Players report for fall camp at BYU a week from today, and one of the questions surrounding the Cougars as they prepare for 2008 has to do with the running back situation.

How will they replace Manase Tonga?

Coach Bronco Mendenhall says it could be done a variety of ways, but he won't be certain until a few weeks into camp. Tonga was ruled academically ineligible a few months ago and will definitely miss the 2008 season.

Mendenhall said Tonga has to be accepted back into BYU, and that the earliest he could re-join the team is next January.

"There are a couple of ways [the running back situation] could be shaped out," Mendenhall said, "and we are a little bit early [before] deciding it. Fui [Vakapuna] could play one of two roles -- he could be carrying the ball, and he could also be playing Manase's role."

Quarterback Max Hall and defensive end Jan Jorgensen both said at the MWC football meetings earlier this week that Vakapuna has worked extra hard in spring and summer conditioning sessions to be ready for the increased workload.

"Fui's going to be ready," Hall said. "Don't worry about Fui."

Tonga's role was more as a blocker and pass-catcher, although he did rush for 305 yards and eight touchdowns on 88 attempts. He caught 27 passes for 248 yards in 2007.

"Then we have Brian Kariya [a former Tribune MVP from Davis High], who is back off his mission, and he's also a Manase-type player, and he might figure in," Mendenhall said.

The coach also mentioned redshirt freshman J.J. Di Luigi, who was injured last year, but looked very good in spring camp.

"You know, we thought last year at this time that Fui would be carrying the ball more than Harvey [Unga], and it ended up being just the opposite, due to readiness or due to injury, so I can't tell you for sure, other than I think we have enough players to sort it out. It could very well be Harvey and Fui at the same time. That would probably be the most likely thing right now."

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Did you know that the Miami Dolphins go into their camp with three former Cougars on their roster, and four return missionaries? Quarterback John Beck, long-snapper/defensive lineman John Denney, free-agent linebacker Kelly Poppinga and Shawn Murphy, a fourth-round draft pick from Utah State, all went on "unpaid" LDS Church missions, the Miami Herald notes in an interesting article in today's editions.

BYU hasn't released its 2008-09 men's basketball schedule yet, but here's another non-conference opponent the Cougars will play: Tulsa.

The Golden Hurricane released its scheduled to today, and its says Tulsa will play host to BYU on Dec. 30.

Tulsa, in Conference USA, went 25-14 last year, but has not had an NCAA Tournament appearance in five years.

If you are worried about a bowl game that day/night, there are three, but none likely to involve the Cougar football team.

The Roady's Humanitarian Bowl is in Boise at 2:30 p.m., the Pacific Life Holiday Bowl is in San Diego at 6 p.m. and the Texas Bowl is in Houston at 6 p.m.

BYU basketball's other three known non-conference opponents are Arizona State, Wake Forest and Utah State.

The Cougars will play the Sun Devils in early December as part of the first college basketball games at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz. Louisville will play Minnesota as part of the double-header.

BYU will play Utah State in EnergySolutions Arena in Salt Lake City in December.

After losing at Wake Forest last year, they will get a shot at home against the Demon Deacons this season, presumably in December.

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Oh, the power of BYU football. The Las Vegas Sun has a little note today saying that a recent Q&A the newspaper's Ryan Green did with BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall was the most-read story on the Sun Web site for two consecutive days. Green's Q&A with UNLV coach Mike Sanford did not make the Top 10.

BYU junior defensive end Jan Jorgensen is a candidate for the 2008 Ted Hendricks Award, which annually goes to the premier defensive end in the country. Hendricks was college football's first three-time first-team All-American.

Jorgensen, who is also a candidate for the Rotary Lombardy Award and the Lott Trophy, has started 26 straight games for the Cougars at defensive end.

The 6-3, 260-pound native of Helper, Utah, played high school football for Carbon. Last season, he ranked 12th nationally with 20 tackles for a combined loss of 115 yards. He also led the MWC with 14 sacks.

Previous winners of the Hendricks Award include Arizona State's Terrell Suggs, Georgia's David Pollack and Virginia's Chris Long.

