BYU begins second week of spring practice

PROVO, Utah - The BYU football team began its second week of spring practices in the Indoor Practice Facility Monday morning.

The Cougars had three practices last week to kick off spring ball and will continue to practice during the month of March.

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Head coach Kalani Sitake
On Steve Kaufusi coaching linebackers:
"He’s doing a great job. We felt like it would be a good time for Coach Tuiaki to be with our D-line; that’s what he is most comfortable with. Steve has a ton of experience, and I think that would be better utilized in the backfield, being able to see the run game and the pass game as well. I also think it’s good for his career. It’s going really smoothly."

On the offensive front:
"We are good. I like the talent we have there. Obviously we can get getting bigger and stronger. I think we will have a good, solid group. For us, we want to have more than just the five starters. If we feel good about nine guys getting significant reps, that would help us even more. Hopefully we can count on more than the five starters."

On the experience in the secondary:
"When you have a lot of guys that have game experience, that is key. Now they are teaching the young guys. They understand how it goes, and I think for them, perfecting their craft and technique is going to be important for them."

Defensive back Troy Warner
"Everything’s been going smoothly. We’re all just getting our feet under ourselves and dusting off the rust. Overall, it’s been fun to be back."

"We are just working on being technically sound. We’ve watched the film and a lot of times when we were beat, it was because we weren’t technically sound. As long as we’re focusing on that and trying to take away the ball, we’ll be alright."

"I’m feeling excited. There’s a lot of young talent, so I feel like there’s no ceiling for us. We have a lot of potential, and with the help of Coach Lamb and Coach Gilford, I feel like we can excel."

"The more leaders we have on the defense, the better we’re going to be. Obviously Fred (Warner) is a big leader, but if we can all hold ourselves accountable and hold each other accountable, that’s going to make us that much better."

Wide receiver Talon Shumway
"It’s good to get back to it. We’ve had about three months off and you get itchy to get back and start playing again. Everybody loves spring ball."

"The learning curve is a lot easier in spring. In the fall there’s a lot of new stuff coming in, but now it’s a lot of rerunning what we’ve already learned. You get to focus on some things other than just learning the offense."

"I feel really comfortable. Having last year to learn the offense and run through it a lot, now I’m starting to feel comfortable there and we’re starting to get into a groove. When we get to fall, we’ll up it a little more."