-- I see why you went with your middle name
9.1 Preston Hadley (drafted by Jay Drew)
I love the name Hadley! It's a name that's always been on the periphery if we have another girl some day. Preston and his non-brother Spencer made the name stand out first with their stellar play in 2012, and then with Spencer's hilarious honor code incident with the University of Utah in 2013. Remember when Scott Van Pelt and Ryan Russilo roasted the Utes for narcing on Spencer Hadley? Remember when Scott said he hoped BYU would beat Utah by 100? Ahh, that was a ton of fun. I feel that way every year.
9.2 Skipped (BRoyalBlueCoug)
I'm at the point where writing these recaps has taken so much time I sigh a breath of relief when I come to BroycalCougs turn.
9.3 Butch Pau'u (drafted by Cousin Newt)
What's the closest connection I've ever had to the BYU football program? One of my in-laws served a mission with a member of the Pau'u family. In the fall of 2018 I had a chance to talk with this Pau'u for about two minutes, and asked the following question:
What did Butch and Neil think about the coaches?
Let's just say there weren't a lot of positive feelings. Per my source, Butch liked Kalani more than Bronco, but ehh, not by much. Butch was still upset about the coaches criticizing his size and strength and challenging him to gain more weight, which like Taysom in '16, ended up costing him speed and playmaking ability. The only coach who received kind words was Grimes. The difference between Grimes and Detmer in terms of organization, planning, efficiency, and team buy-in was described as extremely stark.
As for my thoughts on Butch as a player and draft pick? I enjoyed being in stadium for his 19-tackle game against UCLA. In a showdown that was as boring as my sophomore Renaissance Art History class, hearing the PA call out Butch's name over and over and over to the point I thought he had his numbers mixed up was the lone form of entertainment.
9.4 Corby Eason (Drafted by Tax Commissioner Danny)
Finally it's time for me to say something nice about Bronco! And look, before I get to that nice thing, please know that I think Bronco was a great coach. He really was. I talk a lot of smack but he ran a clean program, he won tons of games, he represented BYU very well, he's big on coaching continuity which I think is a really underrated advantage. The only problem I have with Bronco is I just don't think he's actually interested in the game of football.
But anyway, on to the nice thing. Tax Man Dan works with Corby Eason -- which explains what would otherwise be a bit of a confusing draft selection -- and if Butch didn't have great things to say about Bronco, wow is Corby the opposite. Per Tax Man Dan, Corby loves Bronco, and to this day manages to talk to Bronco almost every week. That's what Bronco cares about. He doesn't care about play calls or rivalry games or any of the normal stuff coaches find interesting. He's invested in people and that's something I should give him more credit for. He's said over and over that he likes building stuff up, be it programs, or individuals. Winning is an afterthought.
Game of Thrones had Bran the Builder. College football has Bronco the Builder.
9.5 Tom Holmoe (drafted by me)
Back-to-back defensive backs turned LDS converts are selected in the draft. Interesting! It's been quite the football career for Tom. College player, NFL player; college coach, NFL coach; college athletic director, future ... NFL commissioner?
9.5 Tom Holmoe (drafted by me)
Back-to-back defensive backs turned LDS converts are selected in the draft. Interesting! It's been quite the football career for Tom. College player, NFL player; college coach, NFL coach; college athletic director, future ... NFL commissioner?
Tom's kind of like the bizzaro world Bronco - all he cares about is football. And I fully support it! I think Tom has done a very solid job navigating independence. The weakest part of Indy to me isn't the bowl games (unpopular opinion but I don't really care about bowl games), it's the ability to schedule meaningful games in November. And we're finally starting to get there.
Since the rough Novembers of the early Indy era (2011 and 2012) we've had late season games against Utah, USU, Cal, Missouri, Wisconsin, and Notre Dame, with games against Stanford, Boise, USC, UCF, North Carolina State, and Virginia coming up in the future. Tom used to ply his trade stealing passes away from opponents, now he steals their out-of-conference games. (Ouch, I'll admit that's not my best work. The fatigue is getting to me.)
9.6 Brian Mitchell (drafted by Odyseuss)
Six straight defensive players off the board and another defensive back! Mitchell was part of a tremendous 5-year run of BYU defensive backs that featured Rodney Thomas (who some consider the greatest CB in BYU history), Rodney Rice, and Derwin Gray. Mitchell holds his own with all of those peers, boasting 13 career interceptions which places him in a tie for 4th best in Cougar history. All four of these guys played in the NFL so let me ask you this.
On the scale of 1 to 10 how likely do you think it is BYU sends 4 corners to the NFL in a 5-year span again? Zero? Negative nine?
