Jake Heaps’ college football cleats are broken in.
“It was so frustrating.” Heaps explained when asked about the TCU lopsided lose and the first half of the 2010 season in general.
The frustrated QB then went on to explain that he burned a good amount of time by himself, tearing apart everything he had learned and experienced in his young football life, to find something that he could use to indentify and label whatever was causing the inept BYU play as of late. The same thought kept sifting its way to the top of all that has made Jake Heaps a star football player.
“We needed to come together as a team. … We had to step it up. … We had to make everything more intense. … Everyone had to work harder.”
Wait, isn’t that what every half decent coach has taught his team since shoulder pads have been plastic, and beyond? Well, yes. But “yes” is not always the answer to this next question;
Do teams always come together as a team, work hard, and step it up?
From that point on, the Cougars did work hard and came together as a team; finishing the season by winning 5 of the next 6, while putting up 40 or more points 4 times and going over 50 twice.
The question is has that momentum carried over the long off-season?
Head coach Bronco seems to be buying in. When asked about what he saw during spring practice he gave pretty high praise, going against his usually painfully mellow self.
"What makes this spring unique is I really believe we are gaining momentum.”
“…It feels like beginning all over again, only from a further place than we started from six years ago."
Bronco appears to have lumped the previous six years together, and now is starting on his second half as BYU’s head coach. And from all the adjustments that have been made recently, I’d say he and his team of both coaches and players are looking to drastically outcoach their first half self in every column across the board.
One of the “stats” BYU is looking to upgrade is energy; energy on the field and off; energy from the players and the coaching staff… especially from the staff.
The hiring of Joe DuPaix to the BYU offensive staff, and the promotion of Brandon Doman to offensive coordinator position has high-jacked the previously bland slumber of the BYU coaching staff the same way Mr. Barry Bonds’ “vitamins” high-jacked him to record breaking home runs… only Doman and Dupaix won’t have an asterisk next to their names.
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| Joe DuPaix |
DuPaix and Doman aren’t the only major coaching changes that BYU has pressed for 2011. Bronco has placed himself back to what he originally cut his teeth on as a BYU coach; the defensive coordinator.
After the change was made, the cougar D was not just visually different between the sidelines, but different in the movement from the sidelines to the hash marks.
When the ball changed hands from offense to defense all 11 defenders lined up on the sideline as if waiting for the starting pistol, and then would sprint out at full speed together! This is something that Bronco had established when he took over special teams as well. Energy? Yea, I think so.
Whether or not BYU wins 10+ games this season is left to be determined, but one stat that has already been inked for the upcoming season... Excitement!
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| Mr. Excitement |
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