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Cougar blue and beyond a TCY/FOF Dynasty
This will be a TCY/FOF 2004 Dynasty that will follow the Careers of BYU alumni that make it to the next level. I will be coaching the BYU team handling all functions and be the GM of the Arizona Cardinals, handling only Player personnel decisions and hiring/firing Coaches and scouts. The Dynasty will begin in 2005 with the storyline being that I take over BYU at mid Season after they open the 2004 campaign at 0-5.
My first year was miserable; we limped home at 3-8 and took a huge prestige hit. Despite the adversity, my recruiting class was ranked 14th overall by Rivals, which I think is a bit high as I really only landed 2 Blue Chippers. My crown jewel was QB Dwight Gatlin from New Middletown, Ohio, who was the #4 ranked QB in the nation, and seriously considered Oklahoma before giving us a late commit. DT Barry Wohlman, was the 23rd Ranked DT in the Nation, and his cousin Ike Wohlman is a returning all MWC performer at OLB, and the star of our Defense going into his Senior Season. (kind of a neat coincidence to have 2 players with a not that common last name in the fold) Both of these players will likely start as true freshmen as my QB situation is horrendous, and the interior D-line is not much better. I am hoping that both of these players will be the first BYU alums I have recruited to play on Sundays. In the preseason I hire 45 yr old Jack Bailey as my new DC, and Lenny Bradford as syndicate coordinator. My OC, Adam Clark is actually one of the better assistants around and though at times struggled with my new 1 back offense, shows the potential to turn the Cougar attack into a Juggernaught at age 47. I also needed to downgrade the schedule during this time of transition and signed up to play home and home sets against Duke and Arizona. Along with Notre Dame and Rutgers my non-conference Schedule is a lot less foreboding than in 2004, when it featured USC, Notre Dame, Stanford and Boise state. I have a lot of rebuilding to do, the team will be young and recruiting will not be easy this year coming off a mediocre Season. My Goal for 2005 will be to finish 7-4 and hopefully land a Bowl bid to restore some prestige to the program. Up next 2005 Preseason report for the Cougars. I will not report as extensively on the Cardinals as my main focus will be to follow the exploits of any BYU players I send to the pros. |
Week 1
BYU 63 Duke 21 Recap-The memories of last years 0-5 start are a distant memory as we shred Duke for 499 yards and blow open a 21-21 halftime tie with a 35 point 3rd Quarter. Super Frosh Dwight Gatlin goes 15 of 29 for 275 yards and 4 touchdowns, with 1 interception. I also manage 172 yards on the ground with Winston Smothers leading the way, piling up 107 yards on 15 carries. Starting TB Marshall Reid gets to pack it in early after gaining 55 yards on just 6 carries and scoring 2 TD’s. The Defense gets in on the scoring as Senior CB Ron Watson returns an errant Duke pass 22 yards for a score midway through the third to quash any waning hope Duke had of getting back into the game. My other Blue Chip Frosh Barry Wohlman gets 4 tackles (3 solo, 1 assist) including 1 for a loss and Cousin Ike leads the Cougar Defense with 8 Tackles and a pass defensed. All in all a great start, and we emerge healthy going into a bye week prior to the Arizona game. Current Injuries None Recruiting Visits-None Commits-None Our lack of success last year is already hurting us as very few decent prospects want anything to do with us from my early contacts. NFL San Francisco 28 Arizona 7 It may be a rough year as Ken Dorsey and Al Welch are my Quarterbacks. If only I could get Dwight Gatlin to come out early for the draft……Like prior to his Sophmore Season. Alumni None |
Week 2
Bye for BYU We take advantage of the early bye to tweak the game plan, and address some weaknesses. I like Gatlin’s big play ability (4 completions of 25 yards or more against Duke) but I want him to take the high percentage short throws more often to sustain drives. We only had one drive of 8 plays or more (exactly 8) and six 3 and outs. In addition, our receiving corps is really not that strong so I don’t anticipate them running behind coverage against the better secondaries we will face. Defensively after Duke strung 3 consecutive scoring drives together in the second quarter, we adjusted things at the half and they only gained 61 yards on 8 possessions in the second half. I like what we are doing on this side of the ball and we will stay in our 3-4, as the young Freshman Wohlman did a good job taking up gaps, and the Linebackers were able to fly around and make plays. Next up Arizona. Injuries Nothing worse than probable Recruiting Visits-None Commits-None We are basically sending out feelers at this point, it does not look like we will be in the running for any Blue Chippers, though we desperately need a big play receiver, a durable running back and a lock down corner. Our O-line is the strongest area of the team this year but we lose all 5 starters to graduation at the end of the year, so rebuilding is definitely in order here. NFL Indianapolis 27 Arizona 14 We play surprisingly tough against the offensive powerhouses that are the Peyton Manning led Colts. Manning goes 20-29-0 247 with 1 TD, and Edge James adds 101 yards on 24 carries, but we are able to stiffen on several drives that looked headed for pay dirt. On our side Al Welch is inconsistent, his line is 19-38-205-1 with 2 TD strikes. A bright spots are Antquan Boldin’s 9 catches for 86 yards and Larry Fitzgeralds 6-86, with both TD receptions. I will have to keep these 2 around. Our running game averaged over 4 a pop, but we were playing from behind the whole game and could not go to it as much as I would have liked. On defense our 1st round draft pick in 2005, Austin Barden led the way with 10 tackles from the MLB position. We really need a triggerman as I feel our Defense will play well!! Alumni None |
Week 3
Arizona 41 BYU 35 OT Leaders Passing Morris Wright 16-19-294 3 TD 1 Int Dwight Gatlin 16-27-177 1 TD 1 Int Rushing Marshall Reid 14-69 Receiving Curtis Blanchard 7-127 2 TD Jimmie Mueller 6-126 Defense Ike Wolhman LB 8 Tackles 2 Assists Ron Watson CB 8 Tackles 1 Assist Barry Wohlman DT 3 Tackles 1 Assist 1 Sack AJ Foreman S 4 Tackles 1 Assist 1 Int Recap I am faced with a quandary here Down 28-7 going into the 4th Quarter, Senior Morris Wright leads the Cougars to 28 points including 21 unanswered to close regulation and send the game to OT tied at 35. Alas on our first possession in OT he throws a pick and Arizona goes on to claim the victory. Our run defense was plain ugly in this game as Wildcat shredded us for 282 yards on 23 carries and had 3 touchdown runs of 25 yards or more, including a 78 yard scamper to open the scoring. All told U of A picked 318 yards on the ground and we have to fix this quick! Utah is averaging 276 yards a game on the ground for a top 10 national ranking and our rival game will be ugly if we are not better here when the Utes visit Provo to close the Season. On the bright side we are second in the Nation in yards per game passing at 399. We travel to Colorado Springs next to play Air force, who is 1-0, ranked 38th and coming off a bye week. They will be ready. I don’t want a QB controversy, but Wright was nails in relief of Gatlin and I will have to ponder the fact that Gatlin might just not be ready yet. Injuries Glenn Klatt ILB Herniated Disk out up to 7 weeks This hurts and we will have to start another true Freshman, Harris Diaz in his place. Recruiting Visits-None Commits-None My game plan is to focus on another top QB, a big time receiver and fill in with the best I can get elsewhere, as there are still a lot of holes on this team and we will be forced to play a lot of youngsters next year. NFL Minnesota 24 Arizona 23 Leaders Passing Al Welch 20-33-295 2 TD 2 Int Rushing Thomas Jones 12-40 Receiving Bryant Johnson 6-84 1 TD Defense Reynoch Thompson LB 9 Tackles Karlos Dansby LB 8 Tackles We had no sacks and were -3 in Turnovers and that spelled the difference in a game we lost on a 25 yd Josh Brown Field Goal as time expired. BYU Alumni None |
Week 4
BYU-Bye Leaders Passing Rushing Receiving Defense Recap We have some serious meetings about run defense and consider changing to a 4-6 Scheme, but in the end we stay with our 3-4, and hope we have made the necessary game plan adjustments for Air Force next week. I decide to make a change at QB and announce that Senior Morris Wright will get his first career start against Air force. In relief of Dwight Gatlin he is 20-25-346 4 TD 1 Int. I think the game still needs to slow down for our highly touted Freshman, and I don’t want to shatter his confidence this early. Injuries Glenn Klatt LB Herniated Disk out up to 6 Weeks Recruiting Visits Lester Miles OLB, Aliso Viejo, Ca 6’ 215 Overall #11 Position #1 Commits-None Miles visit is a shocker. I didn’t even offer him until last week, and did so then with reservations of wasting an invite. The number 1 Linebacker prospect in the whole country he would be a 4 year starter. Though we are his first visit he has been offered by Louisville, Nebraska, Texas and Texas A&M, with Miami also showing interest. It would be a coup to land him, but the competition is fierce. NFL New York Giants 33 Arizona 3 Leaders Passing Al Welch 10-25-82 0 TD 2 Int Rushing Thomas Jones 11-38 Receiving Antquan Boldin 3-32 Defense Adrian Wilson S 8 Tackles 2 assists Karlos Dansby LB 8 Tackles 1 assist Wow, Jim Mora could sum this one up nicely….We sucked!!!! 156 yards of Offense and -2 in the Turnover category again! The Defense played well early but wore down allowing New York to score on each of its final 5 possessions allowing drives of 7, 8, 8, 10, and 15 plays!! BYU Alumni None |
Week 5
BYU 36 Air Force 27 Leaders Passing Dwight Gatlin 18-24-294 3 TD 1 Int Rushing Marshall Reid 14-111 2 TD Receiving Curtis Blanchard 5-127 2 TD Marshall Reid 4-47 Defense Barry Wohlman DT 6 Tackles 2 assists 1 Sack AJ Foreman S 6 Tackles 3 Assists Harris Diaz LB 5 Tackles 4 Assists Recap I played a hunch and at the last minute decided to stick with the Freshman at QB. Gatlin responded with a big second half and led 2 Key scoring drives after Air Force had taken a 27-24 lead. The Defense made 2 huge plays as well late in the Game with DE Quentin Flowers forcing a Fumble on a sack of AF QB Jim Trout after BYU had taken a 30-27 lead. Following a 6 yard scoring pass from Gatlin to Blanchard, Safety Ron Watson sealed the win intercepting a Trout pass in the end zone, snuffing Air Forces last threat. 2 other Freshmen had big days on Defense as Barry Wohlman was a terror at Nose Guard and Harris Diaz tallied 9 total Tackles in his first start for injured Glen Klatt at Linebacker. We now move to 2-1, and more importantly win our conference opener against a solid Air Force squad on the road! Injuries Winston Smothers RB Broken Arm-Out up to 9 weeks Glenn Klatt LB Herniated Disk-Doubtful up to 5 weeks Recruiting Visits Donnie Newsome DE Downey, Ca 6’ 222 Overall #211 Position #22 Commits-None We lose several targeted recruits this week without so much as a sniff, but we are still the only School Stud LB Lester Miles has visited. Newsome would be a good catch as well, and on a side note he played at Warren High School in Downey, which is where I started my Football Coaching career, as pretty much a glorified Gopher back it 1987….oh how long ago that seems. NFL Arizona 31 Dallas 17 Leaders Passing Al Welch 16-34-149 1 TD 0 Int Rushing Thomas Jones 18-115 2 TD Receiving Antquan Boldin 7-98 1 TD Defense Adrian Wilson S 8 Tackles 2 assists 1 Int Karlos Dansby LB 3 Tackles 1 assist 2 Int Welch continues to be brutal and Ken Dorsey is looking better every week. Thankfully we got the running game going, and the Defense made some big plays as they force 5 turnovers to keep Dallas in a hole the entire Game. The Cardinals are off the snide now sitting at 1-4, last in the NFC West. Alumni None |
Week 6
BYU 38 Rutgers 31 OT Leaders Passing Dwight Gatlin 19-33-230 1 TD 1 Int Rushing Marshall Reid 17-83 2 TD Receiving Victor Steadman 6-118 Defense Bennie Vance CB 9 Tackles 2 assists 1 sack Ike Wohlman LB 8 Tackles 3 assists Ron Watson S 6 Tackles 10 assists Recap Suffering from the Flu, Gatlin starts slow and we fall behind 17-0, before punching one in right before the Half. We score on our first drive of the second half, and on Rutgers ensuing possession AJ Foreman picks off a Steve Crockett pass and goes 93 yards as the Cougars take their first lead. After a late Rutgers score to tie it at 31, we drive quickly into field goal range, and then poor clock management allows the game to end without an attempt. Fortunately we prevail in our second OT game of the year, scoring on Calvin Shaw’s 7 yard run on third and 2. We flush Rutgers QB Crockett out of the pocket on 4th down and stop him short of the Goal line to capture another road win. Ron Watson was everywhere in this game with an incredible 16 total Tackles. Next week we are home against a 2-2 Wyoming team who is coming off a 45-0 shellacking at the hands of UNLV. Neither of us can stop the run well, but at least we can score, a MWC leading 43 points a game thus far, but we give up 30!! Wyoming also gives up 30 plus, but the good news is they are only scoring 19.8. Injuries Winston Smothers RB Broken arm-Out 9 weeks Don Goodwin DE Torn Thumb Ligament-Doubtful 7 Weeks Glen Klatt LB Herniated Disk-Questionable 4 weeks Recruiting Visits-None Commits-None Miles has now tripped to Miami and I am worried if we don’t lock him up soon he will be gone. No other visits and we lose 3 other targeted prospects who commit to other Schools this week. I am hoping for more Visits next week or this years recruiting class could be rather weak. NFL Philadelphia 17 Arizona 14 Leaders Passing Ken Dorsey 20-34-227 1 TD 0 Int Rushing Thomas Jones 14-51 Receiving Anquan Boldin 5-63 Ricky Dudley 5-67 Defense Karlos Dansby LB 8 Tackles 4 assists 1 sack Adrian Wilson S 7 Tackles 4 assists Russell Davis DT 80 yd fumble return for a score We make the move to Dorsey and he plays fairly well, though we get in too many 3rd and longs, averaging 7.8 yards per occurrence. Though we convert a respectable 8 of 15, we fail in crucial situations. Add to this, Neil Rackers missing 3 field goals and another goes from the “we should have won” category, to yet another heartbreaking loss. That is why the Eagles are 5-0, and we are 1-5, good teams find a way to win. BYU Alumni None |
Week 7
