This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated.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.

Happy Monday, everyone.

As you may have read elsewhere on this website, tomorrow is a rather important day in the history of The Salt Lake Tribune's online publication efforts.

Around 1 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2017, the website you are currently viewing will change significantly. One of those planned changes is the elimination of blogs, including this one on BYU sports that I've been authoring since 2008.

So, this is quite likely my final blog.

I'm not going anywhere, and neither is our BYU coverage, so really the only thing that will change is the way we deliver content that in the past was in the form of a blog. We're still working on what we call it, and how we will package it within the sltrib.com website. But rest assured, it will continue in some form or another.

Anyway, I just wanted to give our faithful readers the heads-up, and say thanks for your readership the past decade or so.

OK, on to the reason why you clicked — some BYU sports news:

The Cougars begin their first full week of preseason training camp Monday with another late-afternoon practice,

There will be media availability and interviews after practice, so expect some fresh news later tonight in the form of tweets (@drewjay) and the like.

If you missed it, my story for Sunday's printed newspaper was about how BYU will treat the new early signing period for football, which is Dec. 20-22 this year.

"For the committed guys, we will utilize both signing dates," coach Kalani Sitake told me Friday.

Back on June 24, when BYU held its annual football media day, the Cougars had 15 or so commitments from the class of 2018. They've since added two others: receiver Gunner Romney of Chandler, Ariz., and defensive back Talan Alfrey of Auburn, Wash.

"If you look at some of the recruits we get, if we like them, we just get them," Sitake said in June. "We just try to commit them. A lot of times, that takes place in the official visits or when they get on campus. Because when we are in camps, and the recruits come to campus, they love being here. They see what it is about. It is different than what they are used to.

We have had recruits come from other states that don't know anything about the state of Utah or Provo or BYU. And they get here, and they all, 100 percent of them, say this place is different than they thought it was going to be."

Also at media day, Sitake addressed questions about why it appears to many players who signed with other programs, or started their college careers at other programs, have decided to transfer to BYU. That list includes a Notre Dame transfer, offensive lineman Tristen Hoge, whom the Cougars are seeking a waiver from the NCAA to get eligible this fall.

"It would be crazy for me not to take a great player," Sitake said in June, regarding transfers. "If great players want to come here, and they want to be part of this program, and they want to be part of this school, then yeah, I will take them. If that scares everybody, I don't get it.

If a player comes home from his mission and doesn't want to come back to BYU, I will release him. If people want to transfer, we will release them. The last thing I want is a player that doesn't want to be there. So why would any other coach want that? To me, it is pretty easy. If a kid doesn't want to be a part of your program, then let him go somewhere so he can have a great experience and do well, and then you can bring in someone else who wants to be a part of your team.

Right now, there are guys who want to be a part of this team, and love what we are doing, and I am going to take them. That's what is going to happen.

I am not actively choosing and eyeballing missionaries. They serve, and they want to be here, so yeah, we will talk."