This year's winner will be announced Dec. 10.

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There is some basketball recruiting information that pertains to BYU on our Recruiting Trail blog, for those of you interested in that aspect of Cougar sports. In short, Provo High's Brandon Davies (who will be a senior next month) and Kyle Collinsworth (who will be a junior) are both having sensational weeks at an all-star basketball tournament in Las Vegas this week.

Both players are considered "must-gets" for the Cougars.

The Cougars begin fall football camp on Aug. 2 after reporting on Aug. 1, and there are a handful of walk-ons in the program hoping Christmas comes early this year.

Maybe it is safety Andrew Rich, the transfer from Snow College who chose to walk on at BYU after getting scholarship offers from the likes of Boise State and Cal.

Coach Bronco Mendenhall said at the MWC media days that because at least one February signee didn't qualify academically, at least one scholarship is available to a walk-on who shines during fall camp, has at least a 3.0 GPA and is on the two-deep chart.

Sounds like Andrew Rich to me, although he's not listed on the two-deep chart on page 22 of BYU's new football media guide.

"There are going to be a handful [of walk-ons who will make an impact] again," Mendenhall said. "I can already see it, from spring practice. I think that will always be the case, as long as I'm the coach. There is just not that much difference between our scholarship players and our best walk-on players.

"What the walk-on players lack in terms of, maybe, sheer speed, size or ability, their heart is so strong that I just love those guys being out there, and I think it is good for our program."

The coach said "five or six" walk-ons could have roles on the team this year.

"We have given, let's see, I want to get this number right -- I think it is 20 scholarships -- [to walk-ons] since I have been the head coach."

Mendenhall said he hasn't heard of a number even close to that at other schools.

The Mountain West Conference's 10th Anniversary Women's Soccer Team includes four former BYU stars, twice as many as any other school.

Eleven players were selected to the team -- four from BYU, two apiece from Utah, UNLV and San Diego State and one from Wyoming.

BYU players on the team are Maren Hendershot, Katie Larkin, Aleisha Rose and Jamie Beck.

Hendershot scored 52 goals in her career at BYU, tying her for second all-time at the school with Sara Reading. She was the 1999 MWC Player of the Year

Larkin, currently a senior on the team, has scored 23 goals and is a three-time All-MWC First Team selection. She was name to All-America teams her sophomore and junior years.

Rose, now an assistant coach for the team, was a four-time All-MWC First-Team selection. She's eighth all-time with 28 goals, and fourth overall in points, with 250.

Beck was a two-time All-MWC First-Team selection and led the league in goals and assists as a junior. She made three All-America teams her senior year.

Four former BYU stars have been selected to the Mountain West Conference's 10th Anniversary Volleyball Team, announced today in Colorado Springs.

Colorado State has the most players selected to the team, six, while UNLV has three and the University of Utah has two.

Making the team for the Cougars are Chelsea Goodman (2004-07), Lindsy Hartsock (2002-06), Nine Puikkonen (1999-2001) and Lauren Richards-Evans (2001, 2003-05).

Former Utes on the team are Shelly Sommerfeldt (2002-05) and Kim Turner (2000-2003).

The Mountain West Conferenced announced its 10th Anniversary Men's and Women's Cross Country Teams toda. BYU dominates the women's list and is also well-represented on the men's list.

BYU men on the list are Chandler Goodwin (2004-07), Josh Rohatinsky (2000, 2004-07) and Kip Kangogo (2002, 2003, 2005), who also competed for TCU. Goodwin and Rohatinsky were both two-time all-conference selections.

BYU women on the list are Kassi Andersen (2002-03, 2006-07), Heidi Magill (2004-07), Michaela Mannova (2001-03), Tara Rohatinsky-Northcutt (1999-2001), Breanne Sandberg (2002-03, 2005) and Laura Heinter-Turner (1999, 2003-04).

Six of the seven women on the team are from BYU. Colorado State's April Thomas (2005-07) is the lone non-Cougar.

BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall talked a lot about recruiting during his visits with the media on Monday at the Mountain West Conference football meetings, and I've detailed some of his thoughts on our Recruiting Trail blog.

One thing the coach said his staff might need to be more aware of as it recruits future prospects to BYU is the language barrier some of the high schoolers face when they take the SAT or ACT college admission tests.

"We need to not just necessarily look at the core GPA a student has, which reflects work and going to class, but the ability to handle [admission] tests, with the language barriers," he said.

Mendenhall was referring to the case of receiver Atem Bol, a native of Sudan, who apparently had strong grades but struggled on the admission tests and will not qualify for BYU. He said the Cougar coaching staff is trying to get Bol into nearby Snow College.

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If you haven't seen any out-of-state recruits in Provo yet, there's a reason. Mendenhall said he likes incoming recruits' first exposure to be within the structure of the program, so he asks the out-of-state guys to not arrive in Provo until the day players report for fall camp. That's Aug. 1 this year. However, he makes exceptions if a player has family in the area, or if the player is married. That's the case with juco transfer Bernard Afutiti. Because he's married, Afutiti is already on campus and living in married student housing. Another juco transfer, Jessie Taufi, has not arrived yet.

High school players from Utah are encouraged to attend workouts and strength-training drills in Provo the summer before they enroll, but are asked to commute back and forth from home.

"I don't like down time with our players without them having been taught the correct principles in our program, how we expect them to behave, etc." Mendenhall said.

Mountain West Conference commissioner Craig Thompson spent a lot of time extolling the virtues of the MWC at his annual state of the conference address today, but the second question he fielded had little to do with the 9-year-old league.

Is he interested in becoming the next commissioner of the Pac-10, now that Tom Hansen is stepping down after 26 years?

"I have not been called or contacted by them," Thompson said. "But if they did call, I imagine I would listen."

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Thompson spent a lot of time telling reporters that the conference is in good shape and reminding us that it had five bowl teams last year. He said the conference paid out $20 to its members last year -- after doling out $8 million 10 years ago.

Monday, BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall said he believes a team like his has to go undefeated to make it to a BCS bowl, but Thompson thinks an 11-1 team could make it. He didn't mention that that hasn't happened yet.

Among the conference "achievements" he mentioned was Utah's 2004 BCS-busting season, Utah having the top picks in both the NBA (Andrew Bogut) and NFL (Alex Smith) drafts and BYU winning three national championships in women's cross country.

He noted that the MWC is 18-13 in bowl games in its nine-year history and that it ranks No. 7 among conferences nationally in football attendance.

And, of course, he mentioned that the MWC was the first conference in the country to form its own television network. "Not for the faint of heart," he said.

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It is amazing how the announcement that satellite television provider DirecTV is adding the Mtn. network to its lineup in late August has taken the heat off Thompson, who had to answer only a few questions about television distribution, after taking a bunch last year.

However, he said that doesn't mean he's stopped trying to increase distribution.

"We are figuring out ways to get programming to viewers literally on a daily basis," he said.

Well, the Mountain West Conference's 2008 football meetings just wrapped up an hour or so ago here in Henderson, Nev., a few miles outside of Las Vegas

BYU players Jan Jorgensen and Max Hall are headed to the airport (I didn't see coach Bronco Mendenhall today) and the BYU sports information staff is headed to a buffet before making the long drive back to Provo.

Those guys -- led by Jeff Reynolds -- have earned a big meal. They've worked harder than any crew down here with their video cameras recording the goings-on almost hourly.

The big news items today were delivered by Mountain West Conference commissioner Craig Thompson, who gave his State of the Conference speech.

Primarily, Thompson said the MWC is involved in discussions with the Humanitarian Bowl to send one of its team to that Boise, Idaho, game.

They are talking about 2009 only because the game's deal with the ACC (for an eighth-place team, usually) expires after this year's game. The MWC would love to send its fifth-place team there in 2009, but Thompson said if the ACC doesn't have a team with a 6-6 or better record, the MWC might be called upon to fill that spot this year as wwell.