BYU 31 Wyoming 27 Leaders Passing Dwight Gatlin 13-17-254 2 TD 2 Int Rushing Marshall Reid 11-101 2 TD Calvin Shaw 9-57 Receiving Victor Steadman 6-129 Defense Harris Diaz LB 13 Tackles 4 assists Ike Wohlman LB 8 Tackles 1 Assist Ron Watson S 6 Tackles 5 assists 1 Int Recap A win is a win, but we were totally dominated up front on Defense by long sustained drives. Wyoming ran 71 plays to our 46 and had a time of possession edge of over 15 minutes! They also had 4 drives of 8 plays or more and we had none. I like that fact we can strike quickly, but I would also like to control the ball a bit better. Reid has strung together some good performances and is averaging 6.7 YPG. The problem is he has just 62 carries in 5 games, I have to get him more involved. Harris Diaz was a Monster and is now our second leading tackler behind Ike Wohlman, despite only starting 3 games. Glenn Klatt has been cleared to play next week against San Diego State, but it will be as Diaz’ backup. The youngster is just too active on Defense to bench. We continue to reside in the top 10 in scoring at 40.1 PPG, but rank in the 70’s and 80’s in most defensive categories. We basically have the Wohlman Cousins, Diaz and Watson making plays for us, nobody else has been consistent. Injuries Winston Smothers RB Broken Arm-Out 9 weeks JC Isbell WR Torn Knee Cartilage-Out 9 weeks Don Goodwin DE Torn Thumb Ligament-Doubtful 9 weeks As mentioned Klatt is back at Linebacker, but I don’t see him starting again, unless it is next to Diaz at the other inside spot. Goodwin aggravated his Thumb against Wyoming, but he will still strap it up and go. Isbell was in rotation at receiver, but not a vital cog. Recruiting Visits Grady Orton QB 6’3 187 Lemoore, Ca Overall #7 Position #1 Commits-None Another Cali Boy comes in and he just happens to be the #1 QB prospect in the country. I have offered scores of players in the 500-1000 overall rating range, and not one has come to visit. Instead I have 2 of the top 11 players overall and a top 25 DE. They must see the opportunity to play for 4 years and if I can land either of the 2 Studs I will be overjoyed. NFL Seattle 17 Arizona 16 Leaders Passing Ken Dorsey 14-27-147 1 TD 3 Int Rushing Thomas Jones 16-48 Receiving Larry Fitzgerald 5-60 Defense Adrian Wilson S 9 Tackles 4 assists Austin Barden LB 5 Tackles 4 assists Wow, this team is Jekyll and Hyde. After decent outputs the last 2 games the Offense goes into the tank as we average just 3.6 yards a play. Adrian Wilson is really having a solid Season now leading the Team in Tackles. It is good to get Rookie Austin Barden back after limited playing time the last 3 weeks due to injury. We are drawing under 40,000 fans a game, easily last in the League. Support this bad is a long time in the making and we will need to fix it with smart player personnel moves. BYU Alumni None |
Week 8
San Diego St 27 BYU 24 Leaders Passing Dwight Gatlin 14-28-211 1 TD 1 Int Rushing Marshall Reid 13-94 1 TD Calvin Shaw 10-68 1 TD Receiving Jimmie Mueller 3-69 Defense Justin Watson LB 8 Tackles 1 Sack Benny Vance CB 6 Tackles 3 assists Ike Wohlman LB 6 Tackles 2 assists Recap Third down killed us today, as we only convert 1 of 10 opportunities. This totally negates our occasional big plays, and highlights the problem you will have with a young Quarterback, consistency. Fans on post game Radio shows wonder why we did not run the ball more when our 2 RB averaged 7.2 and 6.8 yards a carry. I have to agree and I talk to my OC Adam Clark about letting the Horses run behind our experienced Line. Defensively we were not bad, but failed to make key stops late in the game. The Aztec's kicker not nailed a 57 yd Field goal with under 4 minutes left for the win. We then go 3 and out and again our Defense wilts at the end, allowing San Diego St to run off a 9 play drive and run out the clock. Injuries Winston Smothers RB Broken Arm-Out 8 weeks JC Isbell WR Torn Knee Cartilage-Out 8 weeks Don Goodwin DE Torn Thumb Ligament-Doubtful 8 weeks Edgar Brady LB stretched Knee Ligament-Doubtful 8 weeks Recruiting Visits Bennie Rayburn QB Camillus, NY 6’3 197 Overall #21 Position #4 Julio Fredrickson RB Sparks, NV 6’ 197 Overall #28 Position #4 Kendrick McGee RB Berthoud, CO 6’1 204 Overall #266 #18 Gus Cerny TE Tooele, UT 6’3 203 Overall #793 Position #26 Pete Rose WR Downers Grove, IL 6’4 211 Overall #206 Position #8 Emmanuel Ogden WR Pendleton, OR 6’1 190 Overall #322 Position #20 Ellis Baxter C Fallbrook, CA 6’1 245 Overall #126 Position #13 Craig Oliver G Dover, DE 6’2 268 Overall #345 Position #30 Richie Conover G Hayesville, NC 6’4 263 Overall #140 Position #10 Chester Guerra G Owyhee, NV 6’3 283 Overall #209 Position #17 Wade Such DT Brownsville, TX 6’1 250 Overall #375 Position #17 Wendell Thompson CB Rio Hondo, TX 5’11 169 Overall 191 Position #15 Bryant Bruce S Salt Lake City, UT 6’ 180 Overall 789 Position #46 Commits Bennie Rayburn QB Camillus, NY 6’3 197 Overall #21 Position #4 Holy Frequent Flier miles, we have 13 visits in one weekend!! Campus services is busier than Wal-mart the day after Thanksgiving, and Local Buffet owners are worried about Pot Roast shortages with all the recruits in town. We actually had 16 visits scheduled but 3 cancelled as they committed elsewhere. Among them high priority recruit Tom Longmate T from New Jersey. A huge surprise is the commit of Bennie Rayburn, who tells us he will be a Cougar before the end of his Visit. The only reason he was recruited is that the brother of Longmate’s High School coach was Rayburn’s Coach and mentioned he was interested in coming west. He is a great pickup, and will be groomed as a possible replacement to Gatlin in 3 Years. I decide to still pursue Orton as you can never have enough arms in this offense, though Rayburn’s commit makes the likely hood of getting him unlikely. NFL Washington 26 Arizona 20 Leaders Passing Ken Dorsey 20-30-217 0 TD 1 Int Rushing Thomas Jones 11-76 Receiving Ricky Dudley 5-73 Defense Karlos Dansby LB 9 Tackles 2 assists 1 Int Austin Barden LB 8 Tackles 4 assists In front of a half empty Stadium we take a 17-10 lead into the fourth, before allowing Washington to take a 20-17 lead. Racker’s hits a 39 yd Field Goal with 3 seconds left for the Tie, but Washington strings a 10 play 60 yard drive together on their first possession of OT to take the win. All in all we allowed 4 drives of 10 plays or more and predictably incurred a 13 plus minute deficit in time of possession. We need to sustain more drives, and will take the upcoming Bye week to evaluate things and bask in the glory of a 1-7 start. BYU Alumni None |
Week 9
Notre Dame 45 BYU 14 Leaders Passing Dwight Gatlin 7-23-51 0 TD 1 Int Sacked 9 times!!! Rushing Marshall Reid 13-55 Receiving Curtis Blanchard 2-36 Defense Ike Wohlman LB 8 Tackles 4 assists 2 Int, both returned for TD Barry Wohlman 6 Tackles 1 assist 1 sack Harris Diaz LB 4 Tackles 5 assists Recap 51 total yards on 50 plays, we were one of the best Offenses in the nation and Notre Dame just crushed us!!! If not for Wohlman returning picks 79 and 97 yards we would never have sniffed the end zone. Gatlin is horrible and I leave him in despite the chanting mob calling for Morris Wright. This is the second year in a row Notre Dame has owned and humiliated us, but I want to keep them on the Schedule as this type of opponent is vital to gauge our progress against and raise our prestige. No academic problems to speak of and I assign some time blocks as preventative action. The Alumni are still not happy, but the community support is still good and the Students have been phenomenal. UNLV comes in at 3-3 next week, and we are tied with them for second place in the MWC at 2-1. Our hated rival Utah, or the school up North as they should be referred to, is 4-0 and nobody has come close to them in conference play. Injuries Winston Smothers RB Broken Arm-Out 8 weeks JC Isbell WR Torn Knee Cartilage-Out 6 weeks Don Goodwin DE Torn Thumb Ligament-Doubtful 7 weeks Edgar Brady LB stretched Knee Ligament-Doubtful 7 weeks We have not been seriously hurt in this area as only one pre-Season starter has missed time and we actually improved at the position (LB) when he went down. Recruiting Visits-None Commits Julio Fredrickson RB Sparks, NV 6’ 197 Overall #28 Position #4 Pete Rose WR Downers Grove, IL 6’4 211 Overall #206 Position #8 Ellis Baxter C Fallbrook, CA 6’1 245 Overall #126 Position #13 We score some solid commits, getting Fredrickson who is ranked as the #2 Back in the West and will contribute early. As suspected we lose Orton to UCLA who will have a chance to start early on a powerhouse. Rose will help and could potentially be the big play receiver we need and Baxter should also contribute by his Junior year. No new visits and we lose lots of recruits. With many holes to fill we will have to resort to plan B at many positions. NFL Bye No news is good news here as Arizona limps into the second half of the Season. Leaders Passing Rushing Receiving Defense Alumni None |
YES ! a BYU dynastie !!!
GREAT !! (I am a BYU fan as well in College football, glad to see I'm not alone !) ...however, I support the 49ers in the pros ;-) |
Welcome to the Dynasty Darkiller, another Cougar fan to share my misery :) The last 3 Seasons have been tough in RL, but I hope they give Crowton one more year to turn it around.......I still believe he can do it.
I am actually a Viking fan but since I live in Phoenix now, gotta give some love to the locals...... |
Week 10
BYU 41 UNLV 30 Leaders Passing Dwight Gatlin 20-31-250 2 TD 0 Int Rushing Marshall Reid 22-96 2 TD Receiving Marshall Reid 5-63 Bennie Horton 4-58 2 TD Defense Harris Diaz LB 9 Tackles 2 assists Alvin Fletcher CB 2 Tackles 0 assists 2 Int 1 TD Recap On a day when my Defense spent too much time making UNLV QB Lewis Gantry look like the second coming of Peyton Manning, it was finally a pair of reserves that pulled the game from the fire. First, down 30-27 LB Justin Watson jarred the ball loose from a scrambling Gantry and backup DT Fred Blackburn fell on the ball. Two plays later Gatlin found Bennie Horton with a 30 yard rope down the sideline for the go ahead score. Back came UNLV, for what looked like another late game stealing drive when reserve CB Alvin Fletcher stepped in front of UNLV’s Lamont Duffy, snatching the rock and taking it 76 yards to pay dirt! On the ensuing drive he did it again, sealing the deal and allowing Marshall Reid to run out the clock. On the offensive side, OC Adam Clark responded to our “talk” by getting the ball to Reid more and also placing more emphasis on the short passing game. I like the results as Gatlin takes what he is given for the most part and has some moments where he develops a nice rhythm. There is still some inconsistency however as our first 3 drives of the second half end 3 and out, due mainly to Gatlin’s errant passing. Still we manage a slight time of possession edge and I am happy overall. Utah stops Air Force to remain unbeaten in League play, with our win we now hold second place alone. We travel to New Mexico next week to face the 2-6 Lobos, whose only league win is against San Diego St, the only MWC team we have lost thus far. We will be favored but I am still worried. Injuries Winston Smothers RB Broken Arm-Out JC Isbell WR Torn Knee Cartilage-Doubtful 3 other injuries but all are probable to play next week Recruiting Visits Dale Becker LB Collinsville, Il 6’1 211 Overall UR Position #69 Archie Castillo G Orlando, Fl 6’5 289 Overall #452 Position #35 Kyle Harding T Macon, GA 6’4 256 Overall #704 Position #65 Arnold Wooden DE Lone Peak Ut, 6’2 234 Overall #765 Position #85 Commits Gus Cerny TE Tooele, UT 6’3 203 Overall #793 Position #26 Chester Guerra G Owyhee, NV 6’3 283 Overall #209 Position #17 Donnie Newsome DE Downey, Ca 6’ 222 Overall #211 Position #22 Dale Becker LB Collinsville, Il 6’1 211 Overall UR Position #69 3 of the 4 commits are really solid and help us down the road, I really like what Guerra brings to the table as he is already 283 and a punishing run blocker. Becker is a late recruit and couldn’t be happier, committing before he even arrives for his visit. He could be a sleeper. The news is not all good however as we lose our most coveted recruit, Lester miles, again to UCLA. The Bruins are putting together the top class in the country and I will be interested to see how good they are in a couple of years. We still have 8 schollies to give and it is getting late. NFL St Louis 27 Arizona 17 Leaders Passing Ken Dorsey 22-35-214 1 TD 2 Int Rushing Thomas Jones 12-54 Receiving Anquan Boldin 7-54 Larry Fitzgerald 6-59 1 TD Defense Adrian Wilson 7 Tackles 4 assists Bertrand Berry 6 Tackles 1 sack Austin Barden 5 Tackles 3 assists More of the same, we lead 17-7 at the half and then give up 17 unanswered points in the second half to give the game away. We cross mid field only one time in the second half before our final drive. With 46 Seconds left we get the Ball at the St Louis 46 after a 14 yard punt return by Boldin. 4 Plays and 8 yards later, game over. Alumni None Next year as we get some alumni in the league hopefully, I will begin to move my focus to them, the recaps of the Cardinals games are just pretty much space fillers right now. |
Week 11 **I lost some data that wasn’t saved, this is the reason for some of the recruiting shifts. Luckily not too much damage was done
New Mexico 17 BYU 10 Current Record-Overall 5-4 Mountain West 3-2 Leaders Passing Dwight Gatlin 15-36-190 0 TD 1 Int Rushing Marshall Reid 19-127 Receiving Curtis Blanchard 4-62 Defense Ron Watson S 8 Tackles 1 assist Harris Diaz LB 7 Tackles 3 assists Recap Gatlin is inconsistent again and he misses several wide open targets and throws an interception in the end zone on the potential tying Touchdown drive. I have been under pressure all Season whenever Gatlin does not perform, and this week should be no different. Coincidentally Back up QB Morris Wright is the 3rd in his family to play for BYU and his Father is one of the loudest alumni. Regardless of the complaints Gatlin’s inconsistency is starting to irk me and I will probably start the Senior next week. We need a win to become Bowl eligible and Utah will be tough, so it better come next week against Colorado State. The Defense played well this week at New Mexico only got 2 more total yards than we did, the difference was we turned it over twice and the Lobo’s took care of it. Harris Diaz has really impressed this year since stepping in for an injured Glenn Klatt in game 3. He now leads the team with 58 Tackles (16 for loss) 20 assists, 1 sack, and 2 forced fumbles. Injuries Bennie Vance CB-Out Sprained Back Winston Smothers RB-Out Broken Arm Mack Emerson TE-Out Torn Knee ligaments Don Goodwin DE-Doubtful Torn Thumb ligaments JC Isbell WR-Doubtful Torn Knee cartilage Recruiting Visits Craig Oliver G Dover, DE 6’2 268 Overall #345 Position #30 Hugh Horton G Temperance, MI 6’4 283 Overall UR Position #96 CJ Nixon G Ripley, MS 6’3 256 Overall UR Position UR Herb Wong LB Paxton, FL 6’2 208 Overall UR Position #73 Commits Tom Longmate T Little Silver, NJ 6’3 277 Overall #50 Position #3 Wade Such DT Brownsville, TX 6’1 250 Overall #375 Position #17 Leland Fletcher WR Golden, CO 6’ 175 Overall #405 Position #26 Darrin Shields LB Fontana, CA 6’ 208 Overall #293 Position #23 Roderick Jamison LB Boulder CO 6’5 220 Overall #552 Position #36 Corey Sampson LB Layton, UT 5’10 193 Overall UR Position UR We get some great news as Tackle Tom Longmate, after calling Bennie Rayburn Decommits from Syracuse and becomes a Cougar, this is huge for our O-line next year and he may be a 4 year starter!! Landing 3 Linebackers help shore up a area where depth is badly needed, all look decent enough and if they work hard may all contribute at some point in their careers. Fletcher gives us another solid threat at WR along with Rose, though he needs to sharpen his routes if he expects to play early on. It wasn’t all good news though as Chester Guerra decommits, saying he has thought it through and wants to stay closer to home. He will be suiting up for MWC rival UNLV next year. We wish him well. NFL Arizona 20 San Francisco 10 Leaders Passing Ken Dorsey 16-26-167 1 TD 3 Int Rushing Thomas Jones 14-51 1 TD Receiving Larry Fitzgerald 4-43 Anquan Boldin 3-26 1 TD Defense Raynoch Thompson LB 11 Tackles 2 assists Austin Barden LB 10 Tackles 1 forced Fumble Adrian Wilson S 8 Tackles 4 assists 1 forced Fumble Our young Linebackers wreak havoc as Thompson and Barden combine for 23 total tackles between them. Wilson has his usual solid game and one of the top Safeties in the League at supporting the run. Though Dorsey does his best to keep the 49ers in the game we jump to a 20-7 halftime lead and hold on for win #2 BYU Alumni Donny Davison LB Miami Dolphins Opp NY Jets W 30-10 Started-4 Tackles 0 assists Davison was drafted by us and released after training Camp. The Dolphins signed him after injuries to Seau and Arrington and he gets his first NFL start a week later, at last a Cougar to follow. |
