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Shamon Willis (29) breaks up a pass as the BYU football team scrimmages on Thursday, Aug. 20, 2020 at LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo, Utah. | Jaren Wilkey/BYU
Cougars held an 85-play scrimmage Thursday at LaVell Edwards Stadium, but only 30 plays featured full contact because head coach Kalani Sitake said camp had already been physical enough to prepare BYU for the season
PROVO — It is usually one of the rites of preseason training camp for college football teams — the last scrimmage before the focus shifts to “game week” and preparation for the first opponent on the schedule.
It is also customary for the lucky fans invited to watch the last live contact sessions of camp to cheer for the offense to make all the big plays. That’s just the nature of the beast, BYU football coach Kalani Sitake often says.
No fans (or reporters) were present Thursday morning at LaVell Edwards Stadium, as far as we know, so maybe that stirred BYU’s defense to turn in its best performance of any of the three scrimmages held since camp got underway on Aug. 4.
“It was a complete battle between the two,” Sitake reported in a video teleconference Thursday afternoon. “I will have to go watch the film, but I would say right now it was an even match if you look at the guys we had on the field.”
Summarizing the entire day, Sitake said, “I think we got exactly what we wanted from it.”
That wasn’t the case in the first two scrimmages, when some of the biggest defensive stars — guys such as Khyiris Tonga, Isaiah Kaufusi and Payton Wilgar — were held out and the offense dominated, more in the first scrimmage than the second.
“It was a complete battle between the (offense and defense). I will have to go watch the film, but I would say right now it was an even match if you look at the guys we had on the field.” — BYU football coach Kalani Sitake
But still, fans were getting nervous. Was the defense getting trampled, and what would that mean with the precision triple-option attacks of Navy and Army — both on the road — staring the unit right between the eyes?
Defensive coordinator Ilaisa Tuiaki put those fears to rest, even while acknowledging he has “zero” experience defending the triple-option in his coaching career.
“Today, there were some, off the top of my head, positives on both sides of the ball,” Tuiaki said. “The thing we talk about constantly, and we talk to with the offensive staff about, is we know we are playing a good offensive unit right now. They know they are playing a good defensive unit, and it is going to go back and forth all the time. But it needs to be in order for us to get better.”
Sitake, who flat out said the offense “won the day” the first two scrimmages, noted that every defender got in some action this time, and that made a …read more
Source:: Deseret News – Sports News