A December bowl game in Boise doesn't sound all that appealing, but if memory serves from watching a few Hum Bowls in the past, the weather usually isn't that bad.

It is also a bit strange that the MWC is suddenly looking toward the Humanitarian Bowl, after Thompson and other league leaders have hinted in the past that the bowl was perhaps beneath them.

Some say it is a sign that the MWC is realizing that few, if any, bowls are interested in their fourth or fifth-place team.

Talks with Boise officials must be serious, though, because Hum Bowl director Kevin McDonald was on hand today to answer media queries, and he said there's a good chance a deal could be struck soon for the 2009 game.

As for an agreement beyond that, McDonald said his committee wants to wait to see what happens in early 2010 because almost every conference's contracts with bowl games expires after 2009.

In other words, the Hum Bowl might be looking toward the Pac-10 for an opponent to face a team from the WAC, which is very much expected to keep its deal with the bowl, seeing as how WAC member Boise State pretty much started the game.

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The other snippet of news Thompson touched on was the possibility that MWC games could be televised by CBS Sports in the near future. However, he cautioned that the games almost certainly would have to begin at 10 a.m. MT because CBS is not about to mess with its 1 p.m. telecasts of SEC games.

Also, because of the possibility of the MWC games going long, CBS might opt to just televise them regionally or go for a split national telecast, with two games beginning at 10 a.m.

"All the talks are really preliminary," Thompson said.

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Those of you with the satellite TV DISH Network, who are holding off switching over to DirecTV because the latter will start broadcasting the Mtn. network in late August should probably think about making the jump now because Thompson said talks with DISH are going nowhere.

"DISH has the same proposal that DirecTV signed," he said. "It's up DISH. We've done all we can do."

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Talked a little bit with BYU quarterback Max Hall today, and he mentioned that he is really goiing to miss Manase Tonga in the backfield this season. Tonga, of course, was deemed academically ineligible for the 2008 season more than a month ago.

"Manase was the best overall back on the team," Hall said. "He could run with it and catch it and he was an amazing blocker, too."

Still, Hall said, Harvey Unga and Fui Vakapuna will pick up the slack, provided one of them doesn't get hurt.

The quarterback is also excited about the dimension that redshirt freshman J.J. Di Luiigi brings to the offense, but isn't sure how coaches plan to use the star of spring camp.

Max Hall can't understand what all the fuss is about. He's heard talk that BYU's defense is going to struggle this season, after losing cornerstone guys such as Ben Criddle, Bryan Kehl and Kelly Poppinga.

"Our defense is absolutely not a concern," the Cougar quarterback said at Monday's MWC media gathering. "Absolutely not. I am not worried at all."

Hall has a good idea how good the defensive backs and linebackers are because he's been going against them in 7 on 7 drills this summer. And the defensive line is the strength of the unit, with Jan Jorgensen and Ian Dulan returning and Russell Tialavea back after missing 2007 with an injury.

He also singled out Brandon Bradley, another player who missed last year due to injury, as a defensive back Cougar fans "are going to appreciate."

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Hall said he has traveled a lot this summer, mostly back to his home state of Arizona. "Been back there four or five times," he said. One trip was to watch the sister of his wife, McKinzi, get married to BYU tight end Dennis Pitta.

"I'm close to my receivers, so I was happy to see that," he said.

He also went on a family vacation to Mexico for a week.

"It has been a lot busier than I anticipated," he said. "Now it is getting down to crunch time. I am ready to get back into it and get a few good weeks of lifting and throwing in and get ready for fall camp."

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I wrote an article for Tuesday's paper about what the Cougars are doing to stay grounded and not let all the hype and preseason expectations let them get complacent. I wasn't able to get in some of Hall's comments about the matter. Here's one:

"It's not BCS or Bust, but it is definitely a goal of ours -- to get to a BCS game and win it. But it is going to be a very tough year. We've got a lot of tough games -- got to go to Washington and TCU and Utah, all very tough places to play."

