Cougars Sporting an Underrated Defense
BYU linebacker Kyle Van Noy (BYU photo).
Those looking for reasons to expect a big year out of the BYU football team in 2012 need to look no further than the Cougar defense.
Last season Bronco Mendenhall’s squad quietly finished 13th in the country in total defense, giving up 312 yards per game.
Even those who follow college football closely might be surprised to learn that the Cougar defense finished ahead of programs like Wisconsin, Boise State, Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, and Stanford.
In fact, many BYU fans may not realize that the Cougars finished 19 spots ahead of TCU and 25 places ahead of Utah in total defense last year.
Mendenhall’s team also finished 19th in the nation in rushing defense, 15th in pass efficiency defense and 11th in red zone defense.
Officially, seven starters come back from that 2011 group.
Eathyn Manumaleuna (6-2, 294 Sr.) and Romney Fuga (6-2, 321 Sr.) will return along the front line in BYU’s 3-4 alignment, while linebackers Kyle Van Noy (6-3, 235 Jr.), Uona Kaveinga (5-11, 236 Sr.) and Brandon Ogletree (5-11, 228 Sr.) return to help give the Cougars what should be one of their best front sevens ever.
In the secondary, boundary corner Preston Hadley (6-0, 200 Sr.) and katback Daniel Sorensen (6-2, 206 Jr.) are set to reprise their roles as starters as well. In all, five of the seven returning starters are seniors.
So are Ian Dulan (6-1, 270 Sr.) and Russell Tialavea (6-3, 275 Sr.), two former starters who are expected to return to the field of play after serving missions.
Dulan redshirted last season after returning home from Illinois, while Tialavea came back from Chile this past winter and underwent surgery to repair a fractured foot he suffered on his mission. Russell is expected to be healed and ready to go for fall camp. Between the two, they have a combined 43 starts on the BYU defensive line.
At linebacker, Spencer Hadley (6-1, 230 Jr.) is moving from the inside to the outside for 2012. Outside linebacker out in space is a more natural position for Hadley, who came to BYU as a safety and saw significant action on the field as a true freshman in 2008.
After returning home from a mission in California last season, Spencer again saw considerable playing time and started the Texas game at buck linebacker in place of an injured Ogletree. His transition this spring was about as seamless as it gets, and although he cannot be labeled as a returning starter, he has plenty of playing experience under his belt.
The biggest question mark for the BYU defense when it opens the season against pass happy Washington State on August 30th will be at the field corner position.
Jordan Johnson (5-10, 185 So.) has been the heir-apparent in that spot since he stepped on campus two years ago. The redshirt sophomore has all the talent in the world and appears to be a budding star. All he needs is a little seasoning. He did see action in all 13 games and recorded two interceptions and 16 tackles in 2011.
The only position that will really be up for grabs on the defense when fall camp kicks off in four weeks is at free safety where seniors Joe Sampson (5-10, 213 Sr.) and Mike Hague (5-10, 190 Sr.) are locked in a battle for the starting job.
Based on his outstanding performance after being moved from corner to safety last year, Sampson would seem to be the odds on favorite. He recorded 23 tackles, five tackles for loss, one sack, one interception, one fumble recovery, three pass breakups and two quarterback hurries — most of which came after he was tabbed as the nickle safety during the second half of the season.
It’s quite likely that Hague and Sampson will open the season as starters against WSU and Mike Leach’s “Air Raid” offense. The Cougars are likely to show a lot of nickle coverages to Wazzu in that first game.
The bottom line is that BYU will sport a talented, senior-laden defense in 2012 that already handled itself quite well in 2011. That level of leadership and ability out on the field could be the reason you may spot Bronco Mendenhall with a big smile on his face come this fall.
“Even those who follow college football closely might be surprised to learn that the Cougar defense finished ahead of programs like…”
The problem with that total defense measurement is it doesn’t account for strength of schedule (or lack thereof). Still, I do think the defense will be very good this year.
This could be a great year! 8-4 at a minimum and with a senior QB it could be 12-0. however, 40+ players of 100+ players were injured during spring ball. will they all be ready for fall ball? Van Noy is still recovering as of spring ball. most of the O line was not available…hopefully Nelson and the boys have been practicing this summer together “unofficially” of course….
