The BYU quarterback battle has quickly boiled down once again to a choice between Riley Nelson and Jake Heaps.
The question is which one of these signal callers is best suited to take advantage of the talent the Cougars will put out the field this season. They vary vastly in their strengths and style of play.
Heaps is the prototypical pocket passer, while Nelson is a guy that relies on his feet as much as his arm.
In our previous segment, we mentioned that the Cougar offense will operate with more receivers on …

Former BYU quarterback Max Hall says that he is trying to give the Arizona Cardinals every reason not to cut him.
Hall left Quarterback U with the most victories (32) in program history, but has a lot to prove at the next level.
After signing with Arizona as a free agent in April,  Max will be one of four quarterbacks on the Cardinals roster when fall camp opens on July 30th.
The biggest challenges for Max in the NFL may be his size and lack of a cannon for an arm.
He was the …

He’s the all-time leading receiver in BYU football history. That’s saying something, coming from the school that all but invented the forward pass.
After a record-setting college career, former Cougar tight end Dennis Pitta is now looking to make a name for himself in the NFL.
As a fourth-round pick of the Baltimore Ravens in April’s NFL Draft, Pitta is already showcasing the talents that caused Cougar opponents to pull their hair out when trying to defend him.
Dennis has shone during summer mini-camps in Baltimore, drawing comparisons to current Ravens star Todd …

Several Deep Shades of Blue readers have expressed a desire to be able to wish former Cougar Harvey Unga good luck in the NFL and thank him for his contributions to BYU football. And we are happy to oblige.
Harvey was selected in the seventh round by the Chicago Bears in Thursday’s NFL Supplemental Draft. Ironically, Unga has been traveling back and forth between Utah and Chicago the past few weeks to be with his fiance Keilani Meoaki who recently gave birth to their new son Jackson.
Moeaki, a former member of …

Former BYU quarterback John Beck has spent this week raising funds here in Utah to help kids benefit from playing the game of football.
John and several former BYU football players participated in a fund raising dinner, golf tournament and youth football camps, all in an effort to raise funds for Beck’s foundation Friends for Football.
The foundation provides funding to give youth from underprivileged circumstances the opportunity to gain valuable lessons that are learned from participating in organized football leagues.
Former BYU athletes who volunteered their time and effort this …

Before Max Hall there was Lenny Gomes.
In 1993 Gomes offered up one of the most infamous quotes in the history of the BYU vs. Utah rivalry. Speaking of the Utes, Gomes declared, “All those guys think that’s all there is to life. But when I’m making $50-60,000 a year, they’ll be pumping my gas. They’re low class losers.”
Gomes says he has regretted that comment, made in the heat of the moment, for nearly 17 years now. He also says that he has changed a lot since then.
For starters he has …

When former BYU athletes look to take their performance to the next level, many are turning to Dave Stroshine of ASAP Training in Orem.
Fahu Tahi, Manase Tonga, Fui Vakapuna and Harvey Unga are all current clients of Stroshine, who has become a guru of sorts for local athletes looking to increase their athletic performance.
In addition to training elite athletes looking to make it to the pros, Stroshine also trains junior college athletes, high school athletes and clients just looking to increase their performance in a specific recreational sport, improve their …

Former BYU running back Harvey Unga has officially declared for the NFL Supplemental Draft to be held next month.
Harvey is spending several hours a week working out to prepare himself for what he hopes will be a successful attempt at making an NFL roster this coming season.
Unga made national news shortly after BYU’s spring football camp when he removed himself from BYU for violating the school’s honor code. His attempt to return to BYU in time to resume his college football playing career was later denied by the university.
Unga and …

Former BYU Cougar Fahu Tahi has a thankless job. He’s the lead blocker for the best running back in the NFL.
The 6′0″, 258-pound fullback has found a home in Minnesota paving the way for Adrian Peterson and serving as a release valve for Brett Favre.
After a standout career as a running back at BYU, Tahi went undrafted in the 2006 NFL draft. Immediately following the draft he was quickly snatched up as a rookie free agent by Cincinnati, but released that same season by the Bengals.
The Vikings then swooped in …

Manase Tonga made a nice impression this past weekend at the Oakland Raiders mini-camp. In fact, according to a San Francisco Chronicle report earlier this week, the former Cougar looks to have a good shot at not only making the team, but even starting at fullback for Al Davis’ squad.
“I definitely got the impression that the spot is wide open,” Manase told Deep Shades of Blue. “That was the thought of the two veterans that were at the camp as well”.
Tonga, a rookie free agent, may have the upper hand …

I just spoke with Jan Jorgensen this morning. Though it’s not looking good, he and his agent are still hoping that an NFL team will give him a shot. Jan says that he has been in contact with teams including the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Atlanta Falcons regarding bringing him in for individual workouts.
Teams typically conduct rookie mini-camps during the first two weekends following the draft. Many teams held their rookie camps last weekend while Jan was still sitting in limbo hoping to hear some good news from a team.
Jan …

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.

Let’s get the bad news out of the way…
5 WORST THINGS:
5.   Not Dominating Washington.  At the beginning of the year perception can be detrimental to the psyche of the team.  We went into that game thinking Washington was supposed to be a good team.  They had a lot of hype around them this year coming in.  We were content with playing them tough and being ahead by a score.  Hindsight is 20/20 right?  Reference No.2 for this, but it would have been great to come out and stomp them like …

I’ve taken sometime to separate my self from the game -due to the fact that I didn’t want to write anything in haste. I sympathize with both teams this year. I understand what it feels like watching the home team fans rush the field in victory and I completely understand the frustration and disappointment of losing “the game”.
I’ll get the post game wrap-up  posted soon, but here are a few thoughts I’ve had as I have read through the comments after the game.

I, too, praise Quinn for keeping this blog running and for the unique insight that is given daily. Not only that, but thanks to him for taking the TIME to do it. Quinn tried to elicit my assistance a couple of months ago and I agreed to help out with the blog, only to