Just finished a 40-minute interview with Bronco Mendenhall here at the Mountain West Conference media day in which the BYU coach talked about everything from academic requirements at BYU to little details about walk-on players to what he did on vacation this summer.

I must say, I was absolutely floored by his candor.

Mendenhall's undeserved reputation is that of a robotic, dispassionate, corporate-type leader, but reporters found him today to be incredibly frank, riveting and engaging.

What he said would make for five or six good articles, but I will try to capsulize some of his thoughts here for brevity sake:

* He spent his summer vacation surfing in Panama and packing into the Montana wilderness on mules and pack horses and plans more surfing this week in Santa Cruz, Calif.

The coach told a funny story about how he and his family were in the Bob Marshall Wilderness in Montana, some 30 miles from civilization, when he was recognized by a park ranger who knew of him because the only radio station the ranger can pick up in the backwoods of Montana is KSL AM 1160, the station that carries Cougar games.

Then, the ranger apparently ran into 12 guys from Bountiful, and told them the coach was in the area. The Utahns rode their horses over a mountain ridge to find the coach and chat with him.

"The intent was to be away from everything," he joked. "Never happened."

* Mendenhall said one of the freshman he signed last February, receiver Atem Bol, will be an academic casualty -- because of language barrier issues, mostly -- and most likely will have to enroll at Snow College.

Running back Seta Pohahau, from San Mateo, Calif., is still on the bubble academically, and BYU coaches will find out any day now whether the Aragon High product got good enough grades on his summer school work to qualify.

All the other players BYU signed in February will be at fall camp, he said.

* Mendenhall said offensive lineman Travis Bright, who suffered a fractured leg in the Las Vegas Bowl, has almost recovered from that devastating injury and is "on track" to play this season. The same can be said of OL Garrett Reden, who suffered a season-ending injury against Eastern Washington.

The status of defensive back Chris Warner and receiver Ryan Neeley, both of whom are attempting to return from injury "is in question," Mendenhall said.

He said defensive lineman Russell Tialavea has dropped nearly 30 pounds and "will be ready to go" this season after missing last year due to injury.

* Mendenhall said Timpview product Luke Ashworth will play receiver after all, after having been moved to safety on depth charts earlier this summer.

* The coach said running back Manase Tonga is the first academic casualty the last seven years at BYU. He said Tonga has to re-apply to BYU, but that "my hope is that he will be back."

The Cougs will miss Tonga, but fullback Brian Kariya, a Davis High product and recently returned missionary, has shown well in summer workouts and could step in as a capable blocking back.

* He plans to keep the 3-4 defense (rather than the 3-3-5 he originally ran at BYU) because it best fits his personnel.

* Much has been made that BYU has only 15 scholarships to pass out next February, but that number could rise to as high as 19, he said, accounting for attrition, missions and the like. He confirmed BYU has commitments from 12 players for 2009.
He also said the remaining group of high school players that BYU has offered "are among the highest caliber players in the country."

As far as BYU is concerned, the all-Mountain West Conference preseason football team released Monday was one of those good news-bad news deals.

The good, of course, is that six of the 11 offensive players are Cougars.

The bad news is that only one of the 11 defensive players is from BYU, defensive lineman Jan Jorgensen.

However, Jorgensen says it shouldn't be a concern.

First, he noted that outside linebacker David Nixon should have made the team.

"I think [Nixon] deserves it as much as anybody else," Jorgensen said. "He's a great leader on our team."

Besides, Jorgensen said, preseason polls are meaningless, anyway.

The junior who had 14 sacks last year said junior Russell Tialavea, who missed last year with an injury, will also be a pleasant surprise this season.

"Whenever [Tialavea] walks onto the field, he might be the most talented person on that football field," Jorgensen said. "We have some really talented guys on defense....I think there's an opportunity that we will have more [all-MWC selections], come the end of the season."

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Like a rookie, I forgot to save my ballot containing how I voted in the Mountain West Conference football media poll.

I do remember the top three, however. I picked BYU first, Utah second and TCU third.