So excited about the defense this year. I think we are going to be in every game based on the D. If we can get some consistency in the O line it will be a great season.
What about RM Craig Bills in the rotation at FS? Is he going play this year or redshirt?
Anyone who has ever doubted our defense will be shocked and amazed as they observe one of the best defenses in the nation on a mission to create havoc. Our D-line will get more penetration this year therefore making play for kvn and the other linebackers that much easier. I see us getting to the qb quicker when blitzing therefore making our secondary look phenomenal. Our entire D has depth. I am excited for the rising stars to get some experience this year as we blow out teams.
I agree with Geoff. Gawdy defensive statistics against the likes of Idaho St., Idaho, New Mexico State, San Jose St. just don’t mean that much. This coming year should should be a better indicator when measuring the strength of the defense. I also agree with the article when it mentions the cornerback positions as the biggest question mark. Do the Cougars have the speed and cover skills at cornerback to hang with high powered offenses? Can the cornerbacks hold their own in man coverage?
Scott,
On Bills, it’s yet to be determined. If he plays we could see him some at FS or SS.
What does the two deep look like on both sides of the ball. The point of this article was of course to show the preseason general overview and that is well done. But the two deep this season is the difference between 8-4 to the tough games and 11-1: e.g. Tree going down super early last season, Fui shining as the second back in 2006 as an new RM, our massive spring injury bug this year, etc.
I had a companion on the team several years back and he said that traditionally at BYU the starters are on par with most other programs throughout the country. It’s the quality of the next line of players that is generally lacking. (As contrasted to say Alabama or Texas with their 15 4-5 star recruits every year or the NFL where the back up is generally just as good as the starter-just waiting for a shot to be “the guy”) I believe that Bronco has closed that gap significantly but I would like to know what people who know more than I do think.
Brett-Any thoughts on bringing back articles from time to time by former cougar athletes? Gooch has got to be itching to make a statement or two. And how’s the business side of this site working out for you? Any thing we all can do to help? This needs to be kept up.
@Headplate and Geoff
True, our defensive stats were skewed from playing some of the lower-tiered WAC programs. But we played 3 teams last year who were in the top 30 in total offense (2 others who were in the top 50) and we held each of those teams to below their average.
Utah St. ended the season #20 in total offense, averaging 457 yds per game. BYU held them to slightly under their average at 406 yds.
Tulsa ended the season #25 in total offense, averaging 440 yds per game.
BYU held them to 272.
TCU ended the season #26 in total offense, also averaging 440 yds pergame. BYU held them to 283.
Hawai’i ended the season #42 in total offense, averaging 404 yds per game. BYU held them to 299.
Texas ended the season ranked #50 in total offense, averaging 392 yds per game. We held them to 289.
I feel like there’s a lot of reason for optimism this year. Our defense will keep us in the tough games and our offense will be much improved. With Riley at the helm, we will have a chance to win each game. He may force things and make mistakes that might lose those games, but he will also put us in a position to win each of those games.
We should never have lost the Texas game last year. I also felt like we completely dominated TCU, we just had special teams meltdowns and TO’s in the blue zone that killed us. The Utah game was a complete aberration, a perfect storm, a 7 TO meltdown (4 of which were completely unforced).
After watching media day, I am extremely excited. We have strong leadership and the team seems unified and, as they put it, ‘hungry’.
Obviously, talk is cheap, but I think we have the makings of a very special team this year.
Go Cougars!
AF Cougar,
We’re in process on putting together our team for football and basketball. Will have some announcements in coming weeks…
The defense was competent last season but acheived most of that vs WAC teams. We might have been ranked defensively ahead of Boise St, TCU, etc but they got several guys drafted into the NFL from thier defenses (meaning they’ve got talent we don’t) while we didn’t get anyone drafted.
Also, this is the defense that looked tired and quit in the 2nd half of the Utah game and the 54-10 butt-kicking against us. I hope we see more of the defensive attitude that we displayed in the 1st half of the Utah game where we were cracking skulls and laying guys out. Playing conservative is nice but there are times when we need to dial it up and go for it and put the pressure on them to make a mistake instead of sitting back, trying to bend but not break, and hoping they make a mistake or two.
