There is a new feel in the BYU locker room this season. For the first time, the Cougars are not affiliated with any conference. Now, there is no hope of winning a conference championship. It’s either the National Championship or no championship.

While the faithful Cougar fans are both excited and nervous as the team moves into independence, the players feel that it is business as usual.

In fact, many players on the team think that this is going to be a year to remember for BYU for many, many years to come.

If I had to decide why this year will be a success for the Cougars and put it into one sentence, it would say: The Cougars now have experience and weapons on both sides of the ball.

I could take a full page to write down all of the reasons the weapons are going to be good this year, but that would take all day. So, I will try to narrow it down to the players who I feel are going to have breakout seasons this year; some names to remember if you will.

Jake Heaps

This one is obvious. The highly-touted quarterback really started to settle in last year. He set freshman records for passing yards, starts, wins and touchdown passes. With one year of experience under his belt and no more two-quarterback system, Heaps could really have a breakout season. Many BYU quarterbacks of old struggled in the first season, and were magical after that. I look for Heaps to have a great season.

Josh Quezada

Quezada, also a sophomore, is a strong, powerful running back. He can run for power and in between the tackles, but is quick enough that he can turn the corner and make people miss. While I think J.J. Di Luigi is going to be the feature back for the Cougars, Quezada will certainly get a lot of carries. I look for him to to solidify himself as the running back of the future for BYU.

Ross Apo

Apo was another part of the big recruiting class that came in with Heaps. He is a very talented wide receiver that came into the program already having a connection with Heaps. He played well for the Cougars last year before being sidelined with a season-ending finger injury. He is back this year, and with the departure of Luke Ashworth, Apo has a chance to catch a lot of passes this season.

Devin Mahina

Last year, the most overlooked problem that I saw on offense was the tight end situation. For those of you that thought a two-quarterback system was stupid, how about a five- or six-tight end system? There were games where tight ends rotated seemingly every play.

Toward the end of the season, Mahina began to stand out as the starting tight end. As his reps increased more from week to week, Heaps was able to find him more. With two tight ends already changing positions, and Mahina starting to shine as the number one, I look for him to break out this season as he becomes the next great tight end for BYU.

Matt Reynolds and the Entire Offensive Line

There isn’t a better word than experience to describe this group. Reynolds hopes to lead BYU’s offensive line as they protect their young quarterback. They will be another great group of offensive lineman.

Brandon Doman

Yes, he’s back. Unfortunately, he won’t be running the option with Luke Staley this year, but he’s back as the offensive coordinator. Having worked with the quarterbacks over the last few seasons, Doman has built a reputation as a great coach. When BYU parted ways with Robert Anae, Doman was the hands-down favorite for the job. He brings youth and hard work to the offensive side of the ball. I think Cougar fans will quickly fall in love with what Doman brings to the table.

I was able to talk to Mahina about the new offense and the changes that he’s already seen thus far in winter conditioning. He immediately mentioned the change in attitude that he’s seen in the locker room. The team is lifting harder, running harder and simply working harder than they did last year.

When asked what kind of changes we can look for on the offensive side of the ball, Mahina said: “How we practice will be totally different, a lot of us younger guys have more experience now, and we know what it takes to win.”

That experience could be the difference for Cougar football this season. A young team with experience, under the direction of coaches Bronco Mendenhall and Brandon Doman, could bring back that uptempo Cougar offense of old.

It will be interesting to see how BYU handles independence, but I think the team will be just fine.

Look for more articles next week talking about the weapons the Cougar defense will have!

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