It wasn't a slam-dunk vote for BYU, though. I really think having road games at TCU and Utah this year is really going to test the Cougars' 16-game conference winning streak.

I can see the conference finishing in a three-way tie at the top, with BYU, Utah and TCU all having one loss.

I am pretty sure I picked Air Force fourth and UNLV last, so I was a bit surprised to see the Falcons down at No. 6.

BYU's contingent -- coach Bronco Mendenhall, quarterback Max Hall and defensive lineman Jan Jorgensen -- have yet to take the podium here at the Mountain West Conference football media gathering, but there has still been a lot of talk about the Cougars, and why they've dominated the conference the past two years.

Generally, coaches and players from other MWC programs are happy that BYU is receiving tons of preseason adoration across the nation and is ranked in the top 20 in most preview publications.

"It's well-deserved," said New Mexico coach Rocky Long. "We all know how good they've been, and how good they could be again."

Air Force coach Troy Calhoun had some interesting things to say about how the Falcons and BYU are the only two programs in the conference that recruit nationally and have national followings, and how BYU is known throughout the country as the kingpin of the conference.

"Having people know we are associated with BYU never hurts us," he said.

Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said that by the middle of the season three MWC teams should be ranked, a notion seconded by New Mexico's Rocky Long.

"We're as good as a BCS league. This league can play," Long said. "As the TV contract gets better, like it will this year with the [DirectTV] deal, other people will see that this league can play, too."

Led by Preseason Offensive Player of the Year Max Hall, seven Cougars made the all-Mountain West Conference preseason football team, the league announced today.

Six of the players are offensive stars, while the lone Cougar on the defensive team is defensive lineman Jan Jorgensen, who was a candidate for Defensive Player of the Year but was edged out by TCU linebacker Jason Phillips.

BYU had more players selected than any other program. Utah was second with five.

Joining Hall on the Offensive Team are receiver Austin Collie, offensive lineman Ray Feinga, offensive lineman Dallas Reynolds, tight end Dennis Pitta and running back Harvey Unga.

Just talked briefly to Jorgensen in the lobby here at the Green Valley Ranch Spa & Resort, and he wasn't in the least bit disappointed that he wasn't the Defensive Player of the Year.

"Preseason means nothing," he said. "We will see what happens come the end of the season."

Here's the full list:

OFFENSE
WR - Austin Collie, BYU
WR - Ryan Wolfe, UNLV
OL - Nick Charles, Air Force
OL - Dallas Reynolds, BYU
OL - Blake Schlueter, TCU
OL - Robert Conley, Utah
TE - Dennis Pitta, BYU
QB - Max Hall, BYU
RB - Harvey Unga, BYU
RB - Rodney Ferguson, New Mexico

DEFENSE

DL - Jan Jorgensen, BYU
DL - Paul Kruger, Utah
DL - John Fletcher, Wyoming
DL - Ryan Kemp, Air Force
LB - Ward Dobbs, Wyoming
LB - Russell Allen, San Diego State
LB - Jason Phillips, TCU
DB - Brice McCain, Utah
DB - DeAndre Wright, New Mexico
DB - Stephen Hodge, TCU
DB - Robert Johnson, Utah

SPECIALISTS
Punter - Louie Sakoda, Utah
Kicker - Louie Sakoda, Utah
Returner - Devin Moore, Wyoming

If the media members who cover the Mountain West Conference football race know what they are talking about, the league race will be decided on Nov. 22 when Utah plays host to BYU at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

The media picked BYU to win the league for the third straight year in preseason voting that was announced Monday morning at the league's media gathering in Las Vegas.

The Cougars received 29 first-place votes, while Utah picked up the other five and is picked to finish second.

TCU was picked third. I was a bit surprised that TCU didn't get any first-place votes, considering the Frogs get BYU at home this year.

Here's how the voting went, with first-place votes in parenthesis:

1. BYU (29)
2. Utah (5)
3. TCU
4. New Mexico
5. Wyoming
6. Air Force
7. SDSU
8. Colorado State
9. UNLV

Just got in to Las Vegas, where the Mountain West Conference football meetings are scheduled to begin bright and early Monday morning at the Green Valley Resort & Spa.