Week 12
BYU 28 Colorado St 14 Record Overall 6-4 Mountain West 4-2 Leaders Passing Morris Wright 14-26-146 2 TD 1 Int Rushing Marshall Reid 25-134 Receiving Marshall Reid 4-20 Curtis Blanchard 2-54 1 TD Defense Ike Wohlman LB 9 Tackles 2 assists Edgar Brady LB 8 Tackles Ron Watson S 6 Tackles 1 Int Recap AJ Foreman S (88 yds) and Jerry Prior DE (69 yds) both return Interceptions for Touchdowns, as our Defense is our best Offense. Prior’s pick starts the scoring and Foreman’s gives us our first lead since that point after we entered the 4th quarter down 14-7. I decide to go with the Senior Wright at QB, and as good as he has looked in relief he is not spectacular in his first start. Still, he did not do anything to lose the game so he will get to keep the job for our rivalry game against the team up North. We are now bowl eligible and with only 2 other MWC schools being able to claim this currently, we are in good shape as the MWC has 3 tie ins. Wyoming is the only other school that can become Bowl eligible if they win out. Injuries Bennie Vance CB-Out Sprained Back Winston Smothers RB-Out Broken Arm Mack Emerson TE-Out Torn Knee ligaments Don Goodwin DE-Doubtful Torn Thumb ligaments JC Isbell WR-Doubtful Torn Knee cartilage Recruiting Visits Mel Lewis CB San Jose, CA 5’11 168 Overall UR Position 94 Julio Anthony CB Tooele, UT 6’ 160 Overall UR Position UR Commits CJ Nixon G Ripley, MS 6’3 256 Overall UR Position UR Herb Wong LB Paxton, FL 6’2 208 Overall UR Position #73 Two commits who will probably be no more than backups, now we are just looking for depth, 2 more slots open and I am looking for another Guard, a CB or Safety. I will take the first 2 positions to commit. NFL Jacksonville 20 Arizona 10 Leaders Passing Ken Dorsey 9-34-100 0 TD 2 Int Rushing Thomas Jones 15-76 Marcel Shipp 7-39 1 TD Receiving Shaun LeFavor 4-30 Defense Raynoch Thompson LB 10 Tackles 2 assists 1.5 Sacks Russell Davis DT 7 Tackles 2 assists BYU Alumni Donny Davison LB Miami Opponent Carolina L 13-21 Did not Start-1 Tackle 1 Assist |
Rivalry week is upon us and Utah stands between us and our pre-Season goal of 7-4. It would be all the sweeter to achieve this mark with a win over them. They have already locked the MWC conference crown up with a 6-0 League record behind their own Freshman QB, a Redshirt Gunslinger named Rodney Dostie. It could be a good 3 year rivalry between him and Gatlin if both mature and develop. I say 3 years because I am sticking with the Senior Morris Wright, much to the delight of his Father Archibald. I can hear the Elder Wright now at the Cougar Club luncheons, "if only he had put my boy in earlier, we would be playing for the MWC title this week, we would at least be 7-3 right now, maybe 8-2!!".......blah, blah, blah!! Parents never change :)
Looking forward to the off Season I think Ike Wohlman has a shot to repeat as 1st team all MWC LB, also both JC Foreman S and Barry Wohlman DT are the front runners for Defensive Freshman of the year, while I think Gatlin has a shot at the offensive honors in this category. I was real happy with the play of our young guys overall, add Harris Diaz and 3 true Freshmen played a big role on D. At least 1 of our Lineman should also be recognized on the MWC first or second team. Regardless of what happens this weekend I think we have made great strides. I am already worried about next year on the O-Line though. We will be real young and real inexperienced up front. Our veteran line made our skill kids look better then they were on occasion this Year. Next Season that luxury will be sorely missed!! |
Week 13
Utah 35 BYU 27 Record Overall 6-5 Mountain West 4-3 Leaders Passing Morris Wright 20-33-305 3 TD 0 Int Rushing Marshall Reid 15-48 Receiving Jimmie Mueller 7-151 1 TD Curtis Blanchard 5-92 2 TD Defense Barry Wohlman DT 10 Tackles 2 assists Ike Wohlman LB 7 Tackles 1 assist Ron Watson S 6 Tackles 3 assists Recap This was all a rivalry game should be, we held a 10-7 lead late in the second quarter, then gave up a late TD, and spent the rest of the day playing catch up, never closer then 1, never further behind then 8. Wright played probably our best quarterbacked game of the year and my heart goes out to him. He has always remained supportive and positive throughout the QB controversy and played his ass off today. Both teams played crisp turnover free ball, and the difference was the Ute’s ability to sustain the run, while we could not. JT Blubaum led the way for the team up North ripping off 138 yards on 30 carries and scoring 3 TDs. Marshall Reid meanwhile was swarmed and held to his lowest YPC average of the year. On Defense the Wohlman cousins played like animals, especially the Freshman Barry, 12 total tackles by a Nose Guard!!!! We finish 6-5 and should still score a bowl regardless of what Wyoming does since we beat them head to head. Injuries Harris Diaz LB-Out sprained Back Mack Emerson TE-Out Torn Knee ligament Winston Smothers RB-Out Broken Arm Bennie Vance CB-Out sprained Back JC Isbell WR-Doubtful Torn Knee cartilage The Diaz injury hurts, hopefully he will be OK for a Bowl game if we get one...If not, our ability to stop the run could be impeded, as it was against Utah! Recruiting Visits None Commits Mel Lewis CB San Jose, CA 5’11 168 Overall UR Position 94 We have 1 schollie left and it is reserved for Salt Lake City Skylines own Bruce Bryant, an All-State player ranked 5th overall among all players in Utah and 46th nationally at his Position. Come be a Cougar B Bryant!! NFL Atlanta 21 Arizona 11 Leaders Passing Ken Dorsey 18-31-168 0 TD 0 Int Rushing Thomas Jones 11-39 Receiving Larry Fitzgerald 8-62 Defense Adrian Wilson S 13 Tackles 3 assists 1 forced Fumble Raynoch Thompson 10 Tackles Sammy Knight S 8 Tackles 2 assists I think our Safeties making 26 total tackles between them sums up this game fairly well. Michael Vick looked like Joe Montana…….with just a tad more speed, and even the Peanut vendors ran for a few yards, Atlanta totaled 180 on the ground and it is amazing they only scored 21. Our only score came after Ken Dorsey was pulled, Al Welch completed a pass….his only completion to Anquan for a 33 yard score with 14 seconds left. We need serious help, under Center, at CB, and some Linebackers who will keep our safeties a bit cleaner…..is it April yet??? Alumni Donnie Davison LB Miami Opponent Cincinnati W 19-17 Did not Start-0 Tackles 1 assist Limited time but at least Donnie is getting to taste his 15 minutes, his career will probably by fairly short, but he sure was a stud at the Y. |
Weeks 14-16
No Games Record Overall 6-5 Mountain West 4-3 Bowl Game-Citrus Bowl Week 17 Vs Notre Dame A chance to revenge a Week 9 Pummeling against the Fighting Irish, though I will be hard pressed to find a way to make up a 31 point difference. I Will give the Bowl start to the Senior Wright, and hope he plays like he did against Utah. We need to find a way to shut down the Irish QB Walt Benson. He riddled our secondary like they were plastic cones playing defense hitting 20-22 for 289 yards and 3 Touchdowns….Hell maybe I will try plastic cones instead next week. I would really like to finish at least competitive, hopefully with a tough win and some momentum for next year, when a realistic goal should be to challenge Utah for MWC supremacy. Injuries At this time we are still looking at being without TE Mack Emerson and LB Harris Diaz. Diaz as mentioned earlier would really hurt us. DE Goodwin, RB Smothers and WR Isbell are all still doubtful but will be ready to go as it is the last game of the Year. I hope that somehow Diaz is cleared for the game. Recruiting We got our final commit in S Bryant Bruce, he will provide some depth and may actually see some time as we will look to shore up the secondary next year. Our complete class is listed below. 2005 Recruits Position Overall Rank Position Rank Bennie Rayburn QB 21 4 Julio Fredrickson RB 28 4 Gus Cerny TE 793 26 Pete Rose WR 206 8 Leland Fletcher WR 405 26 Ellis Baxter C 126 13 CJ Nixon G UR UR Tom Longmate T 50 3 Donnie Newsome DE 211 22 Wade Such DT 375 17 Darrin Shields ILB 293 23 Roderick Jamison ILB 552 36 Herb Wong OLB UR 73 Corey Sampson OLB UR UR Mel Lewis CB UR 94 Bryant Bruce S 789 46 Amazingly Rose, Baxter and Shields all make the All-Country team which is an incredible number for one school to land, and only Rose is in the top 10 in the country at his position. Hopefully they will all pan out as worthy of this recognition in College. UCLA and Marshall each land 2 from this list as well. NFL The Cardinals win 2 of 3 primarily on the strength of Neil Racker’s foot as he boots 4 field goals each in wins over Seattle 19-0 and Houston 19-10. The defense plays equally well in a 17-15 loss to Tennessee when Thomas Jones was stopped at the 1 on a 2 pt conversion try with no time on the Clock. We are now 4-11 and if we can upgrade the Offense in the off Season can easily shoot for a 9 win Season next year. BYU Alumni Donnie Davison LB Miami Moved to inactive Roster week 14 Davison is no longer needed as LaVarr Arrington returns to reclaim his job. The Dolphins keep Cedric Shello, an undrafted free agent to back him up and Davison spends the rest of the year on the practice Squad. Hopefully a good camp will allow him to stay around next Season. |
Week 17 Citrus Bowl
Notre Dame 52 BYU 27 Record: Overall 6-6 Mountain West 4-3 Leaders Passing Morris Wright 17-36-207 1 TD 2 Int Rushing Marshall Reid 17-159 1 TD Receiving Marshall Reid 6-32 Jimmie Mueller 4-80 Defense Ron Watson S 8 Tackles 1 assist Hunter Diaz LB 6 Tackles 4 assists Justin Watson LB 4 Tackles 1 assist 2 sacks 2 Int Recap It was a completely different story from our regular Season meeting……for the first 3 ½ Quarters. We jumped up on a shall shocked Irish Team 21-7 as Marshall Reid picked up a Morris Wright Fumble and took it in from 16 yds out to start the scoring. After a turnover led to a Wright to Isbell scoring strike, Notre Dame came back to pull within 7. As time would down in the first quarter Reid ran off tackle, broke from the grasp of a defender and bolted 89 yds to regain a 2 Touchdown lead and the crowd smelled upset. The smell turned out to be nothing more than burnt Bratwurst from the Tailgating though, as Notre Dame regained their composure and fought back for a 24-21 Halftime lead. The teams fought on even ground through the third and early in fourth, then with the score 31-27, the Irish scored 21 straight points in the last 6 minutes to turn the game into a laugher. Still it was a hard fought game and the improvement over the first time we met the Irish is something to build on. Watson had a sick game on Defense and Marshall Reid’s performance earned him MVP honors, despite being on the losing team…..a true rarity. Injuries TE Mack Emerson, suffering from a Knee injury, was the only one who missed the game. We ended the game with no new Injuries and everyone should be healthy for Spring Ball (Which is a feature the next TCY really needs) Recruiting In case you missed it I will again list our 2005 Class 2005 Recruits…..Position….Overall Rank….Position Rank Bennie Rayburn……..QB……………21……………4 Julio Fredrickson……RB……………28……………4 Gus Cerny…………...TE……………793………….26 Pete Rose……………WR…………...206………….8 Leland Fletcher……..WR……………405………… 26 Ellis Baxter…………. C……………..126…………. 13 CJ Nixon…………….G……………..UR…………..UR Tom Longmate………T……………..50……………3 Donnie Newsome……DE…………...211………….22 Wade Such…………..DT…………....375………….17 Darrin Shields……….ILB…………...293………….23 Roderick Jamison……ILB…………..552…………..36 Herb Wong…………. OLB………….UR…………..73 Corey Sampson……...OLB…………UR…………..UR Mel Lewis…………...CB…………...UR…………. 94 Bryant Bruce………...S……………..789…………. 46 Rayburn will Redshirt unless we do not see measurable improvement in Gatlin. Fredrickson, Rose, Longmate and Newsome will all compete for PT as true Freshman, as we are still lacking quality depth. Everyone else should redshirt. NFL St Louis 30 Arizona 24 OT Record 4-12 Leaders Passing Ken Dorsey 16-27-186 1 TD 2 Int Rushing Thomas Jones 16-48 1 TD Marcel Shipp 10-52 1 TD Receiving Anquan Boldin 6-75 1 TD Defense Adrian Wilson S 13 Tackles 4 assists 2 forced fumbles Austin Barden LB 10 Tackles 3 assists Well, we mercifully end a frustrating Season with a stellar performance against the 11-5, division winning Rams. Again very few bright spots on Offense, but Wilson plays a killer game on D, and better get some recognition this off Season, he was by far our most consistent player this year. Quarterback killed us this year and we need help, it will by the #1 off Season priority. Alumni Donnie Davison LB Miami Opponent New England L 24-31 Inactive |
Post Season Awards Curtis Blanchard WR 1st team all MWC Ike Wohlman LB 1st Team all MWC Ron Watson S 1st Team all MWC Marshall Reid RB 2nd Team all MWC Calvin Berkebile K 2nd Team all MWC Justin Watson LB 2nd Team all MWC Edgar Brady LB 2nd Team all MWC Curtis O’Donnell CB 2nd Team all MWC Academic All-Americans Harvey Ashraf P Academic All-MWC Dwight Gatlin QB Curtis Blanchard WR Morris Doherty WR Harvey Ashraf P Harris Diaz LB Harvey Geary LB A decent award showing, a little disappointed none of my Freshman were honored, I probably hurt Gatlin benching him later in the year. Very surprised Justin Watson was 2nd Team all MWC at LB and Harris Diaz got nothing…..his stats were much better. Team Rankings Academics 30th Recruiting 20th TV Revenue 53rd Ticket Revenue 40th Donations 71st GPA 2.89 (5th) Attendance 55,900 (31st)
