Just wanted you all to know that the 2008 Mountain West football team previews have now been added to College Sports Fans' college football preview 2008.

You guys have done a pretty fair job of the MWC, but I had to laugh when I read this;

Quote:With Zane Beadles, Robert Conley and Caleb Schlauderaff returning, the offensive line should be the best in the conference

I'm not sure if I would say Utah has the 3rd best OL in the MWC, but I think even most Ute fans would say BYU has by far the best and deepest OL in the MWC.

BYU's 2008 OL:

Starting 5 should be;
Sr- Dallas Reynolds 6' 5" 332, 38 straight starts; Outland Trophy and Rotary Lombardi Award candidates; NationalChamps.net Preseason All-America 2nd team; Phil Steele's Preseason All-American 4th Team.
Sr- Ray Feinga 6' 5" 331, 23 starts; Outland Trophy and Rotary Lombardi Award candidates; NationalChamps.net Preseason All-America honorable mention team.
Sr- Travis Bright 6' 5" 329, 22 starts, A 2008 All-Mountain West Conference candidate, this Spring set a BYU bench press record of 540 pounds.
Sr- David Oswald 6' 8" 330, 16 starts
Jr- Tom Sorensen 6' 5' 306, **8 starts**; Played in 7 games last year for BYU, in 2004 as a true freshman started 8 games at Vanderbilt earning an unanimous All-SEC Freshman-Team selection and 2nd Team Freshman All-American.
**8 starts** at Vanderbilt

Backups;
Jr- R.J. Willing 6' 5" 312, played in all 13 games last year and started 9 games at RG in 2004 as a Fr for BYU before his mission.
So- Garrett Reden 6' 3" 286, started 2 games last year as a Fr and played in all 6 games before a season ending injury.
Fr- Matt Reynolds 6' 6" 315, started all Spring in place of Travis Bright, who was injured. Said to be the most talented of the "Reynolds Boys" (Lance, Dallas, and Houston) and was a Top 100 recruit coming out of High School in 2005. It would surprise me to see him end up taking a starting job this year.
Jr- Levi Mack 6' 5" 318; Looked very good in Spring camp after red-shirting at BYU in 2007. Very highly recruited JC player- recruited by Texas, Nebraska, Texas Tech, Iowa St, Arizona St, Oregon St, Michigan St, Louisville, Colorado St, and Utah St.
So- Jason Speredon 6' 5" 286, played in 12 games last year as Fr.
So- Nick Alletto 6' 6" 280, played in 5 games last year as Fr.

One's to watch;
JC Transfer- Jessie Taufi 6' 5" 320
2008 recruit- Michael Yeck 6' 8" 262
2008 recruit- Brock Stringham 6' 6" 280
2007 recruit- Houston Reynolds 6' 2" 295, on mission
2007 recruit- Manaaki Vaitai 6' 3" 295, mission not sure
2006 recruit- Walter Kahaiali'i 6' 3" 320, mission
2006 recruit- Ryan Freeman 6' 2" 269, mission
2006 recruit- Braden Hansen 6' 5" 290, mission
2004 recruit- Terence Brown 6' 4" 326, mission could be home now; Grey shirted 2004 season and red-shirted 2005. Terence had a great Spring camp in 2006 was working with the 1's and 2's, before his mission.

Utah's OL:

Jr- Zane Beadles 6' 4" 312, 12 starts + 2007 seasons starts
Sr- Robert Conley 6' 1" 316, 18 starts + 2007 seasons starts
So- Caleb Schlauderaff 6' 5" 300, 0 starts + 2007 seasons starts
Dustin Hensel 6' 7" 320, 0 starts + 2007 seasons starts
The rest I'm not sure about because Utah has not updated their site from last year...

Both it true both Beadles and Conley made 2nd Team All-MWC last year, but both Reynolds and Feinga made 1st Team All-MWC. Also IMO, Travis Bright was BYU's best OL last year, from his BYU Bio;

Quote:JUNIOR - (2007): Earned 2007 Academic All-Mountain West Conference honors ... started in all 13 games for the Cougars at offensive guard ... earned letterman honors ... graded out as one of the Cougars' top offensive linemen ... suffered a broken leg in BYU's 17-16 victory over UCLA in the Las Vegas Bowl

But to both Reynolds and Feinga credit nether one of them allowed a sack last year and nether on graded out below an 80 last year either.

