Only the die-hard fans showed up today at the LaVell Edwards Stadium to watch a Cougar Civil War, also known as the annual spring game. The blue team took on the white team in front of Cougar Nation. The only free game of the year was a good chance for football fans to come out of basketball hibernation.
This year the Cougars didn’t keep score. They just had a good hard practice, but made sure not to injure their assets, such as Tanner Mangum, the successor to Taysom Hill who also hails from the Potato State. Mangum is known for his famous Hail Mary winner against Nebraska and his deja vu Hail Mary vs Boise State a week later. Last year he saw limited action due to the return of Taysom Hill. In his only start of the year, he led BYU to a narrow victory in the final San Diego Poinsettia Bowl.
Right now the defense is well ahead of the offense as “Hail Mary Mangum” got cherry picked a few times by the plethora of returning starters in the backfield. Butch Pau’u made a one handed takeaway faster than you could say “Moroni Laulu-Pututau.”
🎥: BYU QB @tannermangum talks about the Cougars' offense following the team's spring scrimmagehttps://t.co/J5lhNSiBhD
— Brandon Judd (@brandonljudd) March 25, 2017
Fans are still wondering who will replace the all time BYU rushing leader Jamal Williams. Squally Canada had a successful season last year as the backup to Jamal, but don’t count your maple leaves before they blossom. Four other guys named Ula Tolutau, Riley Burt, KJ Hall and Trey Dye want to overtake the starting spot of one of the most important positions on the BYU offense. BYU did a lot on the run last year, but it is yet to see whether Ty Detmer will use his new gunslinger apprentice Tanner Mangum to incorporate the high flying passing attack that led BYU to a national title and Heisman quarterbacks galore in the 1980s.
All in all, it was a successful fun spring scrimmage that Cougar fans hope will be the start of many things to come: the first Holy War victory in almost a decade, a New Years Six Bowl, and maybe even the college football playoff. The expectations are the same for fans every year as the Cougars look to resurrect their game to the level it once was in the days of LaVell Edwards and Steve Young.