Visiting Coaches Attend Practice, Annual Clinic

PROVO -- BYU concluded the second week of spring practices Friday in front of more than 300 high school coaches who were in Provo to participate in the program’s annual BYU Spring Football Coaches Clinic.

Coaches from around the country, including Texas, Hawaii, California, Arizona, Nevada, Washington, Idaho and Wyoming, had the opportunity to take part in the clinic. Among their activities during the daylong event, coaches participated in position workshops and breakout sessions with members of the BYU coaching staff.

“I think we had as many or more coaches participating this year as we did last year,” BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall said. “The clinic is a real benefit to high school football in Utah with some great coaches coming from around the country to present. It also allows those coaches to learn more about BYU, which can help our program.”

One of the highlights the coaches witnessed during practice was freshman quarterback Jake Heaps guiding the offense to a 75-yard touchdown drive during the final 11-on-11 segment of the day. Heaps competed 6-of-10 passes for 73 yards on the drive. He connected twice with junior wide receiver Matt Marshall, once for eight yards and another for 20 yards, and also found redshirt freshman Cody Hoffman for a 20-yard gain. Heaps finished the drive with two throws to redshirt freshman tight end Mike Muehlmann, completing an 11-yard pass over the middle for the score.

During earlier team sessions, junior quarterback Riley Nelson was 3-for-6 for 18 yards with another 11 yards on three carries, while sophomore James Lark was 2-for-2 for eight yards with five rushing yards on two carries. Freshman running back Joshua Quezada had 13 yards on three carries as the top gainer on the ground with a lot of backs getting action.

On the defensive side of the ball, Travis Uale made an interception on a Hail Mary attempt, and cornerback Corby Eason raced downfield to emerge out of a pileup with a fumble recovery. Freshman linebacker Kyle Van Noy used his speed around the outside to record a sack, and redshirt freshman defensive back Paul Olsen delivered one of the biggest hits of the day to limit a gain. The defense kept the offense out of the end zone until the final session of the day.

“I think our knowledge of the system and our confidence is climbing, but we still need to work on our execution,” Mendenhall said.

The team will resume practice again on Monday.