BYU Sports

This just in from the folks at the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, La.
The bowl has reached an agreement with the ACC and Mountain West conferences that means the MWC will send a third-selection team to the bowl beginning in 2010. The ACC will send a seventh selection.
Here’s the first few paragraphs of the news release:


ADVOCARE V100 INDEPENDENCE BOWL REACHES CONFERENCE AGREEMENTS  WITH ACC AND MOUNTAIN WEST

Shreveport, La. – The AdvoCare V100 Independence Bowl will feature an ACC-Mountain West matchup beginning in 2010, both conference and bowl officials announced on Thursday.

The third selection from the Mountain West Conference will meet the seventh selection from the Atlantic Coast Conference beginning in December of 2010 at Independence Stadium. The agreement with the two conferences runs through 2013.

The Independence Bowl’s lengthy relationship with both the Big 12 and SEC will end after the conclusion of the 2009 game. Since 2006 the bowl has had the seventh selection from the Big 12 and the eighth selection from the SEC.

"We are excited about what the future holds for the AdvoCare V100 Independence Bowl and feel our new conference partnerships with the ACC and Mountain West are a precursor to the growth and direction that is the primary goal of the leadership of our organization,” said AdvoCare V100 Independence Bowl Executive Director Missy Setters.

"AdvoCare is excited and honored to be involved with the Independence Bowl, and our new partnership with two premier conferences, the ACC and the Mountain West, will ensure the Independence Bowl has representatives from each conference in the coming years and the possibility of nationally ranked teams,” said AdvoCare President and CEO Richard Wright. “We look forward to building relationships with both conferences.”

Just posted to our recruiting blog some good news for BYU women’s basketball and volleyball fans.
Jennifer Hamson, a 6-foot-6 senior from Pleasant Grove High in Utah, committed to BYU women’s basketball coach Jeff Judkins last night.
Read more about Hamson and her commitment by going here.

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There will be no fiery speeches, no remember-the-Alamo addresses or anything of the sort when the Cougars gather in their locker room on Saturday night before taking on No. 10-ranked TCU. At least, talk like that won’t come from coach Bronco Mendenhall.
As my notebook in today’s newspaper points out, the Cougars aren’t the vengeful type. It’s just not their way, they say.
“I think what most of the players will say is, and it can be misconstrued, it is another week,” Mendenhall said after practice Wednesday. “All the games are big. They have been for three years. And if you want to win the conference, you have to win them all, and that’s what the players understand and the coaches understand.
Sometimes, that can be different. But I think the last three years it has been, if I remember right, you have to win all of them. We just realize that, and keep going.”

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Last February, former BYU receivers coach Mike Borich, a one-time star at Bingham High, died of a drug overdose in Salt Lake City. Doctors and researchers at Boston University  almost immediately contacted Borich’s family and asked if they would donate his brain to science, mostly because Borich suffered multiple concussions at Western Illinois University, where he was a star receiver.
The New York Times has a fascinating story on that research, which concludes that Borich’s struggles with substance abuse were in part caused by the brain trauma he suffered as a player.

BYU quarterback max Hall is a finalist for the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award.

Here’s the news release from BYU:

PROVO, Utah -- BYU’s Max Hall has been named one of the final 10 candidates for the 2009 Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award. The final 10 candidates were narrowed down from an original field of 22 players.

Named after the man many refer to as the greatest quarterback ever to play the game of football, the prestigious Golden Arm Award is presented annually to the nation's top senior college quarterback by the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Educational Foundation, Inc. and its presenting sponsor, Transamerica, a leading provider of innovative business and personal financial services (www.transamerica.com).

The remaining candidates for the 2009 Golden Arm Award include the following players:

Jarrett Brown, West Virginia
Daryll Clark, Penn State
Max Hall, BYU
Dan LeFevour, Central Michigan
Thaddeus Lewis, Duke
Colt McCoy, Texas
Tony Pike, Cincinnati
Todd Reesing, Kansas
Zac Robinson, Oklahoma State
Tim Tebow, Florida

Hall is ranked fourth nationally in passing efficiency (163.74 rating), ranking only behind Florida's Tebow among the 10 final candidates. While leading BYU to a 6-1 record and No. 16 national ranking, Hall ranks No. 8 nationally in total offense (306.43 yards per game) while averaging 295.6 yards passing  and 10.9 yards rushing per game. He has completed 69.4 percent of his passes (152-of-219) while throwing 16 touchdowns and running for two more scores on the ground.

The 2009 winner will be presented with the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award on Friday, December 11 at the Tremont Grand Meeting & Banquet Facility in downtown Baltimore. Joining the festivities that evening will be a number of former Baltimore Colts teammates of Johnny Unitas, along with NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Bart Starr.

If it were up to BYU receiver McKay Jacobson, he would definitely play this Saturday against TCU.
At least, that’s what BYU quarterback Max Hall believes. Jacobson has missed the last two games with a hamstring injury, and has practiced briefly this week in hopes of being ready for Saturday’s 5:30 p.m. kickoff.
“I wish I knew so I could tell you, but I just don’t know,” Hall said during his weekly teleconference on Wednesday afternoon. “Every time I see McKay he is working out, he is doing everything he needs to do to get back, whether it is riding the bike or running sprints or doing whatever it is to get his legs feeling good again. But it is just not my decision. I think if it was up to McKay, he would play. So I know he has shown improvement, and we are just hoping that he gets the OK to play. But we won’t know, probably until the end of the week.”

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In the same teleconference, Hall was asked if the reason he threw two interceptions and was sacked six times against TCU last year was related to protection breakdowns.
“It wasn’t just protection. I think our schemes were wrong,” Hall said. “We had a lot of downfield, longer throws, where I was trying to launch the ball too long, and they were able to get to me. This year we have done a really good job of getting the ball out of my hands quick, and doing smart, efficient things down the field, and then taking shots every once in a while, and so it is no different than when I played Oklahoma or Florida State or any of those guys.
“I gotta be consistent in my play, I gotta get the ball out of my hands, and I gotta be a leader on the field.”