BYU football holds 10th spring practice

BYU football held it's 10th spring practice session on Tuesday. More than a dozen players and coaches talked to the media following practice. Read below some of what head coach Kalani Sitake, receiver Mitchell Juergens and running back Trey Dye had to say.

BYU Head Coach Kalani Sitake

On the basketball game tonight:
I’ll be there and most of the team will be there. We try to encourage them to support the other (teams) besides football. I think it's important to get them involved.

On coaches from other sports and relationships:
We all support each other, and cheer in our own different ways. I get to see the other coaches when we have department meetings. We share ideas about recruiting, coaching and organization. There are always a lot of things we learn from each other.

Biggest surprise so far this spring:
The buy-in level from the players this spring has been awesome. They trust what we're trying to accomplish. Academics, things that we’re demanding from them on the field, and in the weight room especially reflect that they are all in. That’s what is special about BYU. You get guys that are in line with what you ask them to do.

What do you want to get out of the spring game?
I want to entertain the fans a little bit, but I do not want to give away our playbook. This spring game will be different from past years. We don’t have enough to make two full teams so it will be more of a scrimmage. Expect to see a lot of highlights from some of the younger players who have been doing well in spring. I do not want to set a limit on how many plays we are going to run. We’ll go until we have enough plays to evaluate all the players on this team.

How much of Sitake’s defense has been implemented this spring?
Defensively, we've installed a lot more than what we first expected. The players have shown they can handle a lot more than we anticipated. The foundation has been set on both sides of the ball. We haven't been able to hit kickoff and kickoff return and a few other special teams because that is not our focus right now. We are trying to get our punt team and place kicking set first. Offensively and defensively, I believe we have established our identity and we have a few more things to add. I don't think there's ever a time where you say we have everything installed, but with the talent we have coming back on both sides of the ball, we have enough to go into a game.

Senior WR Mitchell Juergens

Playing for Ben Cahoon:
It’s awesome. One thing I love about him is his enthusiasm. He comes out to practice with his cleats on, and he’s running routes with us showing us what to do. After each play he’ll run out and make sure we’re finishing. It’s awesome to see a guy with so much passion and fire for the game. It really does transfer over to the players. He gets out there and shows us exactly what we need to do to be a better football player. He’s a good example on the field, and we look up to him as a leader.

On the offense:
They always told us the offense would pan out and the best guys would be on the field, so I never had a worry. It does motivate me to be in the best shape I can and clean up my game as best as I can so I can be one of those guys for Coach Detmer and Coach Cahoon. We are seeing the whole offense come together. It’s a good feeling and I really love it.

Playing with Tanner Mangum and Taysom Hill:
As a kid you dream of stuff like this. You watch the greats like Ty Detmer throw the ball around and you dream of playing with a guy like that, and we’ve got two of them. We count our blessings every day, and we do our best to learn from them. They’re both experienced and amazing leaders that we all look up to, and it’s comfortable being out there with them knowing they’re the two that will lead us. We have full confidence in them.

Junior RB Trey Dye

About playing running back:
It's been fun so far. I've had to switch up my diet a bit. Can't be running the ball successfully at such a light weight, so I’ve put on a few pounds and I’m feeling good. I grew up playing running back, and in the recruiting process the question was if I would be able to play it at the next level. I accepted that I was smaller, but just having the opportunity to play this position again hits home for me.

On the offense:
The game has slowed down. Guys don't have to be on the field thinking a million miles an hour. I feel like guys are getting more production from the reps that they are getting. The future is bright for the offense the more and more guys start to click together.