Vanquish The Foe, a BYU Cougars community

Bronco Mendenhall talks American football on New Zealand television

Did Bronco Mendenhall’s comments really change the quarterback situation last week? No. They were simply more of the same rhetoric that has been going around for the last three months. The quarterback competition is still open. Yet, somehow, while still being noncommittal about a 2011 starter, Mendenhall found a way to diffuse this issue without saying anything substantive or conclusive. It was genius.

You can add USC transfer Uona Kaveinga (6-0 245 LB) to the Class of 2011 as well. He's working out with the team and will have two years to play two. So what prizes are still out there for the Cougars? Here's a look at the top guys still on the board who BYU has offered. Kasen Williams (6-2 195 WR) Skyline (Issaquah, Wash.) Austin Seferian-Jenkins (6-7 245 TE) Gig Harbor (Wash.) Harvey Langi (6-1 208 RB) Bingham (South Jordan, Utah) Brennan Scarlett (6-4 245 DE) Central Catholic (Portland, Ore.) Taniela Tupou (6-2 260 DE) Archbishop Murphy (Everett, Wash.)

Bingham High junior defensive lineman Moses Kaumatule committed to sign with BYU as part of the Cougar class of 2011 today after he and his family visited with Bronco Mendenhall, according to his high school coach Dave Peck. Kaumatule, 6-1, 235 pounds, had 49 tackles and 5.5 sacks this past year for Bingham and had seven tackles and a sack in the state championship game against Davis. He is the third junior at Bingham to commit to BYU. Others include running back Manoa Pikula and defensive end Baker Pritchard. The Cougars also have a commitment from Pleasant Grove middle linebacker Austin Heder, giving BYU five recruits for 2011 class.

My one concern about BYU's impressive and promising incoming class has nagged me for months, though. Wednesday's lunchtime ceremony and Mendenhall's explanations didn't totally soften that edge. It's been well documented how one incoming BYU player, highly touted quarterback Jake Heaps, has been a recruiting service all his own. He is supposed to be a really good player, maybe even right away. He wanted really good players around him. Makes perfect sense. He went out and texted them, befriended them -- all within the rules -- and courted several kids to Provo. Call these cases, "Heaps of Faith." Heaps held a "commitment" ceremony over the summer. A lot of people in blue cheered the deal in Salt Lake City. A lot of people (some in blue, but mostly others who root for rivals) rolled their eyes. But there was a very admirable quality about the over-the-top orchestration: Joined by some other future Cougars, he appeared genuinely thrilled to share the spotlight and even deflect it to his new friends. Cougar recruiting coordinator Paul Tidwell quipped a couple of days ago that he hopes he isn't soon out of a job because of Heaps. Let's hope, for everyone's sake, that this unusual strategy works out. We all know players in this class, like any other, will drift in varying orbits. Injuries, playing time availability and, of course, those two-year missions will present plenty of helter-skelter scenarios just like any other year. I absolutely love that Mendenhall mocks nerdy reporters like myself, recruiting-service geeks and even his own fan base for questioning his recruiting strategies. Truth is, none of us have a clue -- or any real perspective -- about the scene.

BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall knows his schedule is unusual, but it also might make him the happiest coach in college football. Florida coach Urban Meyer has become the poster child for the horrors of college coaching, featuring a rigorous schedule and unhealthy diet that could easily lead to massive health problems. Coaches often talk of working 18-hour days, sleeping at the office after long road trips to get a head start on breaking down film, hopping on flight after flight to woo recruits and taking less than a week off during the offseason before ramping back up again. Mendenhall looks at those coaches and sympathetically shakes his head.

This is an old feature on Bronco from when he first became coach. It is still an interesting read, especially now knowing how the hire turned out.

BYU's senior class relfects on how Bronco has changed the program, and himself.

"BYU has a good football team, do not get me wrong they have won ten games or more since 2006 with Bronco Mendenhall running the ship. The big complaint by a lot of people is Bronco's stubbornness to adjust his game plan whether it is on the offense or defense side of the ball. He has always said if we [BYU] execute our plays we will be fine. Now he has company with Notre Dame's Charle Weiss who apparently does the same for his team." - MWC Connection