Even with some big losses at the skill positions, it should be another successful season for the Brigham Young University Cougars…and another season for fantasy players to load up on Cougar talent.

Keyed by the super-productive QB Max Hall (photo, thanks IconSMI), it will be another stat-happy year from one of the top offenses in the nation…and a program that will be looking for another Mountain West Conference title

Also, BYU’s offense may provide one of the surprise fantasy stars in 2009…

STRENGTHS

Begin with QB Hall, who threw for nearly 4000 yards and 35 TDs in 2008, and returns for his third season as a starter.  Although not a real threat to run with the ball, Hall did add 4 rushing TDs to his impressive passing totals.   He is definitely one of the top fantasy QBs for 2009.  His backup could be Riley Nelson, who started as a freshman at Utah State three seasons ago.  Unlike Hall, Nelson is quite mobile and can add some wrinkles to the offense.

The only thing that may slow down Hall’s passing game is the presence of the big and brusing RB Harvey Unga, who rushed for over 1100 yards and 11 TDs in 2008.  However, do not fret over Unga getting handoffs….for he is one of the top pass-catching RBs in the nation….snagging 42 catches and 4 receiving TDs.  With stats like these, Unga is a top fantasy back…and in many fantasy leagues may be drafted ahead of Hall.

At FB-HB, look for Bryan Kariya to get the start, although he is not really a fantasy consideration.

The strength of BYU’s receiving corps this year may be its tight ends.  TE Dennis Pitta is the Cougars leading returning receiver coming into 2009, posting nearly 1100 yards receiving and 6 TDs.  Also seeing a lot of action last season, TE Andrew George, who caught 23 passes and scored 6 TDs.  Even in non-TE-play leagues, Pitta will be taken early, and, in TE-must-play leagues, both Pitta and George will be gone early on draft day.  Few schools throw to the TE as much as the Cougars do.

Although the loss of NCAA-leading WR Austin Collie, and, the loss of the steady Michael Reed, would drastically affect most programs….the losses may not hurt BYU as much as it would appear.   The Cougars may have the next receiving star (and surprise fantasy star) in sophomore WR McKay Jacobsen, who has returned from his two-year church mission.  As a true freshman in 2006, Jacobsen started a number of games and had over 500 yards receiving….almost similar production to that of Austin Collie in his frosh season (then went on a two-year mission).  The rest of the WRs will be inexperienced, but should get some highly effective production from the likes of Stephen Covey (a converted QB), O’Neill Chambers, Luke Ashworth, and Mike Hague.

Defensively, the Cougars return most of its starters from 2008, including All-American candidate DE Jan Jorgensen.  Considering this defense was quite inexperienced last season, holding opponents to a 22 point-per-game  and 356 yards-per-game average was not too bad….and BYU’s defense is one to consider late in your draft (or a later pick-up in a free agent/suppplemental draft).

PK Mitch Payne may not be an elite kicker, but he is good enough to be a top fantasy kicker.  Payne scored 84 points last season, and should better that in 2009.

WEAKNESSES

The offensive line will be breaking in a number of new starters in 2009, so this may slow down offensive production early in the season.  However, the Cougars do have Hall’s blind spot covered, as sophomore LT Matt Reynolds was a Freshman All-American last season, allowing only one sack in 13 starts.

Although not a weakness…note that many of BYU’s underclassmen are older than underclassmen at most other schools.   With many of its players taking the two-year church-required mission at age 19, the Cougar lower and upper-classmen have a level of maturity that you will not see at most schools…and the lack of playing time for two seasons is not that much of an impact.  Also, the talent level in Provo is much better since the arrival of head coach Bronco Mendenhall a few years ago…and players like LT Reynolds and WR Jacobsen were highly-regarded prep players.

PROJECTED DEPTH CHART (Starter in CAPS)

QB:   MAX HALL, Riley Nelson, Brenden Gaskins

RB:   HARVEY UNGA,  J.J. DiLuigi

FB:   BRYAN KARIYA, Malosi Te’o, Braden Brown

WR:  McKAY JACOBSEN, STEPHEN COVEY, O’NEILL CHAMBERS, Luke Ashworth, Mike Hague, Tyler Kozlowski

TE:   DENNIS PITTA, Andrew George, Braden Brown

PK:   MITCH PAYNE, Riley Stephenson

SCHEDULE

Not an easy first three weeks, with a neutral field game in Arlington, Texas vs Oklahoma (the first-ever college game in the new Cowboys Stadium), an interesting road trip to Tulane, and a home game in Provo vs Florida State.   Although intimidating for most schools, BYU has a large fan-base nationwide (largest among the non-BCS schools) and will bring large contingents to games vs Oklahoma and Tulane (there may be more Cougar fans than Green Wave fans in The Superdome for the Tulane game)  TCU, Utah, and Air Force all come to LaVell Edwards Stadium this fall.

HOME GAMES in CAPS

09/05   Oklahoma (Arlington, TX)

09/12   @Tulane

09/19   FLORIDA STATE

09/26   COLORADO STATE

10/02   UTAH STATE (Fri.)

10/10   @Nevada-Las Vegas

10/17   @San Diego State

10/24   TCU

11/07   @Wyoming

11/14   @New Mexico

11/21   AIR FORCE

11/28   UTAH

Related posts:

1. BRIGHAM YOUNG COUGARS (Extended Preview)
2. HOUSTON COUGARS 2009 PREVIEW
3. Las Vegas Bowl Preview-Oregon State vs. BYU
4. Player Spotlight: Austin Collie, BYU WR
5. MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE 2010 PREVIEW

Tags: BYU, Max Hall, Mountain West Conference