Provo Pride :: An Unofficial BYU Cougars Blog

Roese came to BYU back in June 2005 during Coach Rose's first season. According to BYUCougars.com, Roese was the first full-time Brazilian assistant coach in Division I.

Prior to BYU Roese was at BYU-Hawaii where he was a volunteer assistant. Roese had an impact in getting last season's MWC Freshman of the Year, Jonathan Tavernari, due to his strong ties to Brazil.

The NFL Draft is only eight days and a prospect who is climbing up many draft boards lately is Cougar Quarterback John Beck. Here is a breakdown of one of the best Cougar signal callers ever to come through Provo.

#1 Intelligence, Hard Worker
Beck is known by all Cougar die-hards as a football junkie. When head coach Bronco Mendenhall took over BYU in 2005 and brought along Texas Tech offensive line coach Robert Anae as Offensive Coordinator, Beck studied every Texas Tech play on offense from the previous two seasons so he could get a feel for what type of offense he was going to be running. He loves the game of football, and since he was a little kid he was destined to be a Quarterback.

#2 Accuracy
In his four seasons in Provo, Beck improved each season on his pass completion percentage. Last season he was at a staggering 69.3% by season's end which was just shy of Steve Young's 1983 record of 70%. Beck not only is very accurate but he knows where to put the ball, making Beck a Wide Receiver's dream QB.

#3 ARM STRENGTH!
I have been tired of hearing about Beck's lack of arm strength. This is just down right ridiculous. NFL scouts seriously need to watch highlights from Beck's 2004 season where he was going deep all the time in former Head Coach Gary Crowton's offense. Watch this highlight package from the Boise State game at the 1:25 mark. Beck at numerous plays is going deep to Todd Watkins, Austin Collie, and Bryce Mahuika. In these highlights he makes the deep pass look easy with a quick release and a flick of the wrist. So this whole "adequate" or "below average" arm strength comments are just pathetic. Beck threw 61.1 mph at the combine which was 2nd behind a QB from a D-1AA school.

Age
Not many NFL franchises want a Quarterback who will be 26 years old when the season starts. But Beck is very mature and a natural leader. Many teams will over look Beck simply because of his age but they will be getting a steal.

Durability
Beck struggled during his four years in Provo with injuries. Even last season during the great 11-2 season he had problems with his two ankles which he injured in the season opener at Arizona. He needs to prove that he can be able to survive a rigorous 16 game NFL schedule.

Miami Dolphins
A lot of talk lately has been about the Dolphins taking Beck with possibly the 40th pick. ESPN Draft guru, Mel Kiper has Beck going to the Dolphins as well at pick #60. This would be a very good situation for Beck. He would be able to learn under Trent Green (expected to sign) who has two to three seasons left in his career and has been known to be injury prone so it could be sooner than that. The Dolphins have a great leadership in their front office with Wayne Huizenga. They have many skill position players as well for Beck to succeed. I really see this as being one of Beck's best fits.

New Orleans Saints
The Saints are set at QB with Drew Brees, but Brees has had a history of being injured and the Saints depth at the position is a concern. A player like Beck with his talent could be a great back-up behind Brees. How exciting would it be to see Beck along with Reggie Bush?

New York Jets
The Jets hope and pray each season that Chad Pennington stays healthy. The back-up, Kellen Clemens is still young and has only seen time in two seasons but Beck could step right in and be the #2 guy.

Oakland Raiders
The Raiders are expected to take QB JaMarcus Russell, but if the Raiders happen to take WR Calvin Johnson or even trade the pick, I wouldn't be surprised to see the Raiders possibly taking a shot at Beck. Now going to Oakland wouldn't be bad in terms of having a chance to play early but with that Offensive Line (they are so bad they have former Ute Barry Sims still) being as bad as it is, Beck would be seeing a lot of time in the McAfee Coliseum turf.

Baltimore Ravens
Steve McNair has a few years left in the tank. Kyle Boller is nothing to get excited about and Brian Billick has ties with BYU (former TE).

I really believe that Beck deserves to be a 2nd Round pick or even sneak into the 1st Round. Beck is much better than Stanford QB Trent Edwards who for some odd reason is a big-time prospect for many teams. But part of me realizes that with Beck playing at BYU he will probably go in the 3rd Round which is not bad at all. I just hope he doesn't slip to the second day like many former Cougars who have expected to go on Day 1 and then slip all the way to the 7th Round. The NFL draft is a confusing thing, its not always based on how productive you are on the field or your overall football talents. But, I would agree with Mel Kiper I think Beck is going to go to the Dolphins at pick #60. I think that would be a great franchise for Beck to succeed.

