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Provo • When new BYU football coach Kalani Sitake and offensive coordinator Ty Detmer said they weren't going to give away the playbook during Saturday's Blue & White spring game, they weren't bluffing.
But the crowd of more than 18,000 on a cool, sunny day at LaVell Edwards Stadium didn't seem to mind. It was a bona fide football game, preceded by some entertaining 7-on-7 work, and the buzz created by the arrival of Sitake, Detmer and the rest of the new coaching staff was palpable from virtually the first play.
"Overall, it is a good group and was a good showing and I loved that the fans were here," Sitake said. "It was exciting."
The proceedings started on a sad note, however, as it was announced that senior quarterback Taysom Hill would not participate in the 7-on-7 drills, as originally planned. Hill was excused to be with his family, which is mourning the death of his 31-year-old brother, Dexter Hill, on Friday.
"We were looking forward to having Taysom play and see what he can do [recovering from a foot injury], but obviously family is always the most important thing," Sitake said. "A lot of our prayers are with him and we wanted to give him that time to be with his family."
Nick Kurtz, Nate Sampson and Brayden El-Bakri caught touchdown passes in the 7-on-7 drills.
When the real stuff started, though, the big and exciting plays were far and few between, which was by design. The most common sight was a green-shirted quarterback — usually Beau Hoge or Koy Detmer Jr. — running toward the sidelines.
"We kept it pretty basic, so I thought the offense did well for what plays were called," said receiver Micah Simon, who also caught a long pass on the first series of plays. "We maybe used a quarter of the playbook, if that, to be honest."
Expected starters such as Jamaal Williams, Kurtz, Algernon Brown and Mitchell Juergens didn't play on offense and Fred Warner, Harvey Langi and Michael Davis were among the stars who didn't play on defense. Two other key defenders — defensive tackle Travis Tuiloma and safety Kai Nacua — haven't been available all spring due to offseason surgeries.
The nine offensive linemen who were available wore black jerseys and played for both teams.
Playing for the White team, which won 30-12, Tanner Mangum played for only three series — two to start the game and the third to start the second half. He completed 6 of 9 passes for 92 yards and the touchdown, which came on the opening possession.
"I thought it went well," Mangum said. "We kept it limited, and didn't play a lot of the starters and kind of kept the offense pretty simple and the defense simple as well. But for what we had in I thought we did a good job. Obviously, there are some things we have to work on, some mistakes here and there to clean up. But overall it was fun to be here in the stadium and be in front of the crowd again, and get some more reps."
Defensively, Sitake singled out lineman Tevita Mo'unga and linebacker Johnny Tapusoa as having played well. Linebacker Rylee Gautavai and defensive backs Sawyer Powell, Grant Jones and Sam Baldwin also had multiple tackles for the White team and Adam Pulsipher, Mo'unga, Nathan DeBeikes and Va'a Niumatalolo stood out defensively for the Blue team.
"We were really generic on defense on purpose," Sitake said. "We didn't want to give a lot away. We will just save that for game time. That's how it is going to be. We are still a work in progress, but we have a lot more on defense than what we showed today."
Offensively, Sampson (two catches, 31 yards) and running backs Squally Canada and Trey Dye were the most explosive, in addition to Lualu-Pututau, who finished with four catches for 73 yards, and Garrett Juergens, a converted defensive back who had four catches for 43 yards and a touchdown pass from Hoge that ended the game.
Canada had five carries for 45 yards, including one in which he scooped up a fumble and ran 22 yards, and Dye had 10 carries for 41 yards.
"I think the biggest thing we need as an offense now, and a team in general, is more reps," said Mangum. "The more time we get together, and the more practices we get, the better we will be. I think we took some good steps forward today."
The kicking game was shaky as the Cougars try to replace the reliable Trevor Samson, and there were three straight field goal misses by three different kickers during one span. James Baird did make a 23-harder.
Twitter: @drewjay —
BYU Blue & White Game highlights
P Sophomore quarterback Tanner Mangum completes 6 of 9 passes for 92 yards and a touchdown in the full-team portion of the game.
• Moroni Lualu-Pututau catches a 27-yard touchdown pass from Mangum in the white team's opening drive.
• School officials estimate more than 18,000 fans attended the game at LaVell Edwards Stadium.