Our defense is deep, experienced at every position and has some athleticsm. Can we step it up against the better teams on the schedule? I really hope so. Guys like Sampson and Van Noy have shown flashes of brilliance but haven’t been consistent. I’m hoping they can deliver consistency while not losing any of their playmaking abilities.
Looking at all of those seinors and thinking ahead to what Bronco as said about the 2013 season. I am hoping that we are 2 deep or 2013 could be very frustrating. I am excited to see the D this year. I’m ignoring the melt down against Utah last year. It would be nice if we could shut them out.
Our defensive success this year will hinge on our ability to create turnovers against the stronger teams. For that to happen, we will need greater penetration from our three-man front. They have been good at containing the run, but too often they give qbs too much time to pass. We know Van Noy can create havoc when he blitzes, but can our senior linemen step up and get that extra penetration? I would love to see us get a positive turnover ratio against ND, Boise St., Georgia T., and Utah. If that happens, this could be a special season.
Some people have made the argument that our defense looks better than it is given the schedule… That is true.
However, what is also true is exactly what Dave explained a few comments above. We faced some explosive offenses and kept all of them under their average.
I find it very hard to imagine BYU’s defense taking any kind of step backwards this year, and here’s why:
DL: Losing- Fangupo
Adding- Dulan, Tialavea, Johnson, Ziggy (from linebacker)
LB: Losing- Frazier, Pendleton, Wagner
Adding- Stout (from redshirt), and while these players were there last year, mark my words, Hadley, FUA, and Ansah will be great.
CB: Losing- Eason
Adding- Chambers, and, again, Johnson was on the team but is ready to be a star.
S: Losing- Uale
Adding- Chambers, Bills (from mission), and Hague, Sampson and Sorenson will have great seasons.
I want to point out that the players I listed are only players who really contributed or will contribute this year and the list is completely off the top of my head so I may have missed a few players. My point is, BYU has a new player that can virtually replace one of the departed players. Combine that with the improvement of all of the returning talent, and we are set up for a big year!
I’ll be much more impressed if we come in 13th in total defense this year. Top 25 would be fine given the improvement in schedule this year from last.
Brett,
I am curious what tweaks and improvements to the scheme might be in store from the defensive staff’s visit to the Texans. Beck was quoted in the article that the Texan’s version of the 3-4 was more difficult to read because of alignments that are not typical. There may be some surprises in store… that also indicates that that defensive staff might have more confidence in the players’ abilities this year than in years’ past.
Nice post Jimmerfan. We lose a star at NT in Fangupo but gain better quality depth all along the line with Tialavea and Dulan returning so I’d say those changes even out.
We lose alot at LB with Pendleton gone but he missed a lot of games the past 2 seasons so his loss isn’t as big of an impact, he was a stud while healthy. The guy I’ll miss is Frazier, he was an unsung hero and I loved the energy he played with. I don’t know if Stout will become the LB we thougth he’d be coming out of HS but he’ll get a chance this year to show it.
I think getting Hadley on the field full time is a plus, he has a great motor and combined with Fua and hopefully Ansah we should see a more consistent pass rush than in the past. I think we’ll also see KVN make a name for himself nationally this year with more consistent production. Ogletree and Kaveinga give us a very good solid unit in the middle.
In the secondary Eason was hit or miss, for every great play he’d get burned badly the next time. I think we’ll be more consistent in our coverage with JJ and Hadley and get some really good playmaking from JJ (he had 2 picks in limited time last year). This is definitely an upgrade.
At safety I think we’ve upgraded tremendously with Uale gone. He always seemed to get caught taking a bad angle on a tackle and let the receiver turn the corner and go for big yards when he whiffed on the tackle. He was also good for a late hit or targeting penalty at the worst possible time and would turn a critical 3rd down stop for us into a 1st and goal for the other team.
with Sampson and Hague at one saftey spot and Sorenson backed up by possibly Craig Bills at the other we’re looking at maybe our deepest most talented secondary in years. Here’s hoping that Sampson shows us the NFL talent he was hyped as having by some.
