Over the course of the next four months, BYU’s football players — those that survive the roster cuts that are seemingly coming to every Football Bowl Subdivision school in the country — will largely be on their own now that spring practices have concluded in Provo.
The Cougars won’t have head coach Kalani Sitake, coordinators Aaron Roderick, Jay Hill and Kelly Poppinga and their position coaches watching over them day and night, as has mostly been the case the past eight months.
But that doesn’t mean nothing will be expected of them, Sitake said Friday after the last of 15 spring practices and before the annual alumni game at LaVell Edwards Stadium. In fact, it is just the opposite.
“We are going to transition now to summer conditioning,” Sitake said, while noting that the next few weeks there will be plenty of discussions with every player on the current roster regarding their futures in the program, and how they are viewed by their position coaches.
He said during that conditioning, which will be overseen by the strength and conditioning staff, players will be given most of April off to focus on academics and finals, with graduation exercises taking place April 24-25.
“It is not like we will have a break and they can kick their feet up. They still have work to do. It is just that we are not going to do it as a team,” Sitake said. “They can focus on getting their finals done, and finish up the semester, and then there is … a lot of time in the spring where people are getting married, so I will spend time doing those things, and by the time you know it we will be getting back to our mandatory conditioning (in May). So that is what we will get done.”
Of course, players are free to conduct player-run-practices, or PRPs, which quarterback Jake Retzlaff and others said have already been planned.
As spring camp concluded, “I just asked them to continue what we ...