NFL
Post Season Awards Austin Barden LB Defensive Rookie of the Year Rick DeMulling G All League 1st Team Disappointed that Wilson got no love at the Safety spot, probably due to his less than glamorous Pass coverage stats, but he was hell against the Run. Very happy with Barden, he will be a leader on the Defense for years to come. Superbowl Philadelphia 33 Indianapolis 28 |
Off Season 2006
Player issues I sit in my overstuffed Chair staring into eyes, that won’t even climb from the mahogany surface of my desk to meet my gaze directly. Junior DT Mario Doyle, a rags to riches walk on, who would have been Barry Wohlman’s primary backup, and more importantly was in line to be granted a Scholarship, is sullen. He was caught accepting Money from a Booster and will now pay by sitting on the Sidelines this Season, not even allowed to practice with the team. I advise him that, as he has not used a Red shirt year, he will have 2 years of eligibility left when he returns, but he will not get the Scholarship until he has shown his commitment to the team. If he meets the requirements set before him the Schollie will be waiting at the start of 2007. So often Kids will leave a School over this, already this week Running Back Alonzo Sullivan, suspended last Season due to grades has transferred to division 3 Wabash, he was not pegged as a top 3 player, so it makes sense for him. We have another Academic casualty this Season as well as Safety Irv Matney will serve a suspension for the 2006 Season. He appeared in 9 games last year and would have been a rotation player this Season. Hopefully he sticks around as well as gets his grades up. Incoming recruits The following Recruits will compete for playing time as true Freshman, or be relied upon to provide depth. Those marked by a * are projected starters coming out of Spring Ball. Gus Cerny TE * Leland Fletcher WR * CJ Nixon G Randall Burnside G (Walk on) Corey Sampson LB Bryant Bruce S Redshirts Bennie Rayburn QB Julio Fredrickson RB Pete Rose WR Ellis Baxter C Tom Longmate T Donnie Newsome DE Wade Such DT Roderick Jamison LB Darrin Shields LB Herb Wong LB Mel Lewis CB Staff Syndicate coordinator Lenny Bradford has retired, he was a good one and will be missed. We hire Kim Ekuban who is VG/Terrible/Good , we will have to avoid syndicate violations Everyone else is back and I am content with the staff for now. Schedule No open spots to fill NFL Free Agency Signed Jeff Garcia QB 4 years 20.1 million Dominick Davis RB 2 years 1.94 million Chester Pitts T 2 years 3.1 million Nat Dorsey T 2 years 1.1 million Derrick Burgess DE 2 years 2.16 million Dan Wilkinson DT 2 years 2.36 million Morlon Greenwood 3 years 3.2 million Lito Sheppard CB 2 years 1.35 million Resigned Ricky Dudley TE 1 year 870 K Demetric Evans DE 1 year 620 K Key Losses Neil Rackers K Russell Davis DT Draft 1(5) Nick Schokora DT Nebraska 1(6) Walter Burnside CD Northwestern 2(6) Frankie Quintaro T Wisconsin 3-None 4 (6) Richie Cullen LB Boston College 5 (6) Donny Bode K North Texas 6 (6) Brendan Newman FB Colorado 7 (1) Bennie Frierson LB Virginia 7 (6) Wally Glenn QB Stanford Draft Grade B Burnside and Schokora will start and Bode will take over the kicking duties for the departed Neil Rackers. A decent draft in which we addressed most needs. Undrafted Free Agents Jay Eloms CB Iowa Deon Withrow RB Colorado Julio Shepard C Iowa St Ike Wohlman LB BYU Wille Godfrey G BYU We get your couple of BYU alumni, Wohlman was not impressive at the combines and does not look like a solid prospect, but we will give him shot. BYU Alumni Donny Davison LB-Released by Miami |
We get ready for the start of the 2006 Season with a combination of hope and intrepidation. Utah will again be favored in the pre-Season MWC poll and Air force should be tough again too. After that it should be a dog fight with us, San Diego St, CSU and UNLV all fighting to climb into a contenders spot. New Mexico and Wyoming should bring up the rear, though the Cowboys came off a great Season for them, I would be surprised if they approached their former success. Pre-Season depth chart and scouting report up next. Also this Season I will drop the Cardinal updates and replace it with more from the MWC, including standings and game results. From the NFL I will only post weekly scores and the happenings involving BYU Alumni, which should still be pretty sparse this year :(
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2006 BYU Preseason Report
Preseason Rank Mountain West Rank: Roster/Depth Chart
Rayburn did not progress as hoped in Spring Ball so he will redshirt. This leaves 2 Walk-on players as backups to Gatlin, hopefully he will stay healthy. Gatlin is still somewhat raw but should be improved and ready with a year under his belt, if a young O-line can hold up.
Stoddard beats out true frosh Julio Fredrickson, who will now redshirt as well. Depth is pretty good here with Smothers returning from injury and Shaw who saw action as a true Freshman.
They see very little time so they will be expected to keep their grades up and be demons on Special teams.
Not a strength as numbers 3-5 on the depth chart are walk-ons. Cerny gains the nod as a true Freshman but Joseph will see a lot of time as Cerny develops
Things are looking up in the receiving corp. Only 1 returning starter in Mueller but there is talent among the youngsters, especially redshirt freshman Ellis Hitchcock. Fletcher worked hard on his routes and upstaged the more heavily recruited Pete Rose. Three potentially solid starters here, as Mueller plays beyond his skills.
This is a MAJOR concern as youth and inexperience are the order of the day. The five projected starters have a grand total of 2 College starts between them and the 2 best prospects are too raw to contribute and will redshirt this Season. Gatlin will be facing a lot of pressure and our talented backs may find the going tough early on.
Special teams will be solid, though not spectacular and this is important as these guys could make a difference in close games.
An area of strength with all 3 starters back, with the ends both starters for the third year. Wohlman got 6 sacks from his NG position and will be relied upon heavily to plug the inside gaps and absorb double teams on passing plays. Both Redshirts have potential and will contribute down the road.
We should be tough to run on between tackles with Watson and Diaz back, and our two Freshman show a ton of upside. On the edges 2 first year starters step up and Meehan is a walk-on who will earn a scholarship if he holds onto the job. He is a hard nosed player who works as hard as anyone, while Diaz should contend for all League honors.
Another area lacking quality depth. Tinker and Foreman return but neither has shown sustained greatness, though Foreman has that potential and Bruce could make some noise by Seasons end. Players to watch Dwight Gatlin QB Daniel Stoddard RB Winfred Benson C Barry Wohlman DT Harris Diaz LB Harvey Geary LB AJ Foreman S Top Newcomers Gus Cerny TE Ellis Hitchcock WR Leland Fletcher WR Bryant Bruce S 2006 Schedule
Outlook We could still be a year away from contending for a Conference Championship, as there is a lot of inexperience on the Offensive side of the ball and Gatlin is not ready to carry the team at this stage. Our defense should keep us in games against teams we match up with well, and the key will be to play solid special teams and not shoot ourselves in the foot with turnovers and penalties. A 7-4 record and another Bowl would be a success and set us up well for a MWC title run next year. BYU Alumni Donnie Davison LB: Exp 2-Unsigned Free Agent Ike Wohlman LB Arizona: Exp R-Active Backup SLB Luther Blake WR Arizona: Exp 2-Practice Squad Willie Godfrey G Arizona: Exp R-Practice Squad The few, the proud, and mostly inactive. Davison may not be long for the Game if he is not picked up soon, as his Father in-Law has a nice position waiting in his Real Estate business back in Provo. Wohlman is the only alumni on an active roster and is there solely on his work ethic, backing up Raynoch Thompson at the Strong side LB position, he could see some time unless the Cardinals can find a better option. |
2006 Week 2 (We had a bye in Week 1)
Arizona 27 BYU 24 OT Record Overall 0-1 Mountain West 0-0 Leaders Passing Dwight Gatlin 21-26-289 1 TD 1 Int Rushing Daniel Stoddard 22-68 1 TD Receiving Ellis Hitchcock 9-176 Defense Harris Diaz LB 8 tackles 3 assists Derek Perry S 6 tackles 3 assists Justin Watson LB 4 tackles 2 assists 1 sack, 1 Int Recap Positives and negatives come with this OT loss to U of A. Gatlin looked sharp and Ellis Hitchcock will be a stud, besides his 9 catches he returned a punt for 80 yards and a TD, this kid is a game breaker! The running game was not what it could and hopefully will be later in the year and we gave up 8 sacks which makes it difficult to sustain drives. I was worried about the O-Line and this game totally justified those fears, hopefully experience will allow them to gel. On Defense we were effective against the pass but were inconsistent against the run, and just couldn’t make the big play. A sack in OT forced us to kick a Field goal and Arizona scored a Touchdown in 2 plays to get the W. Injuries Irv Fletcher T Out-Arthroscopic Knee surgery. This hurts as he was our only lineman with a start prior to this Season, the good news is he could be back in only 3 weeks. Recruiting Visits None Commits None We recruit as follows this year. 1 QB, 1 RB, 1 TE, 1 WR, 0 C, 2 G, 1 T, 1 P, 1 K, 1 DE 0 DT, 2 ILB, 1 OLB, 1 CB and 1 S Mountain West Scoreboard Utah 35 Utah State 14 Wyoming 37 Kansas 31 Wake Forest 27 Air Force 20 Colorado State 13 Cornell 3 Arizona 27 BYU 24 Michigan 59 New Mexico 3 Wisconsin 31 San Diego St 3 North Texas 58 UNLV 7 Mountain West Standings
Next weeks Schedule BYU at Duke Indiana at Colorado St Northwestern at Wyoming Missouri at UNLV Arizona St at San Diego St Air Force at Hawaii Brown at Utah BYU Alumni in the NFL Ike Wohlman LB Arizona: Did not play Luther Blake WR Arizona: Released Willie Godfrey G Arizona: Released Well we are down to one remaining Dynasty Alumni and he is buried deep on the Bench. With the release of Blake and Godfrey there are now 9 Alumni free agents waiting for a call that will likely not come. |
2006 Week 3
BYU 34 Duke 9 Record Overall 1-1 Mountain West 0-0 Leaders Passing Dwight Gatlin 17-33-284 2 TD 1 Int Rushing Daniel Stoddard 20-75 Receiving Leland Fletcher 5-75 1 TD Ellis Hitchcock 4-92 Defense Derek Perry S 7 tackles 1 assist Justin Watson LB 6 tackles 1 Int 1 TD Oliver Meehan LB 6 Tackles 1 assist Recap On a rainy afternoon in Durham we get a sloppy win, but we’ll take it kind of win. Gatlin is inconsistent after a good first outing, a scene played out way too many times last year, and again the running game was not overwhelming. In fact our offense was nearly non-existent until the second half when Gatlin led 3 successive scoring drives as we were finally able to pull away. In the first half it was all defense as nursing a 3-0 lead in the second quarter Justin Watson returned an interception 69 yards for a touchdown. Then, after 7 minutes of uneventful sparring Bennie “the Jet” Vance picked off Dukes QB Clancy at the BYU 2 and wove his way 98 yards for the games second TD. All in all the Defense had 3 interceptions and made big stops time and again. We did cut our sacks down to 3, but Duke is not formidable up front and I still lose sleep over Gatlin’s safety in the pocket. Injuries Irv Fletcher T Out-Arthroscopic Knee surgery. Oliver Meehan LB-Out Broken Ribs Meehan is really a gutty player and he could be out for over 2 Months. This Injury is damaging as it could force me to remove Herb Wong’s redshirt if nobody can step up. Recruiting Visits Paul Post QB Sandy, UT-Overall 291 Position 29 Bruce Rhett RB Boulder, CO-Overall 141 Position 17 Commits None We get two early visits from players we really want. Post is the top QB to come out of Utah in years and he would give us quality depth. Rhett is out #1 RB priority and is a powerful runner. Mountain West Scoreboard BYU 34 Duke 9 Utah 42 Brown 14 Colorado St 31 Indiana 17 Northwestern 26 Wyoming 21 Missouri 42 UNLV 17 Arizona St 27 San Diego St 24 Air Force 31 Hawaii 21 Mountain West Standings
Next weeks Schedule UNLV at Illinois Colorado St at Colorado Wyoming at Boston College Tennessee at Utah BYU Alumni in the NFL Ike Wohlman LB Arizona: Did not play Another week on the Bench for our last remaining Dynasty warrior. None of our seniors this year look like solid prospects either so it may be a few Seasons before we have a bonafide star from our Dynasty. On a side note the Cardinals are 3-0 which means Jeff Garcia must be crisp.....An obscure reference for fans of the "Mark Patrick on sports" show. :) |
2006 Week 4 Bye
Record Overall 1-1 Mountain West 0-0 Leaders Passing Rushing Receiving Defense Recap Not much to report on the bye week, we prepare to open MWC conference play against New Mexico. This is a good opener to build confidence as they are 0-2 and have not played well at all. Hopefully we take advantage of the opportunity to get a lot of kids in and gain valuable experience for the tougher road ahead. Injuries Irv Fletcher T Out-Arthroscopic Knee surgery. Oliver Meehan LB-Out Broken Ribs It does not look like Fletcher will be back until after New Mexico, and even if he was able to go we would have probably rested him to avoid a re-injury. Recruiting Visits None Commits None We take advantage of the bye to hit the recruiting trail really hard, it spurs no new visits, but overall I feel we are ahead of last years pace in terms of establishing dialogue with quality student athletes. Mountain West Scoreboard Illinois 52 UNLV 0 Colorado 28 Colorado St 10 Boston College 28 Wyoming 20 Tennessee 38 Utah 13 A tough week for the league, though Wyoming showed fire and may be better then we are giving them credit for. Mountain West Standings
Next weeks Schedule Air Force at Colorado St New Mexico at BYU UNLV at Utah Wyoming at San Diego St Good in State rivalry with Air force and CSU, while UNLV could be in big trouble facing an angry Ute team, smarting from the rout at the hands of Tennessee. BYU Alumni in the NFL Ike Wohlman LB Arizona: played sparingly in 34-20 loss at the hands of Green Bay, was not involved in any tackles, but is hanging on to his roster spot tenaciously. |
2006 Week 5