What's going on with BYU Def, Off BYU is ready to roll. Def is going to decide If BYU is in Fiesta Bowl or Las Vagas Bowl

Last year BYU finished ranked 1st in the MWC and #10 in the Nation in total D; in scoring D they finished 2nd in the MWC and #9 in the Nation.
In 2006 BYU D finished ranked 3rd in the MWC and #38 in the Nation in total D; in scoring D they finished 2nd in the MWC and #10 in the Nation.
The reason I brought up these stats, because the turn over on the d side between the 2 years.
BYU had to replace 6 of the 11 starters on D between 2006 and 2007 season including their 2 leading tacklers.
Now comes 2008 and on paper BYU looks to have to replace 9 of their 11 starters from 2007 and again their 2 leading tacklers. But it is not quite as bad as it looks and hear is why;

Starting with the DL- Both Ian Dulan (DE) and true freshman Eathyn Manumaleuna (NT) were starters in 2007 (both will be going on missions from what I have heard). Funny thing is Ian Dulan backup put up better numbers than he did in 2007;
Ian Dulan- 24 tackles, 3.5 TFL, 2.5 sacks, 2 QBH, 12 starts
Brett Denney- 29 tackles, 4.5 TFL, 4.0 sacks, 1 start
Now Eathyn Manumaleuna was pressed into the starting job when the 2006's NT starter was lost in Fall camp when he blew out his ACL and MCL.
Eathyn Manumaleuna, 2007 starter- 25 tackles, 3.0 TFL, 1.0 sack, 1 BrUp, 2 QBH, 1 BlkKick
Russel Tialavea, 2006 starter- 22 tackles, 3.0 TFL, 1.0 sack, 1 BrUp, 2 fumble recoveries, 2 BlkKick
Both of them started a freshmen...

BYU looses 3 starting LBers from the 2007 season and the backups stats were not to bad;
Shawn Doman- 38 tackles, 0.5 TFL
Matt Bauman- 34 tackles, 1.5 TFL, 1.0 sack, 1 Int
Grant Nelson- 22 tackles, 0.5 TFL; Vic So'oto moved from TE to LB at the start of the year and was starting ahead of Grant during Spring Camp.
Stats for 2006 of future 2007 starters;
Kelly Poppinga- 31 tackles, 3.5 TFL, 1.5 sack, 2 Int's, 1 BrUp, 1 QBH
Markell Staffieri- 17 tackles, 1.0 TFL, 2 BrUp

For the DB's;
Did you know all of BYU's starting DB's the last 4 games of the season were former walk-ons and played with 3 of the 4 DB's with former walk-ons the whole season. This year 6 of the 8 players on the 2 deep chart are scholarship players and talent has never been a issue with these players either. It's been youth and knowledge of the D system BYU runs...
BYU's 2 Deep at DB;
S- Kellen Fowler 5' 11" 187, Sr- Former walk-on, know the D by far the best (same for last year) just like a coach on the field. Started the final 4 games for BYU after Quinn Gooch was lost in the 9th game with a season ending injury. Knows both Safety positions inside and out.
S- David Tafuna 6' 1" 216, Sr- Was slated to start last year before being lost in Fall Camp with a season ending ankle injury. Started games in both 2006 and 2005. Big time hitter...
FCB- Brandon Howard 5' 9" 164, Jr- Very fast, with great closing speed. Has took a while to become a CB, he played WR in High School.
BCB- Scott Johnson 5' 11" 185, Jr- Former walk-on does not make mistakes (always in the right position), not nearly as physically talented as the other DB's.
The Yong Guns (tons of talent and size);
S- Jordan Pendleton 6' 2" 218, Fr- Red-shirted last year, "Big Time Hitter" with LB size. Played with the 1's all Spring in place of the injured rehabbing David Tafuna.
S- Steven Thomas 5' 11" 172, Fr is in a battle for the backup spot with winter JC Transfer Andrew Rich 6' 3" 210 JC All-American and Jr- Chris Warner 6' 1" 208 who was injured all of the 2007 season (still recovering)
FCB- G Pittman 5' 10" 183, Fr- Many insiders feel he might be the most talented CB BYU has ever had. One of the few true freshman BYU had slated to play last year he is that good, but a season ending injury ended that plan and set him back some this year.
BCB- Brandon Bradley 6' 201, So- Is just starting to show the things he had before blowing out his ACL in the 2006 Fall Camp. Last year it took until the end of the season to get back to his per-injured speed, but his change of direction was not close to being back.