9.7 Kaipo McGuire (drafted by Brian Henderson, he who once helped me get a ticket to the 59-0 UCLA game)
9.8 Corbin Kaufusi (drafted by Andrew Metcalf)
He was just like his brother. For three years I thought he was more novelty than impact player, and then his senior season it all came together. The "til the wheels come off" mantra heading into the 2018 Utah football game was some Reno Mahe appendix type stuff. It gave me chills and we didn't even win.
9.7 Kaipo McGuire (drafted by Brian Henderson, he who once helped me get a ticket to the 59-0 UCLA game)
Kaipo McGuire starred in 1996.
Jerry Maguire starred in 1996.
Jerry Maguire was the 9th highest grossing film that year.
Kaipo McGuire was 9th in total yards at BYU that year.
Jerry Maguire worked for a player who was nearly lost to concussion.
Kaipo McGuire was a player who was nearly lost to concussion.
Jerry Maguire "had me at hello."
Kaipo McGuire had me at this grab.
Jerry Maguire said show me the money.
Kaipo McGuire said show me the smelling salts.
Kaipo McGuire's first name is Roy.
Jerry Maguire's first name is ... wait, Kaipo's real name is ROY?
9.8 Corbin Kaufusi (drafted by Andrew Metcalf)
He was just like his brother. For three years I thought he was more novelty than impact player, and then his senior season it all came together. The "til the wheels come off" mantra heading into the 2018 Utah football game was some Reno Mahe appendix type stuff. It gave me chills and we didn't even win.
Corbin Kaufusi was noticeably emotional in the post-game press conference. Tonight's game is his last as a Cougar as he will have three separate season-ending surgeries. He talked about what it meant to play with his team one last time. #BYUvsUtah pic.twitter.com/J4FJIj7bag
— Zak Hicken (@zakhicken) November 25, 2018
9.9 Tevita Ofahengaue (drafted by Devon “Lasersheep” Smith)
I'm under the impression this pick was made as a way of sucking up to Tevita in the quest to get free tickets or merchandise ... or as a way of saying thank you for gifts received in the past. Care to confirm or deny, Mr. Lasersheep? How else can we explain Doug Jolley getting overlooked here?
I'm under the impression this pick was made as a way of sucking up to Tevita in the quest to get free tickets or merchandise ... or as a way of saying thank you for gifts received in the past. Care to confirm or deny, Mr. Lasersheep? How else can we explain Doug Jolley getting overlooked here?
"On my recruiting trip, I attended the 2001 Utah game when we beat them here at home. With the crowd cheering and the excellent coaching staff, I was just like whoa, I gotta come here."
Nua wasn't a member of the church, nor he was particular familiar with it. He was sucked into BYU solely because of that crowd, which yeah, no duh, it was one of the the two loudest ever. Cougar historians are a bit torn on this debate, submitting that Miami in '90 or Utah in '01 hold the title of noisiest moments. Had I been there for the Utah game it would've been the loudest ever, because back in West Valley, listening on the radio, I shook the attic with my bellowing during the Staley run.
I wonder how I celebrated after that game. Nowadays I'd text a bunch of friends, enjoy some Twitter shenanigans, read every single Cougarboard post, and settle in for some midnight Mexican food. Back then? With that much post-game adrenaline and few outlets to release it, I'm guessing I went outside and did the Staley high-step from one end of the backyard to the other, using a wheelbarrow in the Soren Holladay role and the garden as the out of bounds line.
Parting Thoughts from Round 9
Thought #1
Thought #1
I get beating the #1 team in the country is going to generate some freaking noise, but I have to imagine the way the '01 Utah game unfolded created more sound than the Miami game.
The Miami game was settled with a few minutes left in the fourth quarter, meanwhile in the Utah game BYU was down by 11 points with three minutes left in the fourth quarter. The Utah game left the fans pent up for basically three hours, just waiting to burst. We wanted to explode when Doman found Wilkerson for the bomb ... but Wilkerson dropped it. We wanted to explode when we got a 3rd down stop, but then we roughed the punter. We couldn't believe that the #1 offense in the country was getting shut down. And then, no big deal, we scored 15 points in 2 minutes and ended the game by interception with 14 seconds left.
I feel very comfortable saying that HAS to be the loudest moment in that stadium.
Thought #2
One of the scarier trends with Kalani is that a number of his players seem to get worse the longer they're under his tutelage. For example, how in LaVell's green earth did Butch go from a guy who could get 19 tackles in one game as a sophomore to a guy who got 23 tackles in the entirety of his senior season???
Round by Round Recap
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