By Ryan Hope
BYU”s defense struggled during the first part of the season in 2002, as the Cougars” youth and inexperience proved costly.
At midseason the Cougars made some defensive changes and the unit”s productivity improved.
LINEBACKERS
The Cougar linebacker corps began the season with junior Paul Walkenhorst in the middle, junior Levi Madarieta on the strongside and junior Colby Bockwoldt on the weakside.
Eight games into the season, BYU”s coaches felt the current lineup wasn”t effective enough, so changes were made.
Walkenhorst moved from the middle to Madarieta”s position on the strongside, and junior Mike Tanner took over for Walkenhorst in the middle.
The changes tightened up the Cougars” run defense, and as an entire unit, BYU”s defense improved dramatically.
“The change halfway through the season helped us a lot,” former defensive coordinator Ken Schmidt said. “Mike Tanner had played a little bit and he was playing well.”
The Cougars will look to improve on the success they had during the latter half of 2002, with an experienced and seasoned linebacking corps.
“Mike Tanner was really playing well at the end of the year and Paul of course is really physical,” Schmidt said. “Colby Bockwoldt really came on towards the end of the season also.”
Tanner, Walkenhorst, Bockwoldt and Madarieta will all return for their senior season, giving BYU experience to build around.
“We have good depth coming back,” Schmidt said. “The seniors will really be a strength for us.”
Juniors Bill Wright and Ammon Mauga give the Cougars six seniors that will see time in the linebacker rotation.
Schmidt said he was impressed with redshirt freshmen linebackers Bryant Atkinson and Lance Reynolds, and thinks they will eventually be good players.
Junior Brent Carlson and sophomores Chris Stevens and Nick DiPadova, saw time in 2002 primarily on special teams.
True freshman Bryan Kehl finished the season as Tanner”s backup, but plans to serve a mission for the next two seasons.
Freshmen K.C. Bills, Brock Stratton and Lawrence Cowan will all return for the 2003 season after serving missions. Schmidt said all three have a redshirt year available and may sit out due to the amount of returning players on the team.
Paulo Fuaalii, who was a member of this season”s recruiting class, did not qualify academically, and will probably have to attend a junior college before he enrolls at BYU.
“I told the guys at the end of the season that we were pretty good then,” Schmidt said. “We have the potential to be very good next year.”
SECONDARY
BYU”s secondary endured more than its fair share of injuries in 2002.
“I thought we would have tons of depth last season,” cornerbacks coach Brian Mitchell said. “Before the season began I thought I would have six good cornerbacks. I finished the year with only three.”
The Cougars learned before the season began that highly rated junior college transfer Walt Williams did not qualify academically and would not be available for the season.
Returning all-Mountain West Conference first team selection junior Jernaro Gilford never recovered entirely from a knee injury, which hampered his performance all season.
Junior cornerback Brandon Heaney suffered a series of shoulder separations, which eventually led to him missing the final three games of the season.
Sophomore James Allen fought ankle problems all season long, and senior Mike Sumko broke his ankle midseason.
The injuries forced the Cougars to move junior Chad Barney to cornerback from his natural position at safety, and junior walk-on Kip Nielson saw considerable playing time.
“It was just a fluke of a season,” Mitchell said. “I”ve been in similar situations when I only had two cornerbacks, but not the amount of injuries that I had this season.”
Mitchell and the Cougars hope everyone will return healthy for the 2003 season.
Sumko is the only loss at the cornerback position.
Gilford, Barney, Heaney and Nielson will be seniors and James Allen will be a junior.
Williams may enroll in January and be available for spring practices.
Redshirt freshman O”Neil Howell is Mitchell”s cornerback of the future after seeing minimal playing time in 2002.
Sophomore Micah Alba will continue to see time on special teams for the Cougars.
There is a possibility that Barney will move back to safety if the cornerback position can get healthy.
The Cougars return six players with considerable playing time at the safety position.
Sophomore free safety Aaron Francisco finished second on the team in tackles behind Walkenhorst.
Junior Michael Madsen and sophomore Jon Burbidge split time at the strong safety position in 2002.
Juniors Alex Farris and Josh Brandon and sophomore Jared Meibos also saw a lot of playing time.
“We came a long way as a safety unit this past year,” safeties coach Barry Lamb said. “We made nice progress during the season and we”ll be a more veteran group next year.”
Quinn Gooch, Adam Nelson and Joel Theler return from missions for the Cougars and will add depth at the safety position.
True freshman Corby Hodgkiss redshirted in 2002 and will be available next season.
Kellen Fowler, who saw time in 2002, will serve a mission in Alaska beginning next year.
“We won”t have to go through a transition like we did this past season,” Lamb said. “Aaron Francisco was our most productive player on defense last year and he was only a sophomore.”
