BYU ends third week of spring ball with early morning practice

PROVO, Utah – BYU football wrapped up its third week of spring practices with an early morning practice session at the Indoor Practice Facility on Saturday morning. 

The Cougars have reached the midway point of spring ball after three weeks, leading up to next week's open scrimmage and alumni game before finishing in April. 

Following Saturday's practice session, head coach Kalani Sitake, safety Talan Alfrey and punt returner Hobbs Nyberg spoke with members of the media via Zoom. Read select comments below. 

BYU head coach Kalani Sitake
"Great practice today. Obviously I wish we could have been in the stadium but the weather didn't allow us to do that. We wan to scrimmage in the stadium but we adjusted the schedule and we will do a little live work next week. Today was a good day. Offense and defense had some battles, we put them in some situations backed up and had some two-minute and red zone work. Guys did really, really nicely."

On the offense
"It was good to get quarterback Jake Retzlaff back and get in the flow of things. I thought he had his best day today. Kedon [Slovis] and the boys are still working and the competition at quarterback still looks good. The rest of the guys are getting a lot of rotations and a lot of guys getting really valuable reps. I am really happy with how it is going and how the offense is going."

On the defense
"The defense is what is new. There is a lot of install going on. The guys are really starting to take to it and there is minimal mistakes. It looked really good today from the defense. I thought the amount of pressure that we got in there and disruption was good. We created some turnovers which was really nice for them. Jay is doing a great job with his staff and with this defense."

Safety Talan Alfey
On his journey as a player
It has been a fun one. I have enjoyed it. Looking back I can see a lot of ways I could have improved and ways I can improve now. I am working on doing those things so I can be a better player and keep progressing and hopefully be able to contribute to the team this year as well. 

On urgency
"We have definitely been rally efficient. Urgency breeds efficiency. We are jogging and sprinting from drill to drill, setting up quickly, in meetings we go over the drills we are going to do so we know beforehand so we don't have to take time to explain them as much on the field. That type of urgency allows us to get more done with the time we have at practice."

On the new defense
"We have all the install that Coach Hill wants to teach us this spring. We had an opportunity before the spring to learn it and now we are going back through it and relearning it and reinstalling the plays. Spring ball has been good to get live reps running the defense. Our film is with Coach Hill at safety so we are benefitting a lot from him being in there and teaching us the whole defense." 

Punt returner/Wide receiver Hobbs Nyberg
On returning punts
"That's my role right now. I am trying to be the best help that I can. I am just really trying to take pride in giving the offense the ball but anytime there is a chance to return just do what I can with it to set up the offense for momentum and give them a chance to get yards for a first down and get them on their way to score."

On breaking into the wide receiver rotation
"That's my personal goal right now to break into the rotation and hopefully be able to help out as a receiver. With spring ball we've been able to get a lot of reps. I am working every day to get into that rotation and help the offense. With spring ball I am getting a lot of reps with guys out so I am trying to help the offense out and keep it up to its potential."

On live work
"I think it helps a lot with things like ball security. Sometimes you have guys just tagging off or touching you but when you go live you really expose taking care of the ball because the defense is after you and coming in and punching it full on. I think there are a lot of benefits from going live."