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Provo • West Virginia had such a difficult time containing BYU's kick returners, Matt Hadley and Aleva Hifo, last Saturday that Mountaineers coach Dana Holgorsen ordered his kicker to boot low line drives in the second half, limiting Cougars Brayden El Bakri and Adam Pulsipher to returns of 10 and 6 yards.
The Cougars' record through four games, 1-3, has been nothing to get excited about, but the long returns of Hadley and Hifo have been a pleasant surprise.
Senior defensive back-turned-receiver Garrett Juergens is also shining as the Cougars' primary punt returner, cementing his job with a 27-yard return against Arizona in the opener.
"All of it has been really good," coach Kalani Sitake said, crediting special teams coordinator Ed Lamb and graduate assistants JD Falslev and Harvey Unga for their work with the return teams. "I am looking forward to getting more long returns. … I give a lot of credit to the players themselves, and the coaches that put in the work."
Hadley, a junior safety, got it started with a 29-yard return against Arizona that set up the drive that ended with Jake Oldroyd's game-winning field goal. There were no opportunities for kick returns against Utah and UCLA at altitude, so the next time Hadley touched the ball, he took it 41 yards from the 2 against West Virginia.
He would be sixth in the country at 35 yards per return if he had the minimum of 1.2 returns per game. Not bad for a safety who was "definitely a little surprised" when coaches asked him to give returning a try in camp.
"They saw that I had done it in high school, so it was kind of something last-minute that they decided to do, I guess," Hadley said. "It was definitely not something I planned on doing."
Hifo, a true freshman wide receiver, got both of his returns against the Mountaineers, including a 50-yarder that set up Rhett Almond's 25-yard field goal right before halftime.
"It was kind of something I wanted to do — return either kicks or punts," said Hifo, from Menifee, Calif. "I like being in the open field. It just took practice and them trusting me with ball security and things like that."
Lamb said training camp was pretty much an open tryout for the three returner jobs, and Hadley, Hifo and Juergens stood out because they had the best ball security.
"There are guys on the team that have good shakes, and athletic ability, and they are fast," Lamb said. "But players who can take the habits of practice into a game with ball security and not spill the ball on the turf won the jobs."
Nationally, the Cougars are tied for 56th in kickoff returns (22.0) and 48th in punt returns (9.71). More importantly to Lamb, they haven't had any fumbles or muffed punts.
"So far, we haven't emphasized any kind of home run hitters on punt return and the scheme," Lamb said. "What we are looking to do is do a good job of holding up, keeping the other team from faking, and then trying to get 10-15 yards on the return. Garrett has done an excellent job of taking those available yards."
Twitter: @drewjay —
BYU's kick return game
• Ranked 56th nationally in kickoff returns: 8 for 176 yards
• Ranked 48th nationally in punt returns: 7 for 68 yards
• Junior Matt Hadley would rank sixth in the country in kickoff returns (35.0 average) but doesn't have minimum number of attempts
• Freshman Aleva Hifo had a 50-yard kickoff return vs. West Virginia
BYU vs. Toledo
P Friday, 8:15 p.m.
TV • ESPN2