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Aaron Cornia/BYU Photo
It will be a crucial spring for Aaron Roderick and Kelly Poppinga.
As BYU holds its spring practices over the coming weeks, offensive coordinator Roderick will look to build off quarterback Bear Bachmeier’s success as a freshman while breaking in a new-look pass-catching unit.
Poppinga will attempt to lay the foundation for his tenure as the Cougars’ defensive coordinator while getting new assistant coaches onboarded and perfecting the scheme that’s made BYU so effective in the past two years.
Here’s what the pair of coordinators had to say Monday following practice.
Aaron Roderick
On the state of the wide receiver room without Parker Kingston
“We’ve only practiced twice, but there’s a lot of good players in that room and those guys will step up. I’m very confident about that. And you know, (Oregon transfer Kyler) Kasper did some good things today. We’ve got some young players that are doing some good things.
“(Kasper is) somebody we wanted in high school, but he was in on Oregon pretty quick. But he’s somebody we liked a lot in high school.”
On freshman quarterback Enoch Watson
“He’s similar to our other guys. He’s a super athlete, really live arm. He played really only one year in high school in a real passing offense, he played for Max Hall and had one really good year, and we feel like his best days are ahead of him still.
On Bear Bachmeier’s participation in spring ball
“He’s a very talented guy. He knows the offense so well now, it’s like from day one he’s got the whole thing down, and we’re doing some pretty advanced stuff right now with the first (team offense) when he’s in there.
“The biggest thing, though, for Bear is his offseason conditioning. This is his first college offseason, so we’re really getting a chance to, you know, get him in shape, get him strong, get his body tuned up. He made it through 14 games this year healthy, but we want to use this offseason to really get him in great shape.”
On new tight end Walker Lyons
“Walker has been exactly who I already knew he was, and who I expected him to be. He did a really good job at USC. We loved him in high school, and we’re really happy to have him now.”
On if Carsen Ryan’s performance last year created future momentum for BYU at the tight end position
“Carsen really did a nice job for us last year. He was an every down player, he was an excellent blocker, really good receiver and did so many good things for us.
“And I think it gave us a chance to sort of reestablish what we’ve always wanted to be and what we’ve always wanted to do with our tight ends, and I think that you’re going to see a lot more of that in the future with these guys we have in the program right now.”
Kelly Poppinga
On adjusting to his new role as defensive coordinator
“The main thing is just getting used to the amount of times people are coming to you asking you questions, wanting to know how things are done. But it’s been fun, it’s been a good adjustment.”
On working with new defensive assistant coaches
“Those guys have been great, man. They’re smart guys. (Demario Warren) and Lewis (Walker) have come right in and been able to pick up on the techniques and the scheme. I think they’ve gotten the corners and the safeties, they’ve really caught on to those guys, and so I like what I see with that.
“And then Chad Kauha’aha’a, he’s been around these guys, he’s been around the scheme. So it’s been pretty seamless right now.
“I’ll be honest with you. I think we’ve been able to go a lot faster than I thought we were going to be able to go. Those guys have provided some really good insight into just how they see our scheme, little tweaks that we could make to it. It’s been good to have their insight, sometimes it’s good to have somebody come from the outside to be able to kind of evaluate everything that’s been going on.”
On which linebackers could step up following Jack Kelly’s departure
“Cade Uluave has come in, he looks great. I think Jake Clifton, another guy, he’s looked really good. Those are two transfer guys. Jake is just coming off his mission, but those guys have played a lot of football.
“So then you combine that with the guys that we’ve already had with Siale Esera, Isaiah Glasker and Miles Hall, who look really good, there’s a lot of guys. It’s going to be super competitive and I think we’ve got plenty of answers.
“Jack Kelly was a great player and there’s some stuff that he does that I don’t think we’ll be able to replace. But there’s a lot of things that I think these guys can add to this scheme that maybe we haven’t had in the past, and I’m just excited about the depth and the competition, and I think just over the past couple years we’ve recruited that position very well, so we’re in a good spot.”
On how retaining so many key players has benefited him in taking over the defense
“It’d be a completely different ballgame if I was dealing with a whole new roster. Props to those guys for believing in the system, believing in Kalani, because a lot of those guys stayed before I was even announced (as the new defensive coordinator), so it wasn’t so much to do with me. It had to do with just what they love about this program, what they love about Kalani, what they love about their teammates and just what BYU provides them.
“I was happy to see those guys come back, and they’ve been practicing well. It’s been fun. You just see those guys that have played a lot of football for us out there together and the way that they’re communicating together, the way they mesh together I think is going to be an advantage for us if we can continue to just stay together and build on that.”
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Aaron Cornia/BYU Photo