BYU 63 New Mexico 20 Record Overall 2-1 Mountain West 1-0 Leaders Passing Dwight Gatlin 24-34-348 4 TD 1 Int Rushing Daniel Stoddard 19-129 3 TD Receiving Daniel Stoddard 7-63 Jimmie Mueller 5-110 Leland Fletcher 5-93 2 TD Defense Harris Diaz LB 5 tackles 2 assists Justin Watson LB 5 tackles 1 assist AJ Foreman S 3 tackles 2 Int Mike Tinker CB and Derek Perry S returned Ints for Touchdowns Recap We take full advantage of a porous New Mexico Defense to rack up 515 yards and finally get the run game going, even better we allow only 1 sack and Gatlin is lights out with what might be his best game to date. We are becoming a second half force as we put together 4 consecutive scoring drives beginning in the third quarter to blow the game out of reach. Injuries Oliver Meehan LB-Out Broken Ribs Fletcher will be back for the Rutgers game to anchor the steadily improving line and this should bolster their growing confidence even more. Recruiting Visits Bo Chavous RB Albuquerque, NM Overall 23 Position 3 Johnnie Derby TE Bakersfield, CA Overall 444 Position 9 Todd Gurley K Henderson, NV Overall 519 Position 13 Quentin Clements S Garden Grove, CA Overall 187 Position 10 Commits None 4 more recruits elect to trip to the Y, the most promising among them is Blue Chip RB Bo Chavous, the top rated back in the Southwest and 3rd nationally at his position. We were not recruiting him hard but will step up the pace now. Everyone else are solid top 20 players at their position and could all contend for starting spots down the road. With top notch facilities, a new energy and the chance to play early we feel confident that we are on pace for a solid class. Mountain West Scoreboard BYU 63 New Mexico 20 Colorado St 24 Air Force 23 Utah 44 UNLV 34 San Diego St 33 Wyoming 7 A barn burner up in Fort Collins as CSU edges Air Force Academy to keep pace with Utah, who struggles against an outclassed UNLV team. Mountain West Standings
Next weeks Schedule Wyoming at Colorado BYU at Rutgers Dartmouth at Air Force Colorado St at Brown New Mexico at New Mexico St Yale at San Diego St The MWC could go 5-1 next week as the Colorado schools and SDSU look to feast on the Ivy League, while we play Rutgers who is 0-2 and has been outscored 83-0. They are coming off a 2 week bye though and these teams can be dangerous. BYU Alumni in the NFL Ike Wohlman LB Arizona: Did not play in 27-19 win against the Bears. For the year he has appeared in 2 games and is credited with 1 tackle, but still pulling that NFL pay check! |
2006 Week 6
BYU 58 Rutgers 22 Record Overall 3-1 Mountain West 1-0 Leaders Passing Dwight Gatlin 19-35-311 3 TD 3 Int Rushing Daniel Stoddard 39-171 3 TD Receiving Daniel Stoddard 5-42 1 TD Leland Fletcher 5-124 1 TD Ellis Hitchcock 4-96 Defense Mike Tinker CB 4 tackles 1 sack Darryl Newville CB 4 tackles 1 sack Barry Irish CB 4 tackles 1 Int Recap Our defense gave Rutgers its first points of the Season, but they also proved very opportunistic recording 5 picks for the second game in a row, which now gives us 14 interceptions for the Season!! Gatlin had another up and down game throwing 3 TD’s but also 3 Int’s of his own. The tone was truly set with the running game as Stoddard exploded for 171 yards on 39 carries, which equated to a 13 minute time of possession advantage. After tearing out to a 31-7 first quarter lead we did let Rutgers get as close as 37-22, which bothers me, but we responded to score the gamers final 21 points to complete the rout. Injuries Oliver Meehan LB-Out Broken Ribs Still only one starter out which will remain the key to our success, given our lack of depth. Recruiting Visits Roger Bronson WR Saint George, UT Overall 578 Position 45 Juan McConnell G Phoenix, AZ Overall 137 Position 13 Andrew Reynolds LB San Antonio, TX Overall 91 Position 6 Commits None Three more visits but sill no commits and 2 key losses as Bo Chavous takes his ample game to Nebraska and Johnnie Derby stays home and elects to attend Stanford. We will return our focus to Bruce Rhett for our backfield and will really up the efforts on Andrew Reynolds, who was another we didn’t think would give us a look. Mountain West Scoreboard BYU 58 Rutgers 22 Colorado 52 Wyoming 3 Air Force 48 Dartmouth 6 Colorado St 33 Brown 28 New Mexico St 30 New Mexico 6 San Diego St 21 Yale 18 Wyoming is brought back to reality against Colorado and it appears they have lost the will to compete, and now bad is New Mexico? The rest of the MWC wins, albeit Rutgers and the Ivy league will not make anyone tremble in fear, still a 4-2 week is better than the alternative for the League. At this point I think we have a legitimate shot to contend for the League crown if we continue to move the ball like we have been. Mountain West Standings
Next weeks Schedule Air Force at New Mexico Colorado St at BYU ESPN 2 UNLV at Wyoming San Diego St at Utah Cox local TV We break the top 50 and land a National cable game on ESPN 2, this is a key early League game and the loser will be facing an uphill climb the rest of the way. San Diego St at Utah will be another key game with both teams at 1-0 in League play. BYU Alumni in the NFL Ike Wohlman LB Arizona: Plays late in the Cards 31-10 Loss to the Bears and records 1 tackle and his first career sack. Hopefully this will be the start of some more playing time as Ike fights to make the most of his chances. |
I like the style of your posts, easy to read and good mix of stats and narratives, keep it going!
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2006 Week 7
BYU 48 Colorado St 17 Record Overall 4-1 Mountain West 2-0 Leaders Passing Dwight Gatlin 21-32-362 4 TD 2 Int Rushing Daniel Stoddard 15-91 1 TD Receiving Leland Fletcher 7-180 1 TD Daniel Stoddard 6-53 1 TD Defense Derek Perry S 7 tackles 1 assist Harvey Geary LB 6 tackles 2 assists Barry Wohlman DT 4 tackles 1 assist Recap Things were starting out bleak as CSU held a 17-3 lead with under 5 minutes to go in the second quarter after Donnie KcKnight hit Clay DeGrange with a 22 yard rope. Things turned quickly as the electrifying RS Freshman Ellis Hitchcock returned the ensuing kickoff a school and MWC record 108 yards for a touchdown!! Ellis has been relatively quiet as a receiver recently as teams often double him up, but he has energized the Cougar special teams with his return ability. The attention given Hitchcock has also allowed our true Freshman surprise Leland Fletcher to become a game breaker as his performance earns him POG honors. Defensively we made some adjustments and CSU’s offense was done for the day as their 7 second half possessions resulted in 1 missed FG and 6 punts. Our offense was unstoppable after the half as we scored on 6 of 7 possessions and again established ourselves as a dominating second half team. Injuries Oliver Meehan LB-Doubtful Broken Ribs Meehan should be ready after the UNLV game Recruiting Visits Nick Levitt TE Modesto, CA Overall 514 Position 13 Justin Jenkins G Philadelphia, PA Overall 2 Position 1 Lance Boyd G San Francisco, CA Overall 295 Position 28 Bryce Schultz G Washington, DC Overall 208 Position 21 Mack Linquist P Fairplay, CO Overall 685 Position 17 Jackie Trippi DE Akron, OH Overall 45 Position 6 Shaun Keith LB Oakdale, CT Overall 335 Position 19 Thurman Upshaw LB Fleming Neon, KY Overall 457 Position 27 Ricardo Bradford LB Morgan Hill, CA Overall 239 Position 14 Andrew Reynolds LB San Antonio, TX Overall 91 Position 6 Ty Lucas CB Fort Lupton, CO Overall 191 Position 14 Kendrick Cota S Carlsbad, CA Overall 414 Position 24 Commits Andy Schroder WR Jacksonville, FL Overall 67 Position 6 Kirk Saurez T Milwaukee, WI Overall 52 Position 7 Pete Winslett LB Fair Oaks, CA Overall 168 Position 7 We get our first commit and they all are top 10 at their position which is great news. The best of the lot is Saurez, who could be starting as a true freshman, he has all the tools and all the intangibles to be great. We have a slew of visitors, including Justin Jenkins who is the best Offensive Lineman available; we may have a shot with him. Jackie Trippi is also within the top 50 in the country overall and would be a great addition to the D-Line next to Wohlman. If we land one more Blur Chipper I will be happy, especially if he is a Guard from Philadelphia or a Linebacker from Texas. Mountain West Scoreboard BYU 48 Colorado St 17 Air Force 35 New Mexico 28 Wyoming 34 UNLV 14 Utah 28 San Diego St 21 A big win for us helps us keep pace with Utah who edges SDSU. Air Force struggles with a very bad New Mexico Team and it is shaping as a battle between us and that School up North. Mountain West Standings
Next weeks Schedule BYU at UNLV Air Force at Boston College Utah at Colorado St New Mexico at Wyoming We face a horrible UNLV team who statistically has both the worst Defense and second worst Offense in the MWC, while we have the best on both sides of the ball. We score 45.4 points a game (3rd in the nation) while UNLV gives up 46.0 (3rd worst) should be a mismatch, but the Rebels did play Utah tough. Gatlin is the #1 ranked QB in the MWC and Stoddard the #1 RB. We also are the top passing team in the conference and #8 nationally. BYU Alumni in the NFL Ike Wohlman LB Arizona: Does not play as the Cardinals fall to Seattle 13-6 to slip below .500 for the first time this Season. |
Thanks for comments SC, I am having fun with this. It will be better when we get some folks in the NFL to follow that actually play :)
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2006 Week 8
BYU 48 UNLV 22 Record Overall 5-1 Mountain West 3-0 Leaders Passing Dwight Gatlin 24-37-340 4 TD 1 Int Rushing Daniel Stoddard 19-140 2 TD Receiving Ellis Hitchcock 9-122 2 TD Leland Fletcher 6-95 1 TD Defense Monty Claytor CB 5 tackles Charles Peters LB 4 tackles 1 sack 1 Int Recap We fall behind 7-0, then unleash the hounds. We score on 5 of our next 6 possessions to take a 31-7 lead into the Half and coast from there. Gatlin rediscovers Ellis Hitchcock, connecting with the California flyer for 2 second quarter TD strikes en-route to a huge day for both players. Stoddard again surpasses the century mark behind our steadily improving Offensive line, though we still allow 4 sacks. Defensively we pick 3 more passes off, and play a lot of 2nd and 3rd stringers as we are able to maintain a big lead throughout. This also allows us to rest some starters that are dinged up. All in all we pile up 553 yards of total offense for the game, and we now rank 7th nationally in Passing offense at 331.3 YPG, and 3rd in scoring at 45.8, only Michigan and TCU do it better. Injuries Oliver Meehan LB-Doubtful Broken Ribs Harris Diaz has also been hampered by a thumb injury and he has been pulled early when the games are under control. Recruiting Visits Korey Webb T Chula Vista, CA Overall 72 Position 9 Commits Paul Post QB Sandy, UT CA Overall 291 Position 29 Nick Levitt TE Modesto, CA Overall 514 Position 13 Lance Boyd G San Francisco, CA Overall 295 Position 28 We lose to coveted recruits when Bruce Rhett RB goes to MWC rival Air Force and top ranked Offensive Lineman Justin Jenkins G taps Michigan as his home for the next 5 years. Jenkins was a dream, but we really thought we had Rhett and his lose hurts! Still we score the depth we wanted at QB with local boy Post and land a solid G in Boyd. Only one new visit in Webb, but he is a good one. Our class is shaping up to be pretty good and if we can score some secondary help and a couple more solid Linemen we will be happy. Mountain West Scoreboard BYU 48 UNLV 22 Boston College 24 Air Force 14 Utah 17 Colorado St 16 Wyoming 48 New Mexico 14 Still us and the School up North, though Colorado St gave Utah much more trouble than we had with them. Wyoming crushes New Mexico, but it’s New Mexico. Mountain West Standings
Next weeks Schedule San Diego St at BYU Wyoming at Air Force Utah at New Mexico Utah has the week off against the Lobos while we play host to the SDSU Aztecs, who historically give us trouble with their wide open Offense. We have Notre Dame coming up in 2 weeks, which will really gauge our progress, but we cannot afford to look past the Aztecs. BYU Alumni in the NFL Ike Wohlman LB Arizona: Does not play again in a 17-16 loss to St Louis. The Cardinals promising start has now begun to resemble business as usual as they now are only a half game ahead of last place Seattle. |
2006 Week 9
BYU 76 San Diego St 23 Record Overall 6-1 Mountain West 4-0 Leaders Passing Dwight Gatlin 22-32-281 6 TD 1 Int Rushing Daniel Stoddard 30-226 1 TD Receiving Ellis Hitchcock 9-120 4 TD Daniel Stoddard 6-59 1 TD Defense Harris Diaz LB 3 tackles 1 sack 1 Int 1 TD Justin Watson LB 3 tackles 2 assists 1 Int Barry Irish CB 2 Int 1 TD (6 Interceptions for the year for our Nickle back) Recap We are behind 13-0 barely 3 minutes in when we decide to play and once we decide we never stop! SDSU plays 5 DB’s and looks to take away our deep game. We oblige by taking the underneath routes and unveiling a punishing running game. The early deficit becomes a 42-16 Halftime lead and it only gets better. We again top 500 yards total offense and record an incredible 6 interceptions, our third game with 5 or more, the secondary are ball hawks!! 2 of these picks are returned for scores as our defense, though not stout, can generate the big play. We were also 9/13 in 3rd down conversions and San Diego St was victimized by 22 Penalties!! Not surprisingly their Coach Jackie Henson is terrible with discipline. Injuries Oliver Meehan LB-Doubtful Broken Ribs Jimmie Mueller WR-Doubtful Strained Triceps That tapping you hear is not the Raven, it is I, knocking on wood as we continue to be lucky with injuries. Recruiting Visits Kenyon Witcher RB Winchester, KY Overall 322 Position 33 Steve Monroe G Flint, MI Overall 304 Position 29 Malcolm Williams G Sierra Vista, AZ Overall 407 Position 53 Commits None Kendrick Kota S, tells us he has always fancied himself as Cat like and thinks the Cougars would be a good fit, he then takes his game to Maryland. Note to Kota, a Terrapin is a Turtle!! Not much else here, we are still fighting for some good prospects, though only 6 commits to date concerns me some. I hope we land Witcher cause you gotta love that name. Mountain West Scoreboard BYU 76 San Diego St 23 Air Force 17 Wyoming 12 Utah 45 New Mexico 21 Nothing changes as Utah coasts and our big win gives us a lot of confidence going into the Notre Dame game. Wyoming is a real enigma as they again look respectable in a tough loss to Air force. Mountain West Standings
Next weeks Schedule Notre Dame at BYU Air Force at UNLV New Mexico at Yale Colorado St at San Diego St Us and New Mexico have none League games, while Air Force takes on UNLV in what should be a laugher. CSU and SDSU will be interesting as CSU comes off a bye and we all know what happened to San Diego St, they are wounded and angry. BYU Alumni in the NFL Ike Wohlman LB Arizona: Bye |
2006 Week 10
