BYU Q&A with Lawless Republic on Taysom Hill, Cougars
The BYU Cougars come to Austin this weekend for rematch against a Texas team it beat 40-21 last year. In that game, the Cougars generated 679 yards of total offense Quarterback Taysom Hill rushing for 259 yards on a bad knee. BYU proceeded to knock out David Ash and Daje Johnson, and cost Manny Diaz his job.
BYU opened its season with a 35-10 victory over the Connecticut Huskies.
In preparation for the game, Jeff Hansen from Lawless Republic stopped by to answer some questions about the BYU program. You can follow Jeff on Twitter @rakoto10. You can read up on the BYU program here.
Taysom Hill had a pretty good day throwing the ball against Connecticut. Does the Texas defense need to be concerned about his passing, considering he did most of his damage on the ground last year?
Last year Taysom Hill was coming off of knee surgery. He spent the entire off-season rehabbing his knee and trying to get back into game shape. In addition to the rehab, he had to learn a new uptempo offense that new offensive coordinator Robert Anae brought with him from Arizona. He’s a natural runner, so it really wasn’t a surprise that his passing game suffered a little last year. This year, however, Hill was able to spend the entire offense with his receivers and was able to fine tune his passing skills. He attended the Manning Passing Academy this summer and was a standout there. BYU brought in some highly touted junior college receivers to give Hill more weapons on the outside. Hill’s passing against Connecticut certainly wasn’t a fluke. I don’t think he’s going to complete 78% of his passes all year, but it will be much better than what Texas fans saw last year.
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What are the areas of concern BYU fans have with this team?
Ever since Bronco Mendenhall took over as head coach in 2005, BYU has been known as a team with great linebackers. This season it seems like linebackers are the biggest question mark on the team. On the outside BYU has Bronson Kaufusi and Alani Fua. Both of these players are quality and could garner some NFL attention. On the inside however, BYU lacks experience and there hasn’t been two guys that have stood out as “the guys” yet. Sophomore transfer Harvey Langi will make his debut this week and he seems to have the potential to fill the void. But you’ll see a mixture of Langi, Zac Stout, Austin Heder, Manoa Pikula, Teu Kautai and Jherremya Leuta-Douyere at the inside linebacker positions.
Who should Texas fans watch for along the BYU defensive line?
Travis Tuiloma is a real talent at the nose tackle position.He doesn’t have the size that a traditional nose tackle has, but he’s mean and one of the stronger players on the team. Assuming that Malcom Brown and Johnathan Gray are going to see the ball a lot, I think Tuiloma will play a huge role for BYU.
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How much do you think the heat will affect this BYU team?
Not much. Utah is known for cold winters and the best snow on earth, but summers are really hot. Throughout summer workouts and all of Fall Camp BYU has been playing in heat. The humidity of Texas might play a small role in the game, but overall, I don’t think that it will be a huge impact on the Cougars.
What does BYU have to do to leave Austin with a win?
Everyone around Taysom Hill needs to step up. There is no doubt that the offense will goes as Hill goes, but BYU really needs a big game from Jamaal Williams and some of the receivers. After his performance last year, everyone on the planet knows that Texas is going to try and stop Hill. If Williams can take some of the pressure off of Hill early and break a few big runs then I think that will help Hill make a few big plays later in the game. News has surfaced of a number of different injuries and suspensions for Texas, but overall, it seems like the Longhorn defense is as stout as ever. BYU will need to find a way to move the ball and score some points if they want to leave with a win. Even with injuries and suspensions, it doesn’t appear that Texas is going to give up many points and it will take more than just Hill for BYU to win this game.