Junior Running Back Ray Hudson has opted to transfer to D-1AA Stephen F. Austin. Hudson who has seen very limited playing time, wants to be closer to home.

I really don't feel that this is too big of a shocker. Hudson wasn't going to see much time this season due to the great depth at Running Back anyway. Hopefully, everything will work out for Hudson it is good for both parties.

Now the coaching staff has an extra scholarship that they can use to give out to a current player or possibly a player to sign over the summer. So it will work out well. Another positive is that incoming Freshman J.J. DiLuigi could be the designated speedster at RB and could see time at the RB spot.

The College Basketball signing period started back on April 11th and goes to May 16th. Not much has been said about who Rose and staff are going after. But with six Seniors gone it is obvious that a player or two is expected to sign. Here are some of the prospects that I found some information on.

Garrett is the recruit most Cougar fans know about. The sharp shooting guard originally from St. George, is receiving some serious attention from big-time college basketball programs. Oklahoma State, Oregon, and BYU have all offerred for Garrett's services. Another school that might offer Garrett is the Kansas Jayhawks. The only way that Kansas offers Garrett is if Brandon Rush leaves early for the NBA. Garrett might visit Kansas in the near future. Garrett was the NJCAA leader in points this past season with a total of 552 points averaging 15.8 per game.

Dateline: 4/10/2007
BYU RECRUIT MAKES VISIT
Brad Garrett, College of Southern Idaho Ht: 6-5 Wt: 195 Position: SG Class: RS - Freshman High School: Pine View Middle (St George, UT) Junior College: Southern Idaho Biography: Redshirted at Dixie Junior College out of High school, went on a two year Mission for the LDS church, Transfered to College of Southern Idaho after Dixie went from Junior College to NCAA Division II ... Started for CSI and helped lead them to a Final Four Finish at Nationals.. Schools of Interest: BYU, visit date.. 04/05/2007 , Illinois, Oklahoma State, Oregon, Visit Date 04/22/2007 , Georgia, Kansas , and USC...

If Rose can land Garrett, it would give him the luxury of being able to redshirt New York sharp-shooter Jimmer Fredette. This would be a great signing in the Spring period.

Harris is 6-6, 210 and has even said that he wants to go to BYU. Harris is also receiving attention from Florida State, Notre Dame, and Texas Tech. Harris plays for the Houston Hoops AAU team that is the defending champions in the Las Vegas Spring Showcase that is one of the biggest AAU tournaments. They will be looking to defend their title at the end of the month.

Davis is a JC prospect who originally played at UTEP in his Freshman season back in '04-'05, where he averaged only 1.8 ppg. Redshirted his Sophomore season due to injury (broken foot) and then transferred to get a fresh start. In this article, Davis says that he has received alot of attention from BYU. He visited BYU back on April 13th. He is teammates with Garrett. Davis has received an offer from Arkansas, and has received attention from Miami (FL), NC State, and Illinois just to name a few.

Bonner was originally supposed to be a walk-on for Steve Cleveland awhile back out of Mesa, AZ. He never enrolled at BYU, and went on a LDS mission. He averaged 8.4 ppg this past season for Cochise. Bonner's options are BYU, Southern Utah, and some other small schools.

Yesterday, I was at the annual Blue & White game. Exciting to once again see BYU Football. It was a great day except for the foot injury to Quarterback Cade Cooper. I didn't quite

understand how he was injured, it was some freak accident from how it appeared. I was upset after it happened. It makes you realize that depth can be gone instantly in the game of football. Hopefully we hear soon the severity of his injury. When I went down on the field after the scrimmage his foot was really puffy, he was making light of the situation but it was apparent that he was in obvious pain.

Aside from the Cooper injury, I came away impressed with the overall execution of this team. Here are a few of my observations from the scrimmage.

Seeing Max Hall perform today solidified that he is definitely the starter, and that is not due to the Cooper injury. Hall seems very calm and collected in the pocket and throws a nice ball. He is going to be a very good QB this season, I'm very confident in that.

Didn't plan on seeing Brenden Gaskins very much today but due to the injury of Cooper he filled in nicely, leading the visiting "White" team on a 97-yard drive that culminated on a 5-yard TD pass to Reed White (Danny White's son). Gaskins was interviewed by KUTV and showed some emotion for how grateful he was to have the chance to be playing at BYU. I thought that was really great to see, I think it is great to see a player showing passion for his team.

But it is very clear that on Monday Mendenhall will announce Hall as the starting Quarterback. Which is a smart move so Hall can gain leadership with the offense and the team.

