Provo • After five weeks of spring practice, Jaren Hall’s main takeaway from camp could essentially be summed up to this: on to South Florida.
BYU’s quarterback wasn’t exaggerating either. The Cougars spent their final practice of the offseason installing some of the game plan for their first opponent in 2022.
Even if it is five months away, the focus is squarely on the future. The defense has been working on schemes for Baylor and Oregon — week two and three opponents — sporadically throughout the spring.
And it is fitting that BYU would break its spring camp this way. Because with 18 of 22 starters returning, a quarterback battle settled and a defense that is nearly identical to last year, this spring was never really about the spring. It was always about getting through it healthy with an eye on the fall.
“Getting our guys healthy is [our biggest question],” BYU head coach Kalani Sitake said. “You can tell we have a bunch of veterans here. Spring ball had a lot of attention to detail. We could get a jump-start on South Florida and give our guys something to think about going into the [summer].”
From the onset, Sitake and the coaching staff made it clear this spring was not going to feature numerous position battles or have one memorable storyline.
Instead, the coaching staff treated this like they would a veteran group. They expanded the spring from four weeks to five to give players more rest. They had the offensive and defensive playbook fully installed by the halfway point. And the staff was finalizing travel rosters by the end of week three.
The continuity made spring practice almost a moot point at times. Any question marks were answered quickly.
There were new players who came in, like running back Chris Brooks and fullback Houston Heimuli. It was unknown how they would be used to fill the void of running back Tyler Allgeier, but it quickly became apparent.
“They’ll both play on the field together,” offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick said by the second week of spring, ending that debate.
And the questions that still remain were never going to be answered in the spring. For example, BYU’s biggest weakness might be its secondary. It has brought in transfers like Vanderbilt junior Gabe Jeudy-Lally but he won’t arrive until the summer.
Another point of concern is the health of the linebacking corps. But again, starters Payton Wilgar and Keenan Pili sat out for the spring to get healthy for the fall. They already knew the defense, there was no need to risk it.
“There are a bunch of injuries right now on the defense,” linebacker Ben Bywater said. “But we have a bunch of guys coming back. We only lost like, what, two or three guys.”
Of course, there were some noteworthy things to come out of the five-week period. Most of it, though, was with the back-end depth.
Jacob Conover separated himself as the backup quarterback. Five-star transfer Kingsley Suamataia established himself to truly compete for playing time on the offensive line. And Logan Fano, a standout freshman on a defensive line desperate for playmakers, tore his ACL and will miss most of the season.
But other than that it was mostly an under-the-radar spring. And that is the way BYU wanted it.
“With [a lot of] returners comes just a greater grasp on the offense,” Hall said. “More control and command not just from the quarterback, [but everyone]. I think that alone has put us quite a bit ahead of last spring ball. So, a lot to look forward to this fall.”
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