Rhiannon Potkey of the Salt Lake Tribune reported today that freshman wide receiver Ryan Kessman requested and received a release from his scholarship today. Kessman was one of six freshmen that were suspended yesterday for undisclosed team rules violations. Potkey’s report states that while BYU did not disclose the nature of Kessman’s violations, Ryan’s father, Steven, told her that his son was suspended for drinking a vanilla cappuccino, breaking curfew and missing a team lifting session.

Despite Kessman being a four-star recruit out of high school, this is not a back-breaking loss for the program. He never really lived up to the hype and, in light of his decision, doesn’t appear to be the type of player to own up to his mistakes anyway.

Click here to read the full story in the Tribune.

BYU fans should well remember the results of the 3-3-5 defense when Bronco Mendenhall brought it from New Mexico in 2003. BYU defenses had lock-down performances against Georgia Tech (13 pts), New Mexico (7 pts), and Utah (3 pts, unbelievably in a loss). Unfortunately, the defense also got steam-rolled by Colorado State (58 pts), San Diego State (36 pts), Boise State (50 pts) and Notre Dame (33 pts). There weren’t many in-between performances with that defense. Fans could expect a near shutout or a blowout. As BYU takes the field against UNM tomorrow night at 6:30 MT on CSTV, they will face that familiar 3-3-5 defense–a defense that could cause some big problems…or leave some huge gaps to exploit. Continue Reading »

News often comes in bunches and I don’t have time to address each one. Not only that, but it would be a very confusing post to talk about each one, so I figure to make the “Cougar Bites” a weekly column. I’ll try to keep you as current as possible with all the many happenings to the boys in Blue.
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Quick—name five members of the BYU scout team.

If you’re like most fans, you can name a dozen or so starters but don’t know more than a few scout team members. And even fewer people know what they give, and give up, for the team. I’m not going to list all the scout team members, since there are more than a dozen on both sides of the ball, but I think it might be helpful to know what they do for the Cougars.
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Coach Bronco Mendenhall was accosted after Friday’s 31-6 win by the world’s worst sideline reporter. He responded with the predictable “3 phases of the game” response then looked like he was going to head butt her after she asked if he was going to smile (Max Hall’s response that she needed to get a blue jacket next time was classic.) BYU came out swinging this game and truly dominated on defense, offense and special teams. It was interesting to see BYU win the toss and defer, putting what Bronco still feels is the strength of the team, the defense, out first. Continue Reading »