Notre Dame 63 BYU 3 Record Overall 6-2 Mountain West 4-0 Leaders Passing Bryce Martin 11-19-111 Dwight Gatlin 4-20-79 1 Int Rushing Calvin Shaw 9-22 Daniel Stoddard 2-0 Receiving Calvin Shaw 5-42 Leland Fletcher 2-51 Defense Derek Perry S 10 tackles 1 assist 1 Int Harris Diaz LB 7 tackles 5 assists Barry Wohlman 7 tackles 3 assists 1/2 sack Recap Where to start…..well it was a nice breezy 63 degrees at kickoff, that was about the highlight. We were down 21-0 after one and never got closer after that then 28-3. Notre Dame gave us a big wake up call gashing our defense for 654 total yards, while holding us to 209. Gatlin had far and away his worst game as a Cougar and was benched before the half. We did get 2 more picks, but after that the highlight of the day was, well nothing. 3 for 17 on third down, 9 penalties for 71 yards and an 8 minute time of possession disadvantage. Plain and simple around every turn was an Leprechaun with a big club and we took them all. We need to recover quickly because we have Utah next, and that game will probably decide who represents the MWC in the post Season. Injuries Geoff Joseph TE-Out Pulled Quadriceps Oliver Meehan LB-Doubtful Broken Ribs Jimmie Mueller WR-Doubtful Strained Triceps Could have been worse, but Joseph was our starting Tight End, though not a big part of our Offense. Recruiting Visits None Commits Korey Webb T Chula Vista, CA Overall 72 Position 9 Mack Linquist P Fairplay, CO Overall 685 Position 17 Andrew Reynolds LB San Antonio, TX Overall 91 Position 6 We get 3 solid commits, with the additions of Webb and Reynolds particularly exciting as they are both top 10 at their Positions. We will have solid bookend Tackles with the earlier commit of Kirk Saurez. We now have 9 commits and with 4 top 100 overall players this will be our best class yet, a signal that things are headed in the right direction at least. Mountain West Scoreboard Notre Dame 63 BYU 3 Air Force 42 UNLV 14 New Mexico 59 Yale 24 Colorado St 38 San Diego St 13 We have already been over our pain, New Mexico gets their first win over the Ivy leagues Yale squad, while San Diego St did not recover from the shellacking we gave them and fall big to CSU. UNLV still sucks. Mountain West Standings
Next weeks Schedule BYU at Utah ESPN San Diego St at Air Force Wyoming at Colorado St UNLV at New Mexico Not a good wave to be riding into the game for the MWC Championship, but we will have to put it behind us….it’s rivalry week! UNLV will try to get win #1 against the equally hapless Lobo’s while Air Force looks to stay in contention for a share of the MWC crown. BYU Alumni in the NFL Ike Wohlman LB Arizona: Inactive Roster. Return of Morlon Greenwood makes Wohlman expendable, at least to the extent that he is needed solely for injury insurance. Things do not look promising long term for our only Alum on an NFL team at the moment. |
2006 Week 11
Utah 38 BYU 31 Record Overall 6-3 Mountain West 4-1 Leaders Passing Dwight Gatlin 15-25-260 3 TD Rushing Daniel Stoddard 18-87 1 TD Receiving Leland Fletcher 6-100 1 TD Daniel Stoddard 4-42 Defense Harris Diaz LB 14 tackles 7 assists Derek Perry S 13 tackles 4 assists AJ Foreman 8 tackles 2 assists Recap A heartbreaking loss, but everything a rivalry game should be. The teams went back and forth all day and neither team turned the ball over. We led 14-7 after one, but the Ute’s stormed back to take a 24-14 lead into the break as Rodney Dostie looked like Michael Vick against us. On the day he was 16-22-274 4 TD and added 43 yards rushing on 11 carries. In the end it was our inability to shut down the Ute’s running game when it mattered the most. After Calvin Berkebile tied the score at 31 with 8:05 left on a 34 yard FG, Dostie engineered a masterful drive that ended with a 28 yard scoring strike to Neil Dellenbach for the game winning score. After a Cougar punt Utah was able to run out the clock, twice picking up first downs on big 3rd down runs. We are 0-2 against top 20 teams with this loss, but this is far better than the pasting we took at the hands of Notre Dame the week before. One extremely bright spot was Harris Diaz, who was a maniac recording 21 total tackles for the game!! Injuries Geoff Joseph TE-Out Pulled Quadriceps Six other players are nicked up including Diaz and Stoddard but they should all be ready to go against the Falcons this week. Recruiting Visits Jorge Simmons CB Riverside, CA Overall UR Position 75 Ed Cochran CB Boise, ID Overall UR Position 87 Commits Todd Gurley K Henderson, NV Overall 519 Position 13 Ralph Greer LB Gresham, OR Overall UR Position 83 We get the Kicker we wanted and add some depth at LB. We are still looking to get help at both CB and S, as well bolster the O-Line and add a RB and DE. We are still in the hunt for Jackie Trippi to fill the DE spot, who is ranked 45th overall in the country and 6th at his position, we would really solidify a solid recruiting class. Mountain West Scoreboard Utah 38 BYU 31 San Diego St 24 Air Force 17 Wyoming 28 Colorado St 7 New Mexico 35 UNLV 7 A week of upsets as SDSU takes out Air force and Wyoming shocks Colorado St, this makes our game against Air Force this week huge as we can lock up 2nd place in the MWC with a win and secure a Bowl game. Mountain West Standings
Next weeks Schedule Air Force at BYU Fox Sports Colorado St at UNLV San Diego St at New Mexico Wyoming at Utah ESPN 2 If ever we needed Wyoming to pull an upset, this is the week as a win against Utah would help our quest to share the MWC crown. CSU looks to get Bowl eligible against UNLV after being upset by Wyoming. Air Force is in a similar situation against us. BYU Alumni in the NFL Ike Wohlman LB Arizona: Did not play An injury to Karlos Dansby allows Ike to be placed back on the active Roster, he is a gamer who is fighting to stick in the NFL. |
2006 Week 12
Air Force 32 BYU 26 Record Overall 6-4 Mountain West 4-2 Leaders Passing Dwight Gatlin 15-27-260 2 TD 1 Int Rushing Daniel Stoddard 17-58 2 TD Receiving Ellis Hitchcock 5-119 2 TD Daniel Stoddard 4-21 Defense Harris Diaz LB 9 tackles 4 assists Harvey Geary LB 6 Tackles 2 assists Derek Perry S 6 tackles 2 assists Recap Our third loss in a row and this is just as heartbreaking as the Utah game. The Gabe Donovan/Alfred Anthony show killed us as Donovan threw for 253 yards and 4 TD and Anthony pitched in 141 yards rushing and 51 receiving to lead a well balanced Falcon attack. Our Defense has not been the same since the Notre Dame blowout and today Air force hangs a nearly 10 minute TOP advantage on us 34:33 to 25:27. We again are miserable on third down converting just 2 of 9. In addition our Defense gives up 3 scoring drives of 10 plays or more, that just wears our Defense down. It is here that our lack of depth is most apparent, and hopefully we can develop our kids enough to fix this by next Season. Offensively we just never got in a rhythm, but still led 26-21 at the half before folding. My boasts of how strong of a second half team we were several weeks ago ring pretty hollow now. Injuries Geoff Joseph TE-Out Pulled Quadriceps We are healing up, but sill have some minor aches and pains that are effecting our players. Recruiting Visits Brian Riddell G Arvada, CO Overall UR Position 90 Commits Perry Ah Yat RB Oakdale, MN Overall 737 Position 68 Jackie Trippi DE Akron, OH Overall 45 Position 6 Ed Cochran Boise, ID Overall UR Position 87 We for all intents and purposes close out recruiting with a huge coup stealing Trippi from the heart of Pac-10 country. Ah Yat will provide depth at RB but will not challenge Stoddard or Fredrickson who is waiting in the wings. We still need a Guard and a Safety and are making some late calls to fill these needs. Mountain West Scoreboard Air Force 32 BYU 26 Colorado St 42 UNLV 14 San Diego St 28 New Mexico 14 Utah 35 Wyoming 7 Utah clinches the MWC title with an easy win while CSU looks to be finishing strong. UNLV at this point is playing for pride and a Coaching change could be in order here after a horrible Season. We are atop the MWC in passing Offense and 3rd in rushing Defense, though this statistic is misleading as our failure to stop the run has done us in during our 3 game skid. Mountain West Standings
Next weeks Schedule BYU at Wyoming Utah at Air Force Local TV New Mexico at Colorado St UNLV at San Diego St We need a win against a dangerous Wyoming squad and a Utah victory over Air Force to secure second place in the MWC and a Bowl bid. Utah is ranked 12th and would like a strong finish to try and crack the top 10, while CSU, along with Air Force are fighting for post Season privileges. All in all not a bad Season for the MWC, but apart from Utah nobody is ready for the national stage at this time. BYU Alumni in the NFL Ike Wohlman LB Arizona: Inactive Roster Dansby is activated, which relegates Ike back to the practice squad. The Cardinals lose to Kansas City 20-14 to fall to 5-6 on the year and will need a lot of help, along with 4 or 5 wins to make the playoffs. |
2006 Week 13
BYU 23 Wyoming 7 Record Overall 7-4 Mountain West 5-2 Leaders Passing Dwight Gatlin 19-27-231 2 TD Rushing Daniel Stoddard 33-187 1 TD Receiving Daniel Stoddard 7-75 1 TD Ellis Hitchcock 5-72 1 TD Defense Harris Diaz LB 9 tackles 1 assist Justin Watson LB 4 tackles 2 assists 1 Int Bennie Vance CB 4 tackles 3 assists Recap Our goal here was simple, get the ball to our stud and control the line of scrimmage. Though not flashy, it worked as planned as we took it to Wyoming in the trenches and Stoddard had another big day compiling 262 all-purpose yards, while our Defense held the Cowboys to 329 total yards and grabbed 3 more interceptions. Air Force’s upset of Utah however leaves no guarantee we will be going Bowling, so we will have to sweat it out for a couple of weeks. Regardless it was good to get a win to close it out and to witness the emergence of our line over the year as we end the regular Season with a 3000 yard passer and a 1000 yard rusher. In addition playing half the year with torn ligaments in his Thumb Harris Diaz finished the year on fire, which will hopefully get him some all MWC votes. Injuries Geoff Joseph TE-Out Pulled Quadriceps Nothing new here and hopefully a couple weeks off will allow us to enter a Bowl game completely healthy, if not was have all spring and summer to get over the nagging injuries effecting Diaz, Meehan and others of less importance. Recruiting Visits Mack Lynch S Leucadia, CA Overall UR Position 84 Commits Brian Riddell G Arvada, CO Overall UR Position 90 Riddell gives us some depth, though I am already worried about the Guard position next Season, hopefully some of the young kids can develop. We still need a Safety and will probably contact a couple more kids in case Lynch does not pan out. We will not get a star here, but perhaps there is a Diamond in the rough out there that can help us as our Pass defense this year was lethal…..half the time to our opponents, half the time to us. Mountain West Scoreboard BYU 23 Wyoming 7 Air Force 31 Utah 24 Colorado St 29 New Mexico 21 San Diego St 35 UNLV 30 The Air Force academies upset of Utah is galling as we could have tied for a share of the crown had we beat the Falcons last week. Regardless AFA closed out the Season hot and along with us, CSU and to a lesser extent San Diego St are all on the Bowl bubble. Mountain West Standings
Next weeks Schedule Utah at West Virginia Fox Sports Nevada at UNLV Utah closes it with a big game against West Virginia and a win could take some sting off the stumble against Air Force. For UNLV it is only a question of getting a bit of pride to take into the off Season. BYU Alumni in the NFL Ike Wohlman LB Arizona: Inactive Roster The Cardinals edge Tampa Bay to climb back to .500 at 6-6, while Ike wiles away the week chasing down Thomas Jones with the practice squad. |
2006 Weeks 14 and 15
No Games scheduled Record Overall 7-4 Mountain West 5-2 Bowl Game We are invited to the GMAC Bowl to play against 25th ranked Washington State from the Pac 10. They are 8-3 overall and finished 5th in a tough Conference, with all 3 losses coming to Pac 10 foes. It will be a good test and another chance to knock off a top 25 team, which would be a first on my Coaching regime. Injuries None We still have some nagging injuries but everyone will be ready for the Bowl game. Recruiting Visits Wade Streck S Milwaukie, OR Overall UR Position UR Commits Wade Streck S Milwaukie, OR Overall UR Position UR Streck fills out our class of 2006 and may be that Diamond in the rough. From what I see he was extremely underrated and had 5 D1 Schools looking at him but nobody would pull the trigger. He committed halfway through his visit and is looking forward to being a Cougar. Mountain West Scoreboard UNLV 30 Nevada 0 West Virginia 34 Utah 13 Both games in week 14 Utah bombs badly in their chance to regain some stature; however they were the lucky recipients of an early invite to the Cotton Bowl, which they accepted prior to this game. It’s all about the Rebels as UNLV can at least be happy winning their final game against cross state rival Nevada. Mountain West Standings
2006 Bowl Games
We have 4 MWC teams make the post Season with Air Force taking the Holiday Bowl spot we coveted. Colorado St and Notre Dame in the Citrus Bowl is a bizarre matchup and will not be a very competitive game at all. The Bowl committee blew this one. BYU Alumni in the NFL Ike Wohlman LB Arizona: Inactive Roster The Cards fall to 6-8 losing to Oakland 35-28 and St Louis 19-14 to fall from playoff contention. Wohlman, barring an injury looks like he will finish the year on the inactive Roster. His future after that is up in the air depending of what direction the Cardinals take in the Off Season. |
2006 Post Season
GMAC Bowl Washington St 49 BYU 7 Record Overall 7-5 Mountain West 5-2 Leaders Passing Dwight Gatlin 7-17-100 2 Int Bryce Martin 6-16-99 4 Int Rushing Daniel Stoddard 7-88 1 TD Receiving Leland Fletcher 5-119 Ellis Hitchcock 3-37 Defense Bennie Vance CB 10 tackles AJ Foreman S 8 tackles 2 assists Alvin Fletcher CB 7 tackles 3 assists Recap Cougars VS Cougars as we brought high hopes into this game with the chance to knock off a Pac 10 foe. After an interception put a stop to WSU’s opening 10 play drive, our Offense took the field fired up and ready to strike. Three plays later Washington States Scottie Rhodes stepped in front of a Dwight Gatlin pass, raced 29 yards to score and the route was on. WSU split time between Clyde Tucker and Stephen Terrell, and the 2 headed QB monster combined for 398 yards going 31-40. Our duet of Gatlin and Martin looked like a duo better suited to making a Country music album after an off key performance that featured 6 interceptions between them. The lone offensive bright spot was Stoddard ripping off a 75 yard TD run early in the third quarter. Unfortunately on his other 6 carries he only gained 13 yards total, and after being down 35-0 at the half we were not going to resort to smash mouth Football anyway. The performance of our front 7 was horrible, which is apparent when our top 3 tacklers (all with 10 total tackles or more) are from the secondary. Losing 4 of 5 to end the year was not what I had hoped for, but we have a good idea of the work we need to do in the off season, the first order of which may be looking at a new D coordinator as our Pass Defense is ranked 122nd in the Nation by the time the final Gun goes off. Injuries None-We end the year with no major injuries to rehab and we will hit spring ball in full health. Recruiting Visits None Commits None We have handed out our allotment of Scholarships and Rivals.com ranks our recruiting class 17th in the country. We have proven in our tenure that we can recruit, but it is time those recruits started paying dividends on the field. Post Season Scoreboard
