I was blessed -or cursed- to be apart of two different Coaching regimes. One that went to consecutive bowl games and one that went home for consecutive bowl season. While seeing your family for an extra week during Christmas break is nice, the bowl games are more beneficial to individual players and teams.

Over the last two weeks we have mentioned a lot about preparation for games and knowledge of assignments.  I figured it would be a good idea to go through the week and show exactly how we prepare for a game.
Saturday:
Immediately after the games players are handed their scout DVDs.  These DVDs have four games of our next opponent on them.  These games are selected by the coaches by how closely they match what we expect to see in our own game.  For example, …

I saved this post specifically for the New Mexico game because New Mexico is where the “fist” originated. As you should now know, Coach Mendenhall came to Provo courtesy of Mr. Gary Crowton and Mr. Rocky Long. In New Mexico, Coach Mendenhall was an assistant defensive coach, keeping tabs on the safety position. Even in Albuquerque, he was extremely passionate about coaching the safeties, but also carried a special fondness for the renegade special teams unit: the kick-off cover team.

Let’s look at a zone blitz.
First of all, a blitz is defined as being a defensive front where the defense rushes more players than can be blocked by the offensive team. The offense will normally have the five down linemen and possibly a back blocking on an offensive play. Depending on what personnel grouping is currently in the game (Personnel=TE & RB), zone blitzes will be called to stop a pass in 11/10 personnel -one RB, one TE-, and to stop the run in other personnel groupings. Zone blitzes are …

You wouldn’t think a turtle could be so ferocious.  I think next time the Bears will block the corner and leave the safety unblocked, that way the ball carrier will have time to get out of bounds before he is murdered.  They might also think about reducing the WR splits so the quarterback’s lollipop will get to the wideout quicker.

I wanted to post a few answers on the main page that I thought more people could appreciate.  This one came via Rex who asked if I could explain zone coverage’s a little bit…I would love to.
Cover 2:
Cover 2 is a basic 5 under 2 deep zone coverage.  There are 5 underneath zones that are occupied by 3 linebackers and 2 corners.  The safeties play over the top providing coverage and help on the deep balls.  Zones are based on players’ positions on the field.  Corners cover the outside shallow routes, outside linebackers …

Today is the walk-on tryout.  This afternoon the indoor facility will be filled with 65-80 freshman with the dreams of running out of the tunnel onto Lavell’s field.  For most, it will be a disappointment, but a select few will receive their issue gear and step onto the field this afternoon.
The tryouts last no longer than an hour.  The coaching staff will be watching their perspective positions.  The walk-ons run through some position drills, as the coaches watch.  In that one hour work-out the coaching staff assess the abilities and most of …

There are a few things that the coaching staff stresses going into a game.  Among these items are a few that are very important to the success of the team.  Coach Mendenhall of coarse likes to talk about the 3 pillars of the game.  Those pillars are holding the opponent under 100 yards rushing, scoring more than 24 points and holding the opponent to under 24 points, and winning the turnover margin.  These 3 pillars have been key to the success of the past two teams and will continue to …

The answer is no!  College players are always competing for the coach’s eye.  It is very hard to slow down or take it easy because you have to stand out or you can get left standing on the sideline.  Fights happen at practice because there are a great number of inflated ego’s on the field at the same time.  Add the pressure of trying to look good and leave and impression and it has all the ingredients of a good old brew-haha.  Coach, fights happen.  Yeah you don’t like to …

For those wondering what the pursuit drill is, allow me to enlighten.  It is a brutal period of practice where the defensive squad must run like wild dogs from the sideline to their respective positions and then wait for Coach Mendenhall to call out a play.
The players must make the correct calls, depending on the formation, and execute the play to perfection.  Perfection is gauged by the players effort and movements.  If someone decides to take a play off or run at 85-90% the whole sequence in repeated, and repeated …