Maybe it is just me but I don't see much of a drop off in BYU's D from that of last year for a number of reasons.
1) One of the biggest is BYU O should be better, thus controlling the clock and ball better giving BYU D more time to rest and coaching adjustments to counter the other teams O.
2) BYU DL should be better, another year of experience; Last year starters were DE- So, DT- So, and NT- Fr; This years should be DE-Jr, DT- Jr, and NT- So. BYU only had 1 Sr out of the 16 DL on their team last year.
3) Less experienced DB, but they are more talented... So Higher chance to make mistakes, but also a higher chance to make big plays... So could be close to a push.
4) LBer's- BYU's backup LBer's would have not got the PT they got last year if they weren't good enough. Because it's not like they only played at the end of a good in the end of a blowout.
5) 2006 and 2007, the last 2 years BYU has been able to plus new players in after starters are injured and not seem to miss a beat.

From what I have read in the last couple days, Ian Dulan will not be leaving for a mission this year.
So looking at the a preseason starter on D;
DE- Jan Jorgensen 6' 3" 256, Jr- 26 career starts
NT- Russell Tialavea 6' 3" 320, So- 7 career starts
DE- Ian Dulan 6' 1" 252, Jr- 17 career starts
LB- David Nixon 6' 3" 223, Sr- 28 career starts
LB- Matt Bauman 6' 1" 226, Jr- 5 career starts
LB- Shawn Doman 6' 2" 224, Jr- none
LB- Vic So'oto 6' 3" 249, Jr- 1 career start at TE
S- Kellen Fowler 5' 11" 187, Sr- 5 career starts or Andrew Rich 6' 3" 210, So- none
S- David Tafuna 6' 1" 216, Sr- 3 career starts or Jordan Pendleton 6' 2" 218, Fr- none
CB- Brandon Howard 5' 9" 164, Jr- none or G Pittman 5' 10" 183, Fr- none
CB- Scott Johnson 5' 11" 185, Jr- none or Brandon Bradley 6' 201, So- none

All the or's on the DB's are physically more talented they just have a lot less experience or less knowledge of the system. Two of them are Freshmen, another one is a Sophomore who was injured (ACL) his red-shirt freshman year (saw action in the last 7 games last year), and the 4th (Rich) is mid-season JC All-American who will be a Sophomore too.
The JC All-American turned down offers from California and Boise St to walk-on at BYU. During the first days of Spring Camp he said the learning curve to getting down the D was like trying to drink from a "Fire Hose".
Jordan Pendleton played with the one's all Spring Camp long, because David Tafuna is still recovering from the ankle injury that kept him from play all of last year.

A little information on Andrew Rich, from his BYU Bio;

Quote:Led Snow College with 120 tackles and five interceptions in 2007 ... earned first-team all-league and second-team All-America honors at safety as a true freshman ... helped lead that Badgers to the NJCAA National Championship game ... posted an 11-1 record during the season

That's why many are so high on this young man and reports from Spring Camp was he was really gaining a feel for BYU's D by the end of Camp. Kellen Fowler (total team player) has spent hours before and after practice (when ever Rich asked him too) to learn the defense better. Much like Vic So'oto has had help from David Nixon learning the D. The whole D would stay after practice to help the young player (LB & DB) get a better feel of things they worked on during practice.