I think on defense we’ll be better than last year even with the increased difficulty of our schedule.
Oh Hum,
“Even those who follow college football closely might be surprised to learn that the Cougar defense finished ahead of programs like Wisconsin, Boise State, Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, and Stanford.”
HOW WONDERFUL. I’m amazed. I wonder if teams like Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State and Stanford played 6 teams on their schedule like Idaho State, Idaho, San Jose State, New Mexico State, or any of the other teams we played in the big 6 that were ranked 100 or worse. My, I bet we could be the best team in the nation if we throw in a few middle schools that have an after school football program with neighbor free volounteers as coaches.
I am so impressed with what a wonderful job that our HC has done,single handedly with our wornderful defense. Thank you.
Jeffery,
I think Bronco has a great deal of confidence and trust in the group on defense. I do think that there will be some interesting of tweaks this year. I also believe they will try to use Ziggy Ansah more this season and move him around. Bronco will be able to do a lot of mixing and matching with the talent and experience these guys bring to the table.
Ron Ucynic,
Actually if you look at the offenses that BYU played last year, they faced scoring offenses ranked:
rank school Average (ppg) against BYU
116th Old Miss 16.1 13
107th Idaho 20.3 7
100th Oregon State 21.8 28
80th San Jose State 24.5 16
79th New Mexico State 24.5 7
74th Utah 25.0 52
55th Texas 28.0 17
36th Hawaii 31.5 20
29th Tulsa 33.1 21
23rd Utah State 33.6 24
9th Texas Christian 40.8 38
Only two teams scored above their average and one of them (Utah) was more the result of poor ball security on the part of the offense. Similarly the TCU scores were largely the result of special teams short comings not the defense.
As far as the big 10 schools you mentioned they played woeful teams like Indiana which last year lost to power houses like North Texas and Ball State, Minnesota which last year lost to New Mexico State and division II North Dakota State, Northwestern which lost to Army, and Purdue which lost to Rice. In addition they each schedule about three home games against the Middle Tennessee States, and Kent States of the college landscape. So yes they do play 5 or 6 teams that are as bad as the teams that BYU played last year.
Brett-
I’m surprised that you mentioned many of the most important defensive statistics any no one yet has commented on it yet and that is the most important statistic which is points given up. In the NFL although they monitor yards given up passing, running & total, key to finding the best defenses has always been points given up. By this statistic, BYU was 22nd at 20.38, and the best teams they play are Utah at 19th & 20.31, Boise State at 12th & 18.69 (I bet that not many of our readers would have guessed that they would have been ranked that high) & Notre Dame at 24th & 20.69. By the way, Coach Mendenhall’s best defense was in 2006 when they were ranked 10th at 14.7:
Year: Year: 2006 Thru: Thru: 01/08/07 Minimum Pct. of Games Played
Rank Name Games TDs Kxp Oxp Dkxp Doxp FG Sf Points Ptspgm Wins Losses Ties
1 Virginia Tech 13 14 13 1 0 0 14 1 143 11.0 10 3 0
2 Wisconsin 13 18 17 0 0 1 10 0 157 12.1 12 1 0
3 TCU 13 19 19 0 0 0 9 0 160 12.3 11 2 0
4 LSU 13 20 18 0 0 0 8 1 164 12.6 11 2 0
5 Ohio St. 13 19 17 1 0 0 11 0 166 12.8 12 1 0
6 Florida 14 23 19 0 0 0 10 1 189 13.5 13 1 0
7 Auburn 13 22 19 0 0 0 10 0 181 13.9 11 2 0
8 Rutgers 13 22 17 2 0 0 11 0 186 14.3 11 2 0
9 Penn St. 13 21 19 0 0 0 14 0 187 14.4 9 4 0
10 Brigham Young 13 23 19 2 0 0 10 0 191 14.7 11 2 0
11 Southern California 13 21 19 1 0 0 16 1 197 15.2 11 2 0
Now that was the defense that has set the standard on which all BYU defenses will be judged. Dulan, Fuga & Jorgensen up front (a 3 – 3 – 5 defense), Jensen, Kehl, Pappinga & Nixon at LB and Criddle, Gabriel, Gooch, Scott Jensen & Saulsberry at DB
This defense is going to rock! I will be disappointed if they allow more than 2 offensive touchdowns in 1 game, against anyone. Now lets just hope Riley puts up some points. Brett what is your take on Stout? is he coming along?
