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April 30, 2007
Beck embraces expectations
John Beck, who was drafted by Miami in the second round of Saturday's NFL Draft, has already set a goal to try and fill the shoes of Dan Marino for Dolphin fans.
The BYU quarterback who surpassed Jim McMahon and Steve Young on the Cougar all-time passing chart is well-versed in the job ahead. That includes challenging injured veteran Daunte Culpepper and helping the Fish improve on a 6-10 mark and last-place finish in the AFC East.
The BYU quarterback derby couldn't have taken a more dramatic turn.
Head coach Bronco Mendenhall named Arizona State transfer Max Hall the starter coming out of spring drills on Monday, and Snow College all-American Cade Cooper is not only out of the race but will miss the 2007 football season with a serious foot injury suffered Saturday during his brief appearance in the team's final scrimmage at LaVell Edwards Stadium.
Cooper's injury is similar to the Lisfranc injury suffered by former Cougar and Philadelphia Eagle All-Pro tight end Chad Lewis in the NFC championship game several years ago. The injury is serious enough to sideline Cooper for a year and involves a tear of a major ligament in the middle of the foot.
On paper, Apana Nakayama's collegiate baseball journey has only spanned about 10 miles — the distance from Utah Valley State College, where he spent his first two years of eligibility, to Brigham Young University, where he spent the last two.
But factor in an LDS mission and the knee injury that confined him to the dugout last season, and you've got a long, strange trip that spans seven years.
GORDON MONSON: BYU's Collie works on regaining skills
Brigham Young receiver Austin Collie and quarterback Max Hall were bragging over dinner Monday night, after their first official practice in spring camp, about their budding chemistry on the field and arguing about their individual athletic prowess off it.
The conversation started out a love-fest and ended in a near brawl.
Collie: "Max is throwing the ball really well. He has what it takes out there. The more we throw, the more in sync we'll be."
One and undone: Xavier comeback keeps Y. from elusive victory
BYU's NCAA win drought grew to 14 years on Thursday in the blue grass of Kentucky.
Unlike the last BYU try in 2004 — a loss to Syracuse in Denver — it wasn't a Gerry McNamara-type 43 points that killed BYU. It was a bunch of hops, skips and floaters inside the key by tiny 5-foot-7 Xavier guard Drew Lavender in the closing minutes that muddled BYU's NCAA hopes and lifted the Musketeers to a 79-77 win in the first-round of the South Regional in Rupp Arena.
"This was a tough, hard-fought game that could have gone either way," said Xavier coach Sean Miller.
It is a private religious school named after an important ecclesiastical figure. It has been to the NCAA Tournament approximately 20 times. It won a national championship, of sorts, decades ago. Even so, its coaches and players still find themselves explaining who they are and what they've done.
Only once in its history has it advanced as far as the Elite Eight. It is often referred to by a single alphabetical letter.
The clip of his famous dad's most famous moment at Brigham Young is always running somewhere.
It's either on the big video screen at the Marriott Center during a Cougars home game. Or it's on the TV before a BYU contest begins. Or it's running through his head.
Beyond a simple test of talent, the N.C.A.A. tournament is a caldron of pressure. And Brigham Young, more than any team in the field, would seem to have the maturity to handle it.
The point guard is 25. Two top reserves are juniors, but they are six years removed from high school. Five of the players are married, and a sixth is engaged.
For those making the argument that athletics are cyclical, look no further than the Brigham Young and Utah basketball programs.
Each is where the other was.
Only two years ago, coach Ray Giacoletti's nationally ranked Utah team took a 12-game winning streak into the Marriott Center against BYU. Over the next two months, Utah would lose only to New Mexico before bowing out of the NCAA Tournament in the Sweet 16.
In two respects -- one visible, the other about to be -- LSU is at last Coach Les Miles' team.
The visible aspect comes in the final parting of the LSU faithful and former saint Nick Saban. With Saban at Alabama in real life, and banished to the darkness where there is much wailing and gnashing of teeth in many Tiger fantasies, Miles is unquestionably the man.
Gary Wilkinson's path to junior college basketball stardom is fantastic enough to have come straight from the pages of a Hollywood script.
Wilkinson, a sophomore center at Salt Lake Community College, didn't play a minute of basketball while he was at Bingham High. But shortly after returning from an LDS Church mission to Canada, he decided he wanted to tackle the sport. Wilkinson contacted the SLCC coaching staff and secured a tryout.
Mormon Athlete Credits Mission for Baseball Success
Matt Lindstrom’s road to major league baseball took a sidetrack as he served a two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He is currently training with the Florida Marlins and is known for his 100 mph pitch.
In an interview with The Miami Herald, Lindstrom said he wouldn't have the extra velocity today if not for a two-year Mormon missionary trip to Sweden.
Lindstrom's next mission: Make the Marlins' roster
Are you ready for the Swedish fastball?
That might just be what they start calling Matt Lindstrom's heat.
Honest.
Lindstrom, who throws more than 100 mph, said he wouldn't have the extra velocity today if not for a two-year Mormon missionary trip to Sweden, where he traveled through seven cities and -- like all young Mormons -- filled his commitment preaching the teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Author screens film ‘The Mormon Way of Doing Business,’ Monday at the Waterford library
“Without Reservation” author Jeff Benedict will screen his first film “The Mormon Way of Doing Business,” Monday at the Waterford Public Library.
The film is a 30-minute documentary featuring interviews with CEOs of major corporations such as Dell, jetBlue Airways, and American Express on how their Mormon faith has affected their business. The movie will also be shown on PBS in February.
For someone who never finished high school and never played organized basketball in his life prior to college, Salt Lake Community College men's basketball star Gary Wilkinson has come along way with a little hard work and determination.
Wilkinson dropped out of Bingham High School as a senior and had no direction in life for a time before he found guidance and motivation when he joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and served a mission to Calgary.
Quarterback John Beck is the second-most prolific passer in school history, and Curtis Brown soon will become BYU's all-time leading rusher.
Jake Kuresa has started on the offensive line for four years and linebacker Cameron Jensen has been called one of the best leaders to ever put on a Cougar jersey. Tight end Jonny Harline is a likely NFL draft pick.
Naturally, when asked to pick the one of the 25 seniors who will play in his final home game at LaVell Edwards Stadium on Saturday who best represents BYU football, coach Bronco Mendenhall chose Nathan Meikle.