Coach Jaime Hill is doing another great job this season with these corners. This was a hard hitting unit today. I was very impressed with Andre Saulsberry. He had numerous hard hits, he did however miss one tackle, but I'm alot more confident in Saulsberry being a candidate to start at that field position corner alongside Criddle. Speaking of Criddle, he was on the sidelines and still had a limp to his walk. Hopefully Criddle over the summer is at full strength. He was on the east sideline before the scrimmage throwing the ball around with another Corner Brandon Bradley. Bradley is another player that would be nice to see healthy and on the field, he has great size.

Brandon Howard had a nice PBU that otherwise would have went for a Touchdown. Howard has made great strides this Spring. I'm very confident that if this group of Cornerbacks gets healthy and stays healthy that they will be very good this season.

The O-Line struggled alot at the beginning of this scrimmage, allowing the D-line to get in the backfield and force the QBs to scramble. The back-up Center, I believe was Garrett Reden was struggling with bad snaps. One of which was the reason for Cooper's injury, after that he was pulled. But over the course of the scrimmage they played alot better giving Hall and Gaskins time to make the passes.

We all know the reason that Vic So'oto was not in attendance today at the scrimmage, so we won't get into that.

So Dennis Pitta and Andrew George took center stage. George had a nice catch down the sideline from Hall for 20+ yards on the first drive of the game. Dennis Pitta is now #32, and looks to be in great shape. Brock Hansen who used to be a Quarterback had a few catches as well. The TE spot without So'oto still looks to be very good, but if you add So'otos athleticsm your looking at a TE unit that is once again the best in the conference. Hopefully he returns to the team soon.

Aside from Cooper's injury, LB Dan Van Sweden limped off the field. He looked to be nursing a ankle injury as well...Saw recent Cougar commit Austin Holt in attendance along with some former Cougars from last season (John Beck, Cameron Jensen, Nate Meikle, and Zac Collie)

A fun day of Cougar Football. Now the dog days of summer loom until the revenge game against Arizona.

Over at Beat Writer Pat Kinahan's blog he mentions that Plaisted is flirting with the idea of going to the NBA.

When I read this I thought, "Is Plaisted crazy?" I honestly don't know what he is thinking with this one. He is obviously getting some terrible advice. Now I'm not saying that Plaisted doesn't have the potential to be in the NBA, but as of right now he will just be another Marcus Slaughter (San Diego State). Plaisted needs to develop that mid-range jump shot that Keena Young mastered towards the end of his career. Plaisted has all the makings to be in the Pros. But right now, he is completely one dimensional with his little baby hook shot in the middle of the lane, that's it. Then his Free Throw shooting is terrible.

If Plaisted actually does go and try for the NBA and get a Agent, BYU basketball will be hurting next season, even more. We would go from a NCAA Tournament team to a team barely making the NIT without Plaisted. He just needs to stay in school and improve his game.

Before the hoops season started in Los Angeles back in November, I set out a list of goals for this 2006-2007 BYU Basketball squad. Here is how the Cagers fared on the tasks that we felt would bring BYU Basketball back on the national scene and achievements that had not been done in awhile.

This team has a lot of potential, and many Cougar fans feel this could finally be the year the Cougs win an outright Conference title. That hasn't been done since the '87-'88 season, when the Cougs were in the WAC, to say the least its been a long time. The MWC has some good teams in San Diego State, and Air Force who have won the conference the past two years, but overall depth BYU has the best team compared to these two. The biggest challenge will be winning those critical road games in the conference, BYU must win at least five on the road to earn the crown.

I was pretty accurate on this prediction. The Cougars did win the MWC outright title for the first time since the '87-'88 season. I was also right on the team winning five MWC road games to win the title. BYU finished 13-3 in conference, going 8-0 at home and 5-3 on the road. This was the #1 goal because the regular season title is always the most important thing you want every year as a program. Almost won the conference tournament but a red hot Top 25 UNLV team detoured those plans. This was the first time BYU Football and Men's Basketball won outright titles in the conference since the '81-'82 season.

This is another long drought for the BYU basketball program. There hasn't been a tournament victory for the Cougs since the '92-'93 season over SMU in Chicago. Eventually lost to Kansas in the 2nd Round (76-90).
BYU will have to defy the odds and be a "Cinderella" type of story to get a win, with the committee always giving BYU low seeds. The past three appearances have all been 12 seeds. But one deep run in the Tournament can help your program for years to come. Prime example, Gonzaga, they went to the Elite 8 back in the 2000 season, and they have been receiving high seeds ever since. BYU has the talent to win in the tournament with talented low-post play and great shooters. Its the NCAA tournament or bust this season, and a win is critical with there being many uperclassmen.

