilson – and a nice supporting cast on the offensive.
Dick Harmon: Aaron Roderick was looking for consistency and great playmaking skills and Jaren fits in with that. He must increase his accuracy to be effective in this attack. People should be a little careful expecting a replacement for Zach Wilson – he was so good. He was good across generations. Hall still hasn’t played much college football due to his concussion, but he deserves the chance and BYU is giving him it.
Hall is a gamer and a great athlete. He can extend games and when he takes a break like Taysom Hill he can cover the distance, not just a first down. He will be very good at bootlegs and sprint outs if thrown on the run. He has good chemistry with the receivers and tight ends and is a leader. He has fulfilled his place as a legacy recruit, son of Kalin Hall, a former running back.
Cougar stories
BYU golfer Kerstin Fotu was the first woman to make the cut at the Utah Open, which was held at the Riverside Country Club last weekend. The longtime cougar had to play according to the tips with professionals from across the country including former Dallas cowboy quarterback Tony Romo.
Zach Wilson had a great week of hype and praise following his performance against the Green Bay Packers. He also received high praise from Romo when I asked the NFL TV analyst what he thought of Wilson’s talent.
Jay Drew tried to rate the difficulty level of BYU’s football opponents.
From the archives
From the Twitter verse
Zach Wilson’s efficiency is one of the first-round newbies
Big litter – 1st (9.1%)
Matched Game – T-1st (0.0%)
Sack – 1st (0.0%)
Yards per att – 1st (9.2)
Comp – 1st (77.3%)
Average Time to Throw – 1. (2.5)
– Kevin Cole (@KevinColePFF) August 24, 2021
Extra points
Fanalyst
Comments from readers of Desertet News
I’m always looking forward to this game and will be heading to Las Vegas this morning (like many did I jump right away to get the tickets). (I assume that on I-15 that day there will be a lot of fellow passengers going to this game.)
Just read that masks are required at Allegiant Stadium – I’m glad to hear that.
Also read that the Arizona soccer team is 100% vaccinated against COVID – they should be commended for this.
(I’d like to know where we stand on that. Whittingham said Saturday that the utes are likely to stay at around 95%, with around 6 players still signing out.)
In a rather unique way, the Allegiant Stadium allows playing on both artificial grass (which UNLV uses for their home games) and natural grass (which the Raiders use for their home games). The natural grass stands on a huge “tray” that is left outside most of the time and is moved into the stadium for the Raiders games. Does anyone know what is being used for our game with Arizona? (I would suspect the artificial turf, but would be interested to have this confirmed or disproved.)
– Cougarforever
Next
August 26th | 7 p.m. | Women’s football | vs. USC | @Provo
August 27 | Noon | Women’s volleyball | against SUU | @Provo
August 27 | 7 p.m. | Women’s volleyball | vs. Long Island University | @Provo
August 28 | 7 p.m. | Women’s volleyball | vs. UNLV | @Provo
September 4th | 9:30 p.m. | Football | against Arizona | @Las Vegas
September 11 | 8:15 pm | Football | vs. Utah | @Provo
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