This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Here's my report on BYU's spring get-together Saturday, a combined practice-scrimmage deal played in miserable, rainy conditions at LaVell Edwards Stadium after a relatively mild and warm spring.

Football-wise, it was difficult to take much from the exercise because there was very little true, 11-on-11, anybody-can-be-tackled football played. Announced attendance was 6,000 (my guess was around 3,000, tops) and only a hundred or so fans stayed to the bitter end.

Conditions were that difficult.

My coverage and Kurt Kragthorpe's column mostly covered Tanner Mangum's mistake-filled day and the emergence of two freshmen tight ends, Matt Bushman and Joe Tukuafu.

Here are more notes and quotes from the day, stuff that didn't make the printed version of the newspaper:

* Kavika Fonua, the highly recruited athlete from Syracuse High in northern Utah is now officially a running back. Wearing No. 30 on Saturday, Fonua rushed six times for 53 yards, all in the 11-on-11 segments. "I think so," Kalani Sitake said when I asked if the move from LB to RB is permanent for Fonua. "I think running back is his position to be honest with you. I remember him at Syracuse High School. I recruited him as a running back. I think he is a natural for it. He sets up his blocks very well. He is very similar to KJ Hall. I think that is more suited for him."

* Beau Hoge was the first quarterback to get reps in the first 11-on-11 "team" session, and Koy Detmer Jr. the next one in. I asked offensive coordinator Ty Detmer which redshirt sophomore is the No. 2 QB on the depth chart behind Mangum, and he still isn't saying.

"I don't know yet. We are still evaluating," Detmer said. "[Both] are doing some good things. We feel like we got two guys who can go in there and play. So that's always good. You never know how many you will need each year. But [Beau] and Koy are kinda battling it out and Beau brings a little more athleticism, so there may be a different type of package for him. He did some good things today. So it is continue to get reps, just reps, reps, reps."

Hoge was 10 of 14 for 78 yards and a TD in skelly and 1 of 2 for 32 yards in team. Detmer Jr. was 6 for 6 for 93 yards in smelly and 0 for 2 in team. Freshman Kody Wilstead was 1 for 2 for 4 yards in skelly and 3 for 3 for 98 yards and a TD in team.

The fifth QB this year is Jeremiah Evans, a freshman returned missionary (San Antonio, Texas mission) from Pleasant Grove whose father, Joe Evans, was Detmer's backup back in the 1990s.

* Detmer said junior offensive lineman Jacob Jiminez blew out an ACL during the practice in St. George and won't play in 2017, unfortunately. Jiminez was running downfield to celebrate a big play when he heard the knee pop. He hasn't redshirted yet, so he will take a redshirt year and still have two left to play, beginning in 2018. Jiminez was backing up Tejan Koroma at center. Saturday, Keyan Norman and Austin Chambers were the backup centers.

"Just a freak, non-contact deal," Detmer said of Jiminez's injury.

Lui Lapuaho just watched, as usual. The big tackle, a redshirt junior, had major knee surgery last fall and may need to undergo another surgery on his other knee for a genetic defect, Sitake said. BYU fans probably shouldn't count on him this fall, is what I've been told.

"The offense is going to be fine," Sitake said. "We have a great O line that I am really excited about. And we got some depth there — not a lot of numbers, but I am really really happy with the guys. We have 12 O linemen that we feel we can work with."

* More from Detmer on Mangum's four interceptions in the rain (one in skelly, three in team): "I think Tanner feels like every time he gets a chance to show something it is going to rain. I don't know. We are at home the first one and then a dome the next one, so maybe the fire alarm will get pulled and the sprinklers will get pulled then."

* Tight end Moroni Laulu-Pututau has been plagued by a tight hamstring all spring, disrupting his move from WR to TE but enabling Matt Bushman and Joe Tukuafu to get a lot of reps. Last year's TEs, Tanner Balderree and Hunter Marshall, both had offseason surgery and are not playing this spring.

Only a handful of receivers caught passes in the team session. Micah Simon (1-15), Talon Shumway (1-17), Jonah Trinnaman (1-12) and Tanner Redding (1-14) had catches in the 11-on-11 drills. I'm not sure if Akile Davis played; he didn't show up in the stats.

"The receivers group has come a long ways," Detmer said. "The tight end group is very athletic right now with Moroni and Matt. We held Moroni out — he had a little tight hammy, so we don't see him that much. That group and then the running back group, those guys keep stepping up. We were finally live a little bit so we could see what guys are made of, and we will go back and evaluate the film and get an idea on those guys."

* Kragthorpe asked Sitake to describe the vibe of the program in Year Two.

"I think we are settled in a lot more," he said. "I think we are really comfortable with our team and our program. Last year we were still trying to get to know everybody. A year later we as a coaching staff, I think we've earned basically the trust of the players. I think the team is coming closer as a unit. When you have that I think you can accomplish a lot of things."

* Having signed with Utah State out of high school before a church mission to Argentina and then Houston (after he returned to the U.S. for meniscus surgery), freshman tight end Joe Tukuafu appears to be in the middle of a BYU-USU tug-of-war. Apparently, USU does not want to release Tukuafu so BYU can pay his way this spring and get him eligible to play in the fall.

Sitake said the situation is complicated and offered little details when I asked him Saturday.

"Still a work in progress," Sitake said. "We have to get some releases and stuff like that. We have to just keep practicing and playing like he is going to [be eligible], and then if not we will just have to adjust. … I mean, there are a lot of different things that go with it. We would probably take a lot of time here talking about it. Hopefully we can get that going."