Provo » A lot of BYU football players are happy that nearly three weeks of fall camp are over. Receiver Spencer Hafoka is just happy to be alive.
Hafoka, a sophomore who is listed as the backup to O'Neill Chambers at "X" receiver, missed all of spring camp and a large portion of summer workouts while battling influenza, pneumonia, asthma and other respiratory ailments.
"I am just glad that I am here," Hafoka said after Wednesday's scrimmage as he glanced toward the south end scoreboard at LaVell Edwards Stadium. "It is as if I have come back from a mission again [something he did prior to the 2008 season after serving in Ventura, Calif.]. I am just trying to work back up to where I was. It has been twice harder than coming back from a mission."
The Kahuku, Hawaii, product credits his wife, Crystal , his family and the support of teammates such as fellow receivers Luke Ashworth and Stephen Covey for helping him make it back.
BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall called him one of the biggest surprises of fall camp.
"We didn't expect he would be this healthy," Mendenhall said. "I have been impressed. It is a big plus for us [to have him back]. I was not expecting to be able to count on him."
Hafoka said he was hampered by one kind of sickness or another for nearly five months, and he lost more than 20 pounds during the ordeal.
"It was influenza at first, which is way, way worse than regular [stomach] flu," he said. "Then it was pneumonia, then on top of that, my [existing] asthma problems. It was very hard to breathe. I would be gasping for air all day long."
Hafoka said he had a cold one day in late January, and was flat on his back in bed the next.
"Just a night and day difference in how bad it got from one day to the next," he said. "It was hard. I can't even tell you how hard it was. There were days when I honestly thought I was not going to make it."
Nose tackle talk
Russell Tialavea , the defensive tackle who delayed his church mission departure to Dec. 30 so he could play this season, is down to 260 pounds, smallish for a nose guard. Cougar coaches believe he wouldn't be able to withstand the physical pounding he would get if he played every down, so they have spent considerable time in fall camp developing his backups.
"I kind of view the nose [tackle] as all one guy," Mendenhall said. "Russell is certainly the experienced player, and will be the starter. But his durability, with how light he is, is going to require two, maybe three, others."
That said, Mendenhall said Tevita Hola and Romney Fuga are "dead-even" in the battle to be the No. 1 backup, "and I am going to play them all -- and maybe even [fourth-stringer] Jordan Richardson ."
Briefly
The Cougars didn't practice Thursday, but instead worked on conditioning and lifted weights. The coaches began game-planning for Oklahoma, while Mendenhall conducted nearly two dozen interviews with players to discuss scout team and other roles.