I grabbed a couple of preseason magazines -- Athlon Sports' Annual and Lindy's College Football 2008 Preview -- for a little readng on the short flight down here.

Lindy's has the Cougars ranked No. 12 in the nation, while Athlon has them at No. 14.

Kansas and Auburn are the two teams ahead of BYU in the Athlon rankings that are not ahead of the Cougars in the Lindy's rankings.

That's pretty good company, especially if Kansas continues what it got going last year.

Overall, Athlon's take on BYU is a good read -- and not just because it was written by one of my colleague's at The Tribune, Kurt Kragthorpe.

He points out that the Cougars have opened 1-2 in all three of Bronco Mendenhall's seasons as head coach. My guess is that, with expectations what they are, a 1-2 start this year would be a major bummer.

On the more positive side, a 3-0 start, with wins over UCLA and Washington of the Pac-10, would put the Cougs in perfect position for a BCS run and they would more than likely be in the Associated Press top 10 at that point in the season.

Can you imagine what Sept. 20, when BYU begins MWC play with a game against Wyo at LaVell Edwards Stadium, is going to be like if the Cougs enter that game 3-0?

Tomorrow, we will find out which team the media has picked to win the league. That should be BYU, but in talking to some other media members the past few weeks, I wouldn't be surprised if Utah and TCU get some first-place votes.

Several say BYU's tougher conference road schedule -- at TCU and at Utah -- could end its two-year grip on the league title. We will see.

As for top players, quarterback Max Hall will likely be named the preseason offensive player of the year, and defensive end Jan Jorgensen is certainly in the running for preseason defensive player of the year.

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BYU's men's soccer team finished its 2008 season with a tie. The Cougars were tied 1-1 by the Abbotsford Mariners on Saturday night at South Field.

BYU got 15 shots on goal, compared to seven for the visitors.

Steven Fellows scored BYU's goal.

BYU announced Friday that its men's and women's swimming teams will be combined under one coaching staff to improve the competitive advantages and increase the resources available to swimmers in both programs.

Longtime men's coach Tim Powers will serve as the head coach, and the total number of full-time coaches working with the swimming and diving programs will increase from four last year to five this upcoming season.

"Combining both programs under one coaching staff will allow our coaches to more specifically address the needs of our student-athletes," athletic director Tom Holmoe said. "Tim [Powers] is a great coach, and we believe he is the right person to lead our combined program. We have confidence these changes will help our swimming teams not only continue to be very successful but also improve upon their past achievements."

Powers is entering his 34th season as a head coach. He will be assisted by longtime women's coach Stan Crump, who will serve as associate head coach on the newly combined staff.

Diving coach Keith Russell will continue to work with both the men and women divers. John Brooks, who coached the UNLV men's and women's teams the past two seasons as an assistant on a combined staff, will join BYU's staff for the 2008-09 season.

Of the schools in the MWC with both men's and women's swimming, Air Force is now the only school that maintains separate head coaches for its men's and women's teams.

Powers is the longest tenured employee in the BYU Athletic Departmentk having coached the men's team since his arrival to BYU in 1975.

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BYU's men's soccer team lost 2-0 to the Vancouver Whitecaps on Friday night at South Field. The Cougars dropped to 7-6-2 heading into tonight's game against the Abbotsford Mariners in Provo. You can catch the 7:05 p.m. game live on BYU-TV (channel 21 in Utah).

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We've got just two more days until the Mountain West Conference football meetings in Las Vegas. Coach Bronco Mendenhall will be at the meetings, obviously, along with quarterback Max Hall and defensive end Jan Jorgensen for the Cougars.

I suspect that beginning Monday, the bulk of these posts will pertain to BYU football.

While you're waiting, here's a link to a series of stories the Seattle Times did regarding the mess surrounding Washington's program in the Rick Neuheisel days.

Reader Christian Peel alerted me to the stories, and they've been quite interesting -- and disgusting.