Coach Mendenhall Press Conference - Washington

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The following is a partial transcript of BYU Head Coach Bronco Mendenhall's weekly press conference:

Good morning, it’s an exciting start to a new season. I’m optimistic about our team and, as we’ve said before, they’re youthful but these players are very fun to work with. They’re competitive, they’re enthusiastic, they listen and what remains to be seen now is the level of execution to see if they can put a whole game together. I’m anxious to see and especially excited to be playing at home in our opener, and think we have an excellent opponent coming in. And with that, I’ll take any other questions you have.

You’re playing at home with this young team, could you please break that down.

Well I think any time you have a relatively youthful team, or any time you have questions, if you can eliminate questions from the outside it’s easier for those kids to focus on what they’re job is. In this particular case, with these kids, school is starting this week and at least we’re not traveling. There isn’t the experience of staying in a hotel with a new roommate some place else. At least there’s a point of reference to take out that extra thought, as opposed to when you do travel and are dealing with extra hostility and adversity, such as an opposing crowd.

With so many additions with the linebackers and tight ends, is it completely your decision as to who will stay in and who will get the minutes?

It really isn’t my decision at all. All I’ve done is set the parameters as to how many are going to play and let the coaches have an idea of what role they’re going to play, and then from there I allow them the flexibility to adjust and make those decisions during the game. While I’m considering the entire game, their job is to manage their portion.

My guess is you’ll see possible three, maybe four tight ends, and all of the linebackers. By the time it’s ended you’ll have a very good idea of who’s playing well and who will stay in. I don’t think we’ll know that in quarter one or two but probably in quarter three we’ll start getting a good idea and in quarter four we’ll have a lot better idea. That’ll probably carry into next week as well.

Have you broken down enough film to give us a scouting report?

I can. One of the advantages of having an early season opponent that doesn’t have coaching changes is that you usually start your preparation on what they’ve done a year ago. In looking at what they did a year ago, offensively and with a lot of personnel returning, we anticipate a lot of similarities on special teams as well. So I think what you’ll see, from an offensive perspective at Washington, is that they have a quarterback that will be featured. They like possessions similar to BYU possessions with the pass game and moving the football. [Washington quarterback Jake] Locker is certainly not afraid to scramble and they have run plays designed specifically for him with lead blockers so you’ll see lead draws, etc. But you’ll also see some downfield throws where you’ll see a max protection, a seven-man protection, where if they choose to throw the ball down the field they’ll have a protection.

I like the running back, the way he runs the football; they’re very balanced. When we played them a number of years ago, it was much more centered around Jake Locker and him getting the ball; but now, with the ball distribution, the plan seems more comprehensive and more effective.

Defensively it should be interesting, with Nick Holt being their coordinator a year ago they were very conservative. They were similar to us in a lot of ways on defense and really trying to manage the points. It’ll be interesting now, as they continue to recruit, and to get to more confidence in the scheme, if that will shift more towards zone pressure, especially with a youthful quarterback on our part. So certainly we know where the starting point is. I think the thing to track will be how much zone pressure and/or man pressure they incorporate. We’re certain that can be something, and has been something, they’ve done before; if you look at the youth of our quarterbacks that’ll possibly become something that’s in the plan as well.

In special teams all I’ll say is they’re very solid. They have very similar punting to what we do, they’re very solid on kick returns and, if all things were equal – which they’re not, but I think the field position in special teams, especially with our particular team, and our relative inexperience is going to be a very critical part. We’re giving as much emphasis to that as we can to win that battle.

Despite the youth, do you think defensively you are more equipped to handle a QB like Locker?

I think two things. We’ve played so many option/zone-read teams over the past five years. We have a very comprehensive plan with a lot of different answers and I don’t think we’ve ever struggled with handling that part of it and now, when you consider adding another year with speed and athleticism, on that part it’s exciting. However, we all know we’re playing a zone-read team, which isn’t all they do – it’s just a small portion – but when you’re playing an option team it’s more assignments over athleticism. We should be able to make up for some mistakes at a higher level with more speed and athleticism but that can’t override the execution and assignment part.

It’s been a few days since you announced the QB decision, what feedback have you gotten from the team, if any?

I think the general response, and I haven’t solicited much feedback from them, but when I announced it there were a lot of nodding heads. Kind of the quiet support and those that have made a comment say it was the right decision and they’re behind it 100 percent, which is the easy thing to say now. For fans, for media and for everyone else, if it doesn’t go well that’ll be when the tough part comes.