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After the Cougars lost 42-35 at home to Nevada last year, I ran into a former BYU linebacker, a guy who played in the middle part of Bronco Mendenhall's tenure, and asked him what the problem was. Why were the Cougars giving up 42 points to Nevada, 31 (in overtime) to Central Florida and 35 to Utah State?

He said the 2014 team had below-average linebackers, especially inside linebackers, and that the deficiency was tearing him apart because, if there is any position that BYU should enjoy an embarrassment of riches in, it is linebacker.

The Cougars lost just one inside linebacker — Zac Stout — from last year, and should be much improved at the positions they call Buck and Mike. Or should they?

As you can read in this article, three inside linebackers (Harvey Langi, Manoa Pikula and Teu Kautai) are all missing spring camp due to academic issues. That can't be good for a unit that was the defense's Achilles heel last year.

But inside linebackers coach Paul Tidwell isn't panicking.

"I think we've seen improvement. The young guys have gotten a lot of experience, and a lot of reps, which they may not have gotten had some of the older guys been out there," Tidwell told me Wednesday. "I think it has been a really productive spring for them, and the two veteran guys, Austin Heder and Jherremya [Leuta-Douyere] have been with the ones all spring and have really done a good job teaching and being good examples and leading the younger guys.

So I like the development, I like the reps that they are getting, I like the experience that they are getting. And some of the younger guys, we are finding out who can play, and who might be able to help us down the road.

The guy who stands out a lot right now is Phillip Amone. He's running with the twos, and he is making a lot of plays. He's got really quick feet and has that natural instinct to be around the football. So I really like what Phillip is doing."

Tidwell was honored at the Y Awards on Wednesday night as the assistant coach of the year, a fitting honor for the 37-year coaching veteran.

I asked him Wednesday how much longer he plans to coach.

"Well, I turn 60 in May, so I am rounding the corner, but I hope I am around for a while longer," he said. "I am loving it and still enjoy it."

As Tidwell mentioned, junior Austin Heder and senior Jherremya Leuta-Douyere have been the mainstays at ILB in the absence of the other three in camp.

I asked Heder what effect not having Pikula and JLD will have on the team this spring.

"You know, we do a lot together," he said. "Just because they are not at practice, me and [JLD] and the others make it an important thing to bring them along. We meet together, so those guys can be a part of it and so they are not separated. They are putting in extra time and work as well. We trust that when they come back in fall they can be ready to go with us. … I think the culture in that room with BYU linebackers is that we don't look back to who is not there, but we develop younger guys. We are only as good as that last guy in the room, so if we are building together and putting in extra time to develop the younger guys, the older guys are going to be pushed and brought to a new level and playing their best.

We are going to miss Zac Stout, but the other guys will be back and we are going to have a lot of fun this year. A lot of good guys."

JLD agreed.

"Not really," he said. "They are as involved as they can be, and they are with us pretty much through everything, despite not being out at practice. In the meeting rooms, helping out other guys, they are lifting. So they are as involved as they can be."

The senior said folks won't be complaining about the ILBs this fall.

"We learned a lot from last year, just watching the film from our season," JLD said. "There were a lot of mistakes that we made. I think this year, people are just more hungry to get better, just more hungry to be like the linebackers in the past like [Brandon] Ogletree and Uani Unga and Uona Kaveinga and guys like that.

This year we just want to prove to everybody that last year, we are not the same group. We are going to be a lot better, be more vocal, and go out there and ball out."