Kyle Collinsworth meets with media

Sophomore guard Kyle Collinsworth met with the media for the first time since returning from his two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Vladivostok, Russia, on Tuesday.

Collinsworth didn't touch a basketball for the past two years, but has been working his way back since his return by swimming, working out in the sand and doing yoga.

"I've actually made a lot of progress," Collinsworth said. "I'm really surprised at my progress so far and the key is to have no setbacks. The hardest part was patience, because sometimes I think I'm ready to play a game right now, but I'm not." 

The 6-6 guard hopes to play with the ball in his hands and believes the deep guard line will be able to mesh well. Collinsworth also noted how athletic BYU's team will be this upcoming season. 

"I'd even go as far to say that this might be the most athletic team BYU has ever had," Collinsworth said. "Eric Mika, I've never seen a big guy play like him who can run and jump like he can. So we are very athletic this year." 

Collinsworth will be playing with new teammates in a new conference and is looking forward to playing against conference foe, Gonzaga. 

"The last game I won at BYU was against Gonzaga," he said. "The one thing I want to do is go and get another one against them. It's been a while for us, but I'm excited. There are a lot of good teams in our conference." 

A big takeaway during his LDS mission was to be mentally tough, which has been a big advantage for him since coming back.

As a freshman, Collinsworth averaged 5.8 points, 5.1 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.1 steals during BYU's run to the Sweet 16 in 2010-11.