Ironically the team I thought would be the least competitive, CSU, was the most competitive only losing to Notre Dame by 3. All other MWC teams were handled rather easily and it does bode well for the conference in terms of national respect. BYU Alumni in the NFL Ike Wohlman LB Arizona: Free agent Ike’s fears finally come true as he is released immediately after the Cardinals Season ending win against San Diego. The Cards finish 7-9, good for third in the NFC West. Hopefully one of guys can latch on next year with somebody, but it does not seem likely. |
Our passing game was explosive but the defensive ratings were appalling, especially against the pass, which is kind of funny considering we had so many interceptions. Our turnover margin was also top 10 and a big reason we finished as well as we did. I think I will be interviewing Defensive coordinators in the off season as it really deosn’t matter what you do moving the ball if you can’t play D. I think we will have the talent there next year and they need to start playing to potential. Post Season Awards National All Freshman Team Leland Fletcher WR Academic All-American Dwight Gatlin QB MWC Top Offensive Freshman Leland Fletcher WR All MWC 1st Team Dwight Gatlin QB Daniel Stoddard RB Ellis Hitchcock WR All MWC 2nd Team Calvin Berkebile K Quentin Flowers DE Bennie Vance CB All MWC Academic Dwight Gatlin QB Morris Doherty WR Harvey Ashraf P Harvey Geary LB Derek Perry S Another fairly decent showing, especially in academics, and a big year for Leland Fletcher, though I find it odd that after making the National All-Freshman Team and top Offensive Freshman in the MWC, that he didn’t at least make 2nd team all MWC. As the awards show our strength was our skill positions on offense and we seriously need to get the Defense up to that level so we don’t have to score 30 plus every time out to win. Final Team Rankings 2006 Academics 33rd Recruiting 26th TV Revenue 44rd Ticket Revenue 38th Donations 75th GPA 2.88 (6th) Attendance 58,400 (31st)
2006 Recruiting class
Overall a good recruiting class that ends up be graded at 26th in the nation when all is said and done. The crown jewels are our bookend tackles, another playmaking wide Receiver and Trippi and Reynolds on Defense. Some of these guys will definitely play next year. BYU Alumni
Wohlman, now a free agent only got in on 8 plays all year but did manage 2 solos and a sack. His future now is uncertain as there are many Linebackers out there with more talent, though probably very few that work as hard. |
Off Season 2007
Staff The biggest concern is our Defense and I am thinking of replacing Jack Bailey, who I do not feel is getting the most out of our players, though we are very young. After sending out feelers I decide to give him another year to improve the D, as there is nobody I feel could make the type of impact I would like not already locked into a contract. We lose 2 scouts as Winfred Pharms (Mid Atlantic) and Jermaine Folse (Great Lakes) both retire. Though not our primary regions we still land a player from these areas on occasion so I would like competent people there. For the Mid Atlantic I hire Jorge Troglia who is at least fair at every position but Kicker, and I can get them from closer to home. He is excellent with Receivers and D-Linemen and should perform adequately. For the Great lakes region I hire Malcolm Barginski. He is terrible with Quarterbacks, but good or better with every other position. I will always visit potential QB’s myself so this should not be a problem. Player issues Mario Doyle could not persevere and ends up leaving School due to last Seasons suspension for taking Money from a Booster, I wish I could strangle these Boosters sometimes as they bring nothing but trouble over half the time. Hey I want to win too but I can’t do that losing players to things like this! I have no suspensions or academic issues which make me extremely happy, a dozen or so players would like some more free time and I will listen to their reasons, but in the end you are here to play ball and 7-5 is not acceptable at BYU…..translation, don’t count on much sympathy. Scheduling We have 2 open dates and I will look to get a home and home and a 1 year deal as I would prefer a fresh opponent on our schedule every year. A Tougher team for later in the year and a patsy early, preferably taking the home and home offer would be ideal. I got a good offer from North Texas for an away game in week 2 which I take. They are a bowl team who went 9-3 last year while winning the Sun Belt conference. Not a major power but a good test. I get a home and home with San Jose St for week 4, they were 3-8 last year and should provide a good tune-up before our first league game. Incoming recruits The following Recruits will compete for playing time as true Freshman, or be relied upon to provide depth. Those marked by a * are projected starters coming out of Spring Ball. Andy Schroder WR* Lance Boyd G* Mack Linquist P* Todd Gurley K Ralph Greer LB Ed Cochran CB Redshirts Paul Post QB Perry Ah Yat RB Nick Levitt TE Brian Riddell G Kirk Saurez T Korey Webb T Jackie Trippi DE Andrew Reynolds LB Pete Winslett LB Wade Streck S We have the luxury of being able to redshirt some kids who could probably contribute (Suarez, Trippi, Reynolds) The ones that will start will do so only because of their talent. Schroder in particular wooed people during spring ball and is the number WR going into the fall behind Hitchcock, really impressive when you consider he bumped an All Freshmen team selection in Leland Fletcher to the number 3 spot. NFL Draft Only Punter Harvey Ashcraf and Tackle Irv Fletcher were invited to the combines and neither was taken in the NFL draft. Utah CB Bubba Clayton was the highest MWC pick going to Jacksonville with the final pick of round 2. BYU Alumni The only remaining Dynasty alumni still trying to catch on as free agents besides Ashcraf and Fletcher are Ike Wohlman LB and Harvey Layman T. Wohlman has been working out on campus and I have offered him a graduate assistant spot until he gets an opportunity. Everyone else has called it a career and entered the Rat race. |
2007 BYU Preseason Report
Preseason Rank 59th Mountain West Rank 4th : Roster/Depth Chart
Gatlin returns as the starter for his third year and should take his place as one of the top 2 QB’s in the league along with Utah’s Rodney Dostie. If he can improve as much as he did from his Freshman to Sophomore years he will get some attention. Rayburn, though only a red shirt Freshman should be a capable backup.
Fredrickson had an amazing spring and actually out performed Stoddard, the problem is how do you move a 1300 yard rusher to the bench because of this? We will have to make sure Fredrickson gets his touches to stay happy as he looks like the real deal and the competition can only make Stoddard that much better. Our backfield is set from the next few years.
They see very little time so they will be expected to keep their grades up and be demons on Special teams, same as last year.
Joseph surprised people in taking the job from Cerny in fall camp last year, the two remain close but Joseph is the better all around player at the moment
We are loaded here and though we do not have a Superstar that rivals Utah’s All-American Neil Dellenbach, I don’t think any other team in the League can match our total package. Schroder is our next big threat here and he may end up being the best we have ever had to date.
Looking better than last year as, we at least have 3 starters returning, and some good young talent waiting in the wings. Longmont worked hard on technique and I am anxious to see what he can do. Boyd will have to start as a true Freshman as Guard is our weakest point on the line and he is the most prepared, though the less touted Riddell, may eventually be better. Benson played well last year and has developed into a real leader on the line.
Break in 2 new starters here and there will be some growing pains. With Hitchcock leading the way our return game should still be solid though.
Donnie Newsome was a big recruit for us last year and we look to him to boost our pass rush as we start two new bodies at DE. Wohlman was double and triple teamed a lot last year but is still a beast and he should have an easier time if Newsome pans out.
A solid crew led by 2 year starter Harris Diaz, who still performed well last year hampered by a thumb injury over half the Season. Geary is a player that has failed to live up to potential but could be good if he can reach the next level. Huge upside in the middle with Shields and Jamison, 2 highly touted recruits from last year, while Herb Wong will get first crack at the OLB spot opposite Geary.
The good news is we added depth, the bad news is 3 of 4 starters are back from a secondary that helped us rank 122nd in the country against the pass, nonetheless this group should be better just due to the experience. The big concern is our Corners, where Bennie “the Jet” Vance returns to be joined by last years nickel back Barry Irish, who tied for the team lead in picks with 6, but is horrible against the run. The safeties are solid and we may just need to play more zone this year. Players to watch Dwight Gatlin QB Daniel Stoddard RB Julio Fredrickson RB Ellis Hitchcock WR Donnie Newsome DE Barry Wohlman DT Derek Perry S Top Newcomers Andy Schroder WR Lance Boyd G 2007 Schedule
Outlook We will again be led by underclassmen, albeit underclassmen with experience, 13 returning starters bodes well and if our Defense can improve only to the mid 70’s we will be more of a force this year. Gatlin, Stoddard and Hitchcock should compete for all MWC honors as should Wohlman, Diaz and Perry on Defense. The schedule is not that tough with only one pre-Season top 20 team on tap (Notre Dame) and we get them at home. We should contend for the league crown and hopefully it will be on the line when we travel to Salt Lake city in November to face the hated Utes. San Diego St has a new Coach so they are an unknown but I don’t see much of a shift in power from last year across the league, though UNLV should be somewhat better. BYU Alumni Ike Wohlman LB Free Agent Harvey Layman T Free Agent Harvey Ashcraf P Free Agent Irv Fletcher T Free Agent It could be a lean year on the Alumni front as none of these 4 figure to get a sniff with an NFL team. That said we will enjoy having Ike as a Graduate assistant and just hope for the best with our former Cougars. |
2007 Week 1
BYE Record Overall 0-0 Mountain West 0-0 Injuries None Recruiting Visits None Commits None We catalog our needs and with only 12 Scholarships to give decided on the following. Offense RB-1, WR-2, C-1, G-1, T-1 Defense DE-1, DT-1, ILB-1, OLB-2, CB-1, S-1 In addition we will look for the 4 best walk-ons we can get, 1 each at QB, G, DE, CB. There are a number of decent players in Utah this year and it will be a priority to get them, we will also look in our home state first for the Walk-ons as we attempt to take control of the in-state recruiting war with Utah. We will have to get good quality this year due to the limited scholarships, so a little more prestige would help, but we will do what we can. Mountain West Scoreboard Air Force 13 Ohio St 9 North Carolina St 38 Utah 31 Michigan St 58 San Diego St 0 Utah is shocked by NC St, while Air Force pulls a huge upset of the Buckeyes. This sets Air Force up as an intriguing team as we knew they had some weapons on offense, but thought their front 7 might be suspect, they certainly did not play that way against Ohio St. Aztecs? Wow, rough start for the new Coach. Mountain West Standings
Next weeks Schedule BYU at North Texas Wyoming at Illinois Northwestern at Colorado St Air Force at Hawaii New Mexico at Toledo Cornell at Utah A nearly full MWC schedule sees some intriguing match-ups with Wyoming and CSU taking on the Big 10. North Texas is replacing their entire backfield but they have a tough Defense, that returns a lot of starters, their secondary is very good. BYU Alumni in the NFL Ike Wohlman LB Free Agent Harvey Layman T Free Agent Harvey Ashcraf P Free Agent Irv Fletcher T Free Agent Our 4 remaining hopefuls are still looking for employment. |
2007 Week 2
BYU 34 North Texas 31 OT Record Overall 1-0 Mountain West 0-0 Leaders Passing Dwight Gatlin 20-31-334 4 TD 3 Int Rushing Daniel Stoddard 18-119 Receiving Daniel Stoddard 7-58 1 TD Andy Schroder 5-74 1 TD Defense Darrin Shields LB 11 tackles 6 assists AJ Foreman S 9 tackles 1 assist Herb Wong LB 9 tackles Recap 3 youngsters making their BYU debuts tear it up in the lone star state. Watching Andy Schroder run through the NT secondary sends chills up my spine and I can not wait to unleash him against some inferior Defenses, there is no way you can cover our three headed Monster at receiver. Two young Linebackers also show great promise, especially Darrin Shields, the RS Frosh playing alongside Diaz in the middle is explosive to the ball, and actually seems quicker than Diaz, this is great news as the year goes on and our defense hopefully gels. Gatlin had a solid opener against the aforementioned talented NT secondary and Stoddard looks like he is again poised for a big Season. I was a little disappointed in our occasional lapses on Defense as we should never have needed to go to OT to get this win. That said the mean Green’s debuting QB Leslie Korzuk showed great poise and patience leading 3 long scoring drives or 78, 80 and 90 yards. We can not let teams march on us like we are a parade ground or we will get some ugly results against the likes of ND, Air Force and Utah. Injuries None I love it when I catch the trainer napping during the day, I buy him a pillow and hope this list stays blank all Season. Recruiting Visits None Commits None After spending our first week in our home state we expand and send out feelers on the West Coast, as well as a few selected National recruits we feel might be interested in the Y. Mountain West Scoreboard BYU 34 North Texas 31 Wyoming 28 Illinois 21 Colorado St 27 Northwestern 20 Air Force 38 Hawaii 27 Toledo 48 New Mexico 0 Utah 24 Cornell 6 Two big wins for the MWC as we get a big 10 sweep with Wyoming and CSU, only New Mexico loses as the conference goes 5-1 for the week, complete with the team up Norths annual foray into the Ivy League ;) Mountain West Standings
Next weeks Schedule UNLV at Clemson Wyoming at Boston College ESPN 2 San Diego St at Arizona Dartmouth at Colorado St Yale at New Mexico I must have missed the memo that mandates the entire MWC play an Ivy League School every year, don’t you get the same results from your scout team? Give Wyoming props they open up with two BCS opponents and another upset here would say something about the Cowboys. UNLV will be happy to escape Clemson with a score, while the Tigers should score more than Hugh Grant at a Brothel. BYU Alumni in the NFL Ike Wohlman LB Free Agent Harvey Layman T Free Agent Harvey Ashcraf P Free Agent Irv Fletcher T Free Agent We still wait, and wait, and wait……..At least the Arena season starts |