After the Lamar game earlier in the season, the NCAA Tournament was a distant thought but once we had a 7-game home stand and conference play started that's when this team was kick started and was playing to their expectations. As the MWC regular season champ, the infamous Joe Lunardi had us projected as a 5 seed. I've come to the conclusion that guy is a joke. We ended up with a 8 seed out in Lexington, KY. We played a very beatable Xavier team who had plenty of Tournament experience. This was the chance to show BYU basketball is back and a force to be reckoned with. The only way to get attention on a national scale is get wins in the Tournament and that has eluded BYU. We just can't pull out the wins. Xavier made a run late and won by two. It was a heartbreaking loss and left this Senior class feeling as though something was missing, and unfinished. This task was failed.

Starting to notice a tend in these goals? This is yet another long drought for the Cougars. '93-'94 was the last time BYU went into the Huntsman Center and pulled out a victory. It was in memorable fashion with a Robbie Reid bomb from the 3-point arc, giving the Cougs a 64-62 win. Last year, everything was in BYU's favor on paper going into the HC, and the Cougars came out completely flat and suffered an embarrassing 19 point loss to the Utes. With this being Coach Rose's 2nd season he knows what he needs to do to get his team prepared for big games. Utah on paper looks to be a rebuilding year, where they will be relying on Johnnie Bryant, Luke Nevill, and many newcomers to provide a spark. It's time to finally end this drought.

BYU came into the Huntsman Center in late January coming off a two-game winning streak, and was starting to build confidence. There was no doubt in the minds of Cougar faithful that this team would finally end this losing streak. Another reason for that was this Utah squad was horrible. BYU only won by 10 in the Huntsman Center ending the drought but it could have been a lot more. We finally got the sweep over the Utes this season, victory in football and two wins in hoops. The game at the Marriott Center was sweet. It gave us the outright crown and we won by 23. Like Austin Ainge said, there isn't a better way to win it.

When the non-conference schedule was released in July, the obvious headliners were these two big-time opponents. Both of these games are on National TV, with the UCLA game on Fox Sports Net, and Michigan State to be televised on ESPN2. BYU opens the season against the Bruins in Pauley Pavillion who were the national runner-ups last season. The odds look to be against BYU, but UCLA lost PG Jordan Farmar (Lakers), and one of the Bruins feature low-post players Lorenzo Mata is out 4-5 weeks with knee surgery.
Then the Michigan State game, which will be played on a neutral floor in the Place of Auburn Hills in Detroit. Next season, the Spartans make a return visit to the Delta Center. Tom Izzo's Spartans lost Shannon Brown, Paul Davis, and Maurice Ager. The Spartans don't have one Senior on this year's roster. This game is winnable, will be difficult but can be done.

Here were two other chances for BYU to make a splash against national powers. We opened the season in Pauley Pavillion and were up by three at Half. But the athleticsm of UCLA took over. UCLA is in the Final Four right now, and it irks me because we should have beat these guys. BYU was its own enemy against the Bruins with too many Turnovers. I remember watching the game on FSN Prime Ticket and the announcers were saying that this BYU squad would be in the Top 4 of the Pac-10 this season. Against Michigan State on ESPN2 (a rare occurance these days) with Brent Musberger commentating along with Steve Lavin, they were very impressed with BYU. Lavin even said, that BYU is a potential Witchita State from the previous season who could make a deep run in this tournament. What I'm saying with that is people in the media when they see BYU realize the potential, but the team it self has failed to realize it.

BYU is always gonna be a force in the Mountain West particularly at home, and in the past two seasons have been great on the road in conference. But in order for this program to take the next step they need to win games against big name non-conference opponents. Michigan State comes to Salt Lake next year in the Energy Solutions Center.

I'm excited for the future of this program, and the BYU administration needs to give Coach Rose a raise. This guy is a stud, he is gonna lead this program to big things. I firmly believe that. He is definitely the man for the job and he needs to be rewarded for his great efforts with a pay raise. I wouldn't doubt it if down the road, his alma-mater, Houston came calling and he did a similar thing like Cleveland. So we need to lock him up.

All in all a great season, a MWC title and two wins over Utah, and a Top 25 appearance for the first time in 13 years is always great. But as mentioned earlier this program needs to get the big non-conference and NCAA tournament wins to make waves on the national scene and thats what we want.