You people bemoaning BYU’s schedule last year have very short memories. Their schedule playing WAC schools was no worse than the MWC schedule that they used to play and could probably be considered an upgrade. For example based on head to head competition last year:
NMSU > UNM
CSU > USU > Wyoming
Hawaii CSU
Based on how they finished in their respective conferences and (cumulative records) (Best Win) (Worst Loss):
USU (7-6)(Nevada) (CSU) = Wyoming (8-5)(SDSU) (USU)
SJSU (5-7)(Navy) (Idaho) = SDSU (8-5)(Washington State) (Wyoming)
Hawaii (6-7) (Colorado)(UNLV) = CSU (3-9)(Utah State)(UNLV)
NMSU (4-9) (Minnesota)(UTEP) = UNLV (2-10) (Hawaii)(Southern Utah)
Idaho (2-10)(SJSU)(NMSU) = UNM (1-11)(UNLV)(Sam Houston State)
You could easily say that SDSU was better than SJSU, but for the rest of the teams the WAC teams were just as good or better.
Idaho State is similar to Eastern ILL, which BYU played once in the past couple of years.
I keep reading all the comments about a poor schedule. We knew going independent the schedule was going to be lite the first few years. But as Gayle said, it wasn’t that much different that what we would have played. I think the two things that are causing perception is that the toughest part of our schedule is right at the beginning and the home schedule has been very weak compared to the away schedule.
For perception,if you move a few of the early games to later in the season or change some of them to home, all of a sudden the schedule looks like a decent schedule and very comparable to previous ones we’ve played.
Even comparing it to several big name “previously known as BCS” schools, our schedule is very comparable. They play 2-3 very lite games every year.
Brett,
Great article. I believe BYU will turn into a great defensive school, especially at linebacker. I would like to know how much Ziggy Ansah is going to play? Is he a 3rd down pass rusher or will they use him more? A lot of raw athleticism and talent going to waste if he doesn’t play more. Any insight on the Ziggy?
OK Gayle and all other fellow DSOB Cougar fans, it is time to set the record straight and show my true colors. I’ve gone back & read all of my posts here recently and decided that they don’t really reflect how I really feel about the football program and especially Coach Mendenhall. Like I said Gayle, I do like to give credit where credit is due and so I commend the Utes for where their program is right now. But, that’s not what I wanted to say. I do feel that Coach Mendenhall has done an incredible job since taking over the program in 2005. I will go out on a limb and say that I think he is a better head coach than he is a defensive coordinator. That is not to say that he isn’t a good DC, because he is, but he is absolutely a great head coach.
I love what he has done on and off the field with the program. I love that he is a great reader and is able to draw the best teaching points from each book to use with the program. He took over a program that was going south, cleaned it up and ended up with a .733 winning percentage, won 5 out of 7 bowl games and three in a row. He is fair, honest, loyal, a hard worker and keeps everything in balance (football, academics, family, etc.) He isn’t the easiest person to get close to ands he is very private which sometimes comes across as not caring about us fans. But, I don’t think any of us actually realizes what a tough job it is to be the BYU head coach. Coach Edwards didn’t face near the scrutiny as what Coach Mendenhall has had to deal with today. There were all kinds of infractions during Coach Edwards’ time but the difference is that they were kept hidden away from the press.
Finally, for those who think he doesn’t place enough importance on winning, at the state of the union, he clearly said that although he is proud of what has been accomplished, he sees the next summit as being a top 10 team year in and year out. That is a huge paradigm shift. The top ten teams over the past few decades have been Florida, USC, Ohio State, Alabama, LSU, Oklahoma, Texas, Michigan, Penn State & Auburn. And, for him to say now that this is his and the team’s next summit to reach is remarkable. But, if anyone can get us there it is Coach Mendenhall. It will be a sad day when he decides to step down…long live Coach Mendenhall. Oh yes and by the way, I think we go 12-1 this and I hope that one lose will not be to the Utes!
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