Dynasty Tidbits
In our Third year of the dynasty I wanted to see how we were making out in the battle for Utah's best players. Here are the three highest home states on each of Utah's D1 Teams. BYU California 23 Players Utah 11 Players Colorado 7 Players Utah Utah 21 Players California 16 Players Colorado and NY 6 Players each Utah St California 21 Players Utah 10 Players Texas 4 Players As you can see we all like California, but Utah is dominating the battle for in State recruits with as many as us and USU combined. I also find Utah's "Empire State" pipeline interesting as most of their Team comes from west of the Missisipi. Utah State in general gets the home players neither us or Utah want. |
2007 Week 3
BYE Record Overall 1-0 Mountain West 0-0 Injuries None Healthy is good! Recruiting Visits None Commits None We have no visits yet which is especially disconcerting given the fact we are aggressively recruiting 5 local products. I want to be more visible to local kids to get some of them idolizing us. We are also hitting California heavy as always. Mountain West Scoreboard Clemson 45 UNLV 19 Boston College 41 Wyoming 24 Arizona 30 San Diego St 24 Colorado St 43 Dartmouth 10 New Mexico 23 Yale 7 God bless the Ivy League as the MWC falls flat against everyone else. Still a little early to get a firm handle on how we will stack up against the rest of the League, but I am thinking Air Force may be the team to beat right now. Mountain West Standings
Next weeks Schedule San Jose St at BYU Minnesota at Utah Colorado St at Colorado ABC Wyoming at Kansas Virginia Tech at Air Force ESPN 2 Arizona St at San Diego St Dartmouth at UNLV New Mexico at Princeton A full slate for the MWC, including the standard meet the Ivy League games. Some intriguing match-ups involving Air Force and Colorado St, both of which will get TV exposure. We hope to make a statement against San Jose and get some confidence for a big match up on the horizon against Air Force. BYU Alumni in the NFL Ike Wohlman LB Free Agent Harvey Layman T Free Agent Harvey Ashcraf P Free Agent Irv Fletcher T Free Agent Still no Movement, Ike is considering contacting the Utah entry in the Arena 2 league. |
2007 Week4
BYU 49 San Jose St 17 Record Overall 2-0 Mountain West 0-0 Leaders Passing Dwight Gatlin 20-28-216 4 TD Rushing Daniel Stoddard 27-183 Receiving Andy Schroder 7-83 1 TD Ellis Hitchcock 6-78 2 TD Defense Derek Perry S 9 tackles 1 assist Donnie Newsome DE 5 tackles 2 assists 3 sacks Bryant Bruce S 4 tackles 2 assists 1 Int Darrin Shields also returned an Interception 36 yards for a TD Recap Excellent job of ball control as we rack up a near 10 minute TOP advantage and have no turnovers en-route to the easy victory. One pattern I dislike is the the fact we are not showing killer instinct in the second half, as we led 21-3 at halftime and 35-3 midway through the third quarter before giving San Jose 14 unanswered points while out Offense dozed off. I also have concerns with our Pass defense as we allowed 284 yards to not that good of a QB in Eugene Ricci. Other positives were of course our run game as Stoddard is developing a habit of getting stronger the more we feed him the ball. Donnie Newsome is also off to a great start to his BYU career as he now has 5 sacks and 5 TFL’s in only 2 games. Injuries None Nothing at all of note here Recruiting Visits Geoff Lyle S Flagstaff, AZ Overall 216 Position 6 Commits None Lyle is a great player but this visit is surprising as the Kid idolizes ASU and I don’t see this as more than a pacifier for some blue haired uncle who bleeds Cougar Blue. We will really hit our top targets hard this week as we really want to score some early commits if we can. Mountain West Scoreboard BYU 49 San Jose St 17 Utah 35 Minnesota 17 Colorado 35 Colorado St 9 Wyoming 21 Kansas 9 Virginia Tech 31 Air Force 23 Arizona St 35 San Diego St 3 UNLV 44 Dartmouth 17 Princeton 31 New Mexico 27 A big win for Utah and a respectable showing by Air Force that tells me they will be a very tough opponent next week. UNLV matches its win total of last year in the second game with their waxing of Dartmouth and the Ivy fights back as Princeton upsets New Mexico. A good start for the MWC as only 2 of the 8 teams have losing records, though the competition has not been stiff. Mountain West Standings
Next weeks Schedule Air Force at BYU Fox Sports Colorado St at San Diego St UNLV at Wyoming New Mexico at Utah A huge early game with us and Air Force and the best it gets is Fox Sports? We will also see if UNLV has gotten better and if SDSU is really that bad. BYU Alumni in the NFL Ike Wohlman LB Free Agent Harvey Layman T Free Agent Harvey Ashcraf P Free Agent Irv Fletcher T Free Agent Still no action here, though Wohlman is doing a great job with our Linebackers as a graduate assistant. |
2007 Week5
BYU 21 Air Force 17 Record Overall 3-0 Mountain West 1-0 Leaders Passing Dwight Gatlin 21-31-298 3 TD 2 Int Rushing Daniel Stoddard 22-40 Receiving Ellis Hitchcock 7-105 Andy Schroder 5-96 1 TD Leland Fletcher 4-57 2 TD Defense Derek Perry S 10 tackles 1 assist Harris Diaz LB 6 tackles 2 assists Barry Wohlman DT 5 tackles 3 assists ½ sack Recap This was a tale of 2 games, the first that we led 14-0 after 3 quarters, as our defense led by Derek Perry was all over the field. The Falcons Gabe Donovan, who killed us last year, still managed 291 yards through the air, but most of that came in a furious 4th Quarter that say Air Force take a 17-14 lead. Our Defense again gave up big plays through out the night but stopped AFA twice deep in our territory with Interceptions (1 in the end zone) and then pounced on an Air Force fumble with 1:47 left in the game, after Gatlin had given BYU the lead on a 4 play 68 yard drive that answered Air Force’s go ahead Field goal. It was gutty effort, especially considering that our Run game was almost non-existent netting only 53 yards. Injuries Donnie Newsome DE-Out Sprained Back Jeff Bradley DE-Doubtful Abdominal strain This is a big hit for a position that just doesn’t have depth, Newsome was off to an incredible start and hopefully this will not hamper him all year. We will now start a Senior Scout team player next week and only play Bradley if needed. Recruiting Visits Ken Chandler QB UT Overall 216 Position TJ Parker RB NV Overall 133 Position TJ Rodgers C CA Overall 269 Position Dennis Adams G UT Overall 327 Position Reuben Ballard DT Overall 578 Position Commits None We really don’t want a scholarship QB this year but if Chandler wants to come we will let him as he is a solid player. TJ Parker would give us a third straight year getting a solid Running back, and Dennis Adams is the best lineman in Utah, though he appears to be leaning to our hated rival up North at the moment. Mountain West Scoreboard BYU 21 Air Force 17 San Diego St 29 Colorado St 22 Wyoming 47 UNLV 32 Utah 55 New Mexico 17 A big shocker with SDSU, who had yet to look really competitive upsetting CSU, it could be the Aztecs are finally getting things moving under their new Coach. Utah rolls and it looks like us and them again as we survive our test against AFA. Wyoming is looking good again early, but should settle mid pack by years end. Mountain West Standings
Next weeks Schedule BYU at Rutgers West Virginia at Utah Wyoming at Wisconsin Dartmouth at Air Force Brown at Colorado St New Mexico St at New Mexico San Diego St at Yale Utah has a big game against West Virginia, whom they are 0-2 against and hungry to beat, while Wyoming again shows they will play anyone traveling to the Badger den. You have to feel for the victims in our weekly tour of all that is Ivy as both Air force and Colorado St will be looking for redemption after tough losses this week. BYU Alumni in the NFL Ike Wohlman LB Free Agent Harvey Layman T Free Agent Harvey Ashcraf P Free Agent Irv Fletcher T Free Agent Still hoping, still working out, still waiting……At least they have perseverance. |
2007 Week6
BYU 38 Rutgers 7 Record Overall 4-0 Mountain West 1-0 Leaders Passing Dwight Gatlin 14-33-261 4 TD 1 Int Rushing Daniel Stoddard 19-80 Receiving Ellis Hitchcock 5-110 2TD Defense Darrin Shields LB 6 tackles 3 assists Herb Wong LB 5 tackles 1 assist 1 Int AJ Foreman S 5 tackles 1 assist 2 Int’s Recap This was a real erratic performance. Hitchcock electrified even the Rutgers partisan crowd with a dazzling 106 TD return of the opening kick off, a short while later a Gatlin to Geoff Joseph pass made it 14-0 and it seemed the route was on. Gatlin however could never settle into a pattern of consistency often missing open receivers which led to a paltry 2 of 11 third down conversion rate. The defense however was stellar holding the Scarlet Knights to 242 total yards and recording 6 sacks, 4 interceptions and a fumble recovery. We did just enough offensively to move in spurts and take advantage of turnovers. Injuries Donnie Newsome DE-Out Sprained Back Jeff Bradley DE-Doubtful Abdominal strain Bradley played, but we are really feeling the loss of Newsome, he may have had 6 sacks by himself against Rutgers had he played. Recruiting Visits Stanley Baxter T Tucson, AZ Overall 42 Position 9 Junior Hanshaw LB Woodinville, WA Overall 75 Position 3 Commits Reuben Ballard DT Logan, UT Overall 578 Position 43 We land our first commit on local kid Reuben Ballard. He will give us depth at an important position in our Defense, as the NG’s take a pounding. Both visitors this week are bonafide Blue Chippers and we would really love to get the Hanshaw Kid, he is an active Linebacker whose motor is full tilt for the entire game putting him in the action at all times. Through 8 games his Senior year he has 90 tackles, 7.5 sacks and 8 interceptions!! Plus he has 16 catches as a Tightend. Mountain West Scoreboard BYU 38 Rutgers7 Wisconsin 27 Wyoming 24 West Virginia 27 Utah 17 Air Force 51 Dartmouth 7 Colorado St 42 Brown 13 New Mexico St 24 New Mexico 12 Yale 28 San Diego St 25 Wyoming is playing well and could be a spoiler in League play. AFA and CSU respond as expected with big wins against the Ivy League, while San Diego St loses to Yale, the Eli’s first win!!! How do you upset Colorado St and lose to Yale??? Utah is still 0 for Virginia, and you won’t find many tears down here for them. Mountain West Standings
Next weeks Schedule BYU at Wyoming ESPN 2 Air Force at New Mexico UNLV at Colorado St Utah at San Diego St I expect a test this week from Wyoming and don’t like playing the game in Laramie, it can be a tough placer to play!! Air force and Utah both should have easy goes of it as we jockey for position atop the MWC BYU Alumni in the NFL Ike Wohlman LB Free Agent Harvey Layman T Free Agent Harvey Ashcraf P Free Agent Irv Fletcher T Free Agent Yawn…….I wonder if my Father in Law has an opening for me??? |
2007 Week7
BYU 48 Wyoming 17 Record Overall 5-0 Mountain West 2-0 Leaders Passing Dwight Gatlin 19-32-316 2 TD Rushing Daniel Stoddard 22-127 3 TD Receiving Leland Fletcher 5-141 1 TD Andy Schroder 5-68 Defense Darrin Shields LB 10 tackles 2 assists Bennie Vance CB 7 tackles Derek Perry S 6 tackles 2 assists Herb Wong LB 5 tackles 4 assists Recap The score does not indicate it, but Wyoming played tough as it was 27-17 going into the fourth Quarter. From here it was all BYU as we wore them down to tally 21 in the final 15 minutes. Maybe the most complete game our Offense has put together this Season as we amass 536 total yards and 31 first downs. Though we got no sacks or Interceptions, the Defense set us up great on 2 occasions forcing fumbles by Wyoming at their own 28 and own 11, which yielded 10 BYU points. Shields re-emerged after not showing much for a few games and looks like he will only continue to improve. Injuries Donnie Newsome DE-Out Sprained Back Bradley returns to start at DE, but Newsome could be out up to 4 more Weeks. Recruiting Visits Ross Fadler T San Diego, CA Overall 1 Position 1 Benjamin Arreola LB Indianapolis, IN Overall 18 Position 2 Renaldo Canty CB Keokuk, IA Overall 26 Position 2 Bard Carter CB Modesto, CA Overall 47 Position 3 Jerome Noisy CB Union City, CA Overall 155 Position 13 Godfrey Dixon DE Nephi, UT Overall 209 Position 28 Rob Clayton T Great falls, MT Overall 213 Position 20 Shaun Sweeny S Oxford, OH Overall 221 Position 7 Jesse Gomez LB Norco, CA Overall 272 Position 16 Damon Seaver LB Lincoln City, OR Overall 321 Position 12 Wendell Wilkins WR Austin, TX Overall 386 Position 24 Lenny Finley WR Alhambra, CA Overall 419 Position 27 Commits Wally Jennings RB Coon Rapids, ME Overall 7 Position 1 Stanley Baxter T Tucson, AZ Overall 42 Position 9 This is our biggest recruiting coup ever, as we land the #1 RB in the country. Wally Jennings fell in love with our Campus as it reminded him of his Home town and committed halfway through the visit, we were shocked and overjoyed. This kid has run for over 1600 yards in 8 games, caught 41 Passes and scored 23 Touchdowns. He also has 60 tackles and 4.5 sacks from his Linebacker position. Needless to say TJ Parker, our targeted RB goes elsewhere committing to Oregon St. Baxter is also a huge commit and we are going to be really deep at T. Among the many visiting this week are National #1 player Ross Fadler from San Diego. His family has ties to the School, but it does not make him a lock, that is probably the only Reason he gave us a look actually. Mountain West Scoreboard BYU 48 Wyoming 17 Air Force 44 New Mexico 3 Colorado St 31 UNLV 28 Utah 21 San Diego St 20 CSU and Utah in dogfights against 2 of the leagues weaker teams, though San Diego St always seems to play tough against better teams and lose games they should win. Air Force was dominant and I hope they can know Utah off which would put is in great position. The 5-0 start is the best of my career, but a couple of tough games loom ahead. Mountain West Standings
Next weeks Schedule San Diego St at BYU Colorado St at Air Force Local TV North Texas at UNLV Wyoming at Utah The Aztecs worry me as they upset CSU and gave Utah a big scare. They are better than their 1-5 record and just seem to never play consistently at key times, often looking flat against weaker teams. We will get a barometer of how UNLV and Utah are by their results against Teams we have beaten. BYU Alumni in the NFL Ike Wohlman LB Free Agent Harvey Layman T Free Agent Harvey Ashcraf P Free Agent Irv Fletcher T Free Agent Layman and Ashcraf have more promise as a Law firm then NFL players and Wohlman, our best shot to hook up with a team goes home each night to an answering Machine awarding him fabulous prizes for a 3 hour tour of the Tropico resort and his Mother telling him he “should maybe give this crazy Football dream up” |
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