Nothing so far has been said about Spring Football here on Provo Pride, but the Cougar gridders are now in full pads now. Looking to "Raise The Bar" for this upcoming season, and it all starts here in Spring Football. Here are my thoughts from reading the practice reports since the first day of camp.

The feature story going into Spring, is of course the QB controversy brewing between Max Hall and Snow JC transfer Cade Cooper. According to all the reports it seesm as though Hall is the front-runner for the job considering he knows the offense from sitting out last season. Both players bring great attributes for Coach Mendenhall to use. I really think Cooper should be used similar to how Florida used Tim Tebow last season. In short yardage, goal line, and trick plays, Cooper's athleticsm would be great in those situations.

This guy is an absolute beast. I love reading articles that include quotes from Kehl. The guy brings relentless effort, and is not shy being confident about this upcoming team. Kehl is BYU's best NFL-prospect this upcoming season.

A surprise name has been floating around and that is Scott Johnson, who could see some time this season at the boundary CB position. Brandon Howard has really elevated his play, along with Andre Saulsberry. I'm glad to see these two guys finally producing and being mentioned in the two-deep. In the past, I've wondered what the deal was with these guys not seeing time, but its good that they are stepping up now to replace Justin Robinson. Gotta give tons of credit to Jaime Hill this guy flat out knows how to coach.

The only noticable position change is Nate Hutchinson moving from Cornerback to Wide Reciever. I think this a good sign, because Hutchinson was not flourishing at the CB spot, and shows that Mendenhall feel confident in the Cornerback position. Out of Pine View HS in St. George he was a solid WR.

The stud Freshman All-American WR Austin Collie has returned to Provo. There was alot of concern amongst the Cougar community that he was out of shape and would take a while to recover from his mission after seeing a segment on KSL's Cougar Beat. But Collie seems has though he has brushed the dust off very quick. Collie recorded a 71-yard TD reception in the first scrimmage of Spring that was at LES.

Early-Enrollee Austen Jorgensen out of North Sanpete HS has recovered nicely from his season ending knee injury last season and is impressing the coaches, cracking the two-deep. RM LB Grant Nelson is another LB who is making waves on the two-deep as well. The Linebackers this season are outstanding.

BYU was listed as a "Team to Watch" by CBS Sportsline. BYU's second opponent, UCLA is ranked 9th. BYU's first two games of the season are going to be great matchups and could set up BYU for a BCS run.

The Blue & White game this year is on April 14th at LES at noon. Admission is Free.

This game hurts alot. Hurts more than the lost to Syracuse back in 2004. So many opportunities to take over this game. I will break it down tomorrow and give Senior salutes. But I need some time to recover from this one. My bracket is finished who cares about the tournament now.

This is going to be a great game. Post your comments about the game in the comments section. Sign up for your free account today to post your thoughts on the game. Here's the bracket for the South Region.

Tonight at Rupp Arena in Lexington, will be BYU's first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since the 2003-2004 season where we lost to Gerry McNamara and the defending National Champion Syracuse Orangemen in Denver.

The Cougs haven't won a tourney game since '93 (SMU in Chicago) we all know that, and in order for that long drought to end here are some things that need to be done.

FAST START!
The last two games in the Mountain West Tournament against Wyoming and UNLV, BYU got off to hot starts. Here in the Big Dance that is a must especially for this team who has no experience at this stage. Also, with the fast start it puts the Musketeers their backs against the wall immediately and they will start to hurry things.

Make Free Throws
BYU shot only 60% in the MWC Tourney. In order to make a run in the NCAA Tournament that is not gonna cut it. We know that Plaisted most likely is gonna miss FTs, but if he can at least make 1 of 2 everytime and get points it will help drastically.

Austin Ainge
Ainge is a streaky player, he struggled mightily against UNLV's press defense. Ainge when in rhythm is an outstanding passer and can make great plays. But as Mark Durrant would say, "Ainge makes ya have white knuckles with some of the decisions he makes." (During the UNLV broadcast) I couldn't agree more with that. Point Guard play is crucial in the tournament, and Ainge on the defensive end needs to contain from the Musketeers' top player Lavender who is their little general standing at only 5'7.

Finish Strong
Against Wyoming and UNLV, BYU ended the game poorly. Mainly due to the lack of FTs being made. But this was a mainstay with Steve Cleveland teams when we would get a big lead to not blow it. So finish strong.

Xavier will have no answer for BYU's big men up front. Xavier's tallest player is only 6'9. Then if the Musketeers decide to double team Trent or KT, our bigs will kick out to one of our many sharp shooters. It will be a tough game but BYU finally ends their 14 year drought without a tourney win.

Advertising