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Provo • A lot of players would have sulked or looked for an excuse after dropping a probable touchdown pass in front of 8,000 or so BYU fans at the team's scrimmage of Saturday.

Nick Kurtz laughed it off.

Then the 6-foot-5, 205-pound junior from Grossmont College who had to sit out last year due to a foot injury redeemed himself. He caught a 48-yard touchdown pass from Taysom Hill for the offense's only TD in the first scrimmage of preseason camp.

Receivers coach Guy Holliday says the way Kurtz handled the embarrassing moment and turned it into a positive is reflective of the transfer's confidence and improvement.

"I think Nick is a much better player than he was his first summer," Holliday said. "He's playing with confidence. Obviously, he's tall, and can do some things for us that way. So there's improvement, and really football is all about attitude. His attitude and confidence are a lot better, so that's really helping him. He's more comfortable with who he is as a player."

Kurtz arrived at BYU a year ago with plenty of hype, but suffered a stress fracture in his left foot in preseason camp and never became the impact player he was expected to be. He returned from the injury in early October against Utah State, but only got in for a couple of plays and it was decided that he would take a redshirt year and give the injury more time to heal.

Now he's totally healthy.

"For me, I have been healthy for awhile," Kurtz said Saturday. "I started playing toward the end of the year last year, just helping out on scout team. I did all the spring camp stuff, too. I feel pretty lucky this year. This is the best I have ever felt. I don't have any tweaks or anything like that."

Kurtz is in the running for one of the starting wide receiver positions, but the competition is pretty stiff. Mitch Mathews, 6-6, who caught 73 passes for 922 yards and nine touchdowns last year, seemingly has one of the spots sewn up if he can overcome an inguinal hernia that kept him out of practice last week.

Speedster Devon Blackmon, steady senior Kurt Henderson and freshman Moroni Lualu-Pututau are also getting a lot of reps in camp, although MLP didn't see action in the scrimmage.

"We all feel comfortable out there," Kurtz said. "We have a bunch of big guys. But we also have a bunch of smaller guys with speed. Honestly, I expect a lot from every one of us. We are looking forward to it, for sure."

Weeks putting in work

Another returned missionary freshman receiver, 6-3 Josh Weeks of Show Low, Ariz., has also shown the ability to out-leap smaller defenders for balls. Weeks struggled during spring practice, but is having a solid camp, according to Holliday.

"Josh Weeks, Weeksy, as we call him, is a lot better than he was in the spring," Holliday said. "He's healthy now, and he's catching the ball. There are some things that we need to refine with him, but he's coming along."

More from Warner

Outside linebacker Fred Warner is also healthy after missing the final three games of 2014, and now coach Bronco Mendenhall wants to see the sophomore take that next step.

"I would love to see Fred impact our defense more, or impact a scrimmage more, or impact a team session more than he has, but I started to see that today," Mendenhall said Saturday. "I think it is just taking a little time from both injuries that he had. He's just working his way back in. It has been a week into fall camp and I saw a step forward."

Briefly

The Cougars practiced Monday morning, but there was no media availability. Players and coaches will be available after Tuesday's practice. … Senior kicker Trevor Samson went 8-for-8 on field goal attempts at the scrimmage, including a 51-yarder from the middle of the field.

Twitter: @drewjay —

A closer look at Nick Kurtz

Class • Junior

Hometown • El Cajon, Calif.

Junior college • Grossmont (Calif.) Community College

Height/weight • 6-foot-5, 205 pounds

Major • Entreneurship