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A rainy morning in Provo forced the BYU football team indoors today, but that didn't stop coach Bronco Mendenhall from calling it his favorite practice of fall camp.

"Man, we looked really good, offensively and defensively," Mendenhall said.

We will have to take his word for it; The media-viewing portion of practice began at 11:30 a.m., but Mendenhall wrapped things up around 11:40 a.m., so we didn't get to see a heck of a lot.

Taysom Hill threw a beautiful deep pass to Nick Kurtz and also completed throws to Mitchell Juergens and Terenn Houk in the 10 minutes of 11-on-11 work in helmets, shorts and shoulder pads.

The biggest development was that there was another No. 10 on the practice field today, in addition to Mitch Mathews. Wearing a No. 10 green jersey was McCoy Hill. Remember him? He was the third-stringer last year who severely injured his foot the first day of spring camp last March and was not in the 105 when camp opened on Aug. 8.

Hill will take the roster spot opened up when TE Steven Richards suffered a season-ending knee injury last week.

Mendenhall had said he'd hold one final scrimmage today, but he decided not to, apparently.

Why not?

"Just based on our evaluation of where our team is," he said. "I like what I saw. We are healthy, we are fast. We look physical. So, doesn't seem like there is a reason to."

A couple more odds and ends from today's interviews with Mendenhall, DT Travis Tuiloma and QB Taysom Hill:

* Mendenhall was asked if anybody exceeded expectations at camp this year.

"No, I don't think so," he said. "I think one of the biggest surprises in terms of a young player was [running back] Francis Bernard. So I really liked what he has done from a freshman perspective. But overall, we brought in a lot of really good, young players.

So I am super excited about our freshman class. It is fun to have gone through the recruiting process and then have the players show up and be what you thought they were. And we have a lot of really good young players. And to blend with the experience, I am optimistic for not only this season, but the future."

* Mendenhall must love emojis, etc. Asked whether he will leave it up to position coaches to determine the depth chart, he said: "I will. They submit them to me, and I put either a smiley face or a frowny face. I have final say, but they get their first shot."

* Mendenhall got a lot of depth-chart questions today, probably because reporters such as I have to produce a two-deep chart in the next day or two for college football sections this Sunday. He said he won't release it until Monday — so no help there. I asked him to name the closest position battles.

"We got a bunch," he said. "There are some battles at receiver. There are some battles at running back. There are some battles at linebacker. Certainly, in the secondary. Even defensive line. It is almost every position right now except quarterback, which is a good thing."

* I think asking a coach to name a fall camp MVP is kinda silly and pointless, but since someone asked Mendenhall that today, I figure you'd probably be interested in his reply: "I don't have a fall camp MVP. I just like our team."

Quarterback Taysom Hill was asked the same thing, and said Tejan Koroma, more or less:

"It is kind of a tough question, because we have had our veterans continue to do what they do. I think upfront Tejan adds an anchor up front, and has really been able to allow us to do add some new things — stress protection, and in the run game do some new things. It all starts right there with Tejan."

* Mendenhall said he will probably name the team captains Thursday night. If I had to guess four, they would be Taysom Hill, Mitch Mathews, Bronson Kaufusi and Harvey Langi.

* Offensive lineman Kyle Johnson told me Monday that he is fine, but Mendenhall was asked about him on Wednesday. I didn't see Johnson practicing today in the small amount of time media members were watching.

"He's fine," Mendenhall said. "He is out playing. A little bit of a back injury, but everything is good."

* Mendenhall said Mitch Juergens, Eric Takenaka and Micah Hannemann are in the running to be the punt returner. Interesting that Devon Blackmon not in the mix (or maybe Mendenhall forgot him).

* I've requested an interview from defensive coordinator Nick Howell about a dozen times the last three weeks, to no avail. To my knowledge, Howell has not granted any interviews. Wednesday, Jared Lloyd asked Mendenhall how Howell is handling his change of duties.

"It is awesome. It is right back to where we were. It is just a better fit — more resources, more experience, better chemistry, and more time to focus on football, because of one more body in the room," Mendenhall said. "I am not saying it is me. Just one more experienced coach in the room allows everybody to do their job at a higher level."

Asked how Howell is similar to himself, Bronco added: "He's a superstar in this profession. He will be capable of doing whatever he wants to do in this profession."

I gotta feeling that last comment is going to cause some ripples on message boards and Twitter the next few days.

* Tuiloma has the starting nose tackle spot nailed down. I asked him who will be lining up to his left and right on Sept. 5 against Nebraska. "Bronson Kaufusi and Logan Taele," he said.

* Taysom Hill agreed with Mendenhall that Francis Bernard has emerged as a possible offensive threat. Asked who Bernard reminds him of, Hill said:

"I would say Algie. I would say him and Algie are really similar — both really big, physical backs, and they come up and they punish you."