Burning Questions From Day One Of BYU Football Fall Camp

PROVO, Utah – The 2022 BYU football season is officially underway now that fall camp completed their first day of practice.

Here are some answers to some burning questions from the start of the new season.

Who was the BYU football player of the day?

I thought Jackson McChesney had a great first day of fall camp. He caught several passes out of the backfield from Jaren Hall and Jacob Conover.

McChesney showed a good burst of speed on runs up the middle as well. There wasn’t any live tackling today which makes it hard to evaluate the quality of the running game, but it’s obvious that McChesney will factor into the mix.

I thought Jackson McChesney had a great day of camp.

He caught several passes out of the backfield and broke off a few chunk plays in the run game. @kslsports #BYUFootball #GoCougs #CampKalani

— Matthew Baiamonte (@baiamontematt) August 4, 2022

Chris Brooks was impressive as well, but he didn’t catch as many passes out of the backfield in the media observation portion of practice.

It’s hard to say if that was by design from the offensive coaches, or if the defense did a great job of taking away primary passing options that forced quarterbacks to check the ball down to the running backs.

Either way, it was a positive sign to see McChesney catching all those passes without any drops.

What was the play of the day?

Unfortunately, there weren’t any big plays made in the media observation portion of practice offensively.

Jacob Conover took the only long ball shot looking for Chase Roberts down the sideline, but the pass was a little overthrown. Roberts dove for the pass, but wasn’t able to get his hands on it.

If I had to pick one play, I’d give the nod to freshman linebacker Michael Daley who had a diving interception off a tipped pass.

The linebacker room is loaded with experience, but plays like that from Daley could help him see the field.

Most interesting thing seen at practice?

Jacob Boren saw some time with the 1’s on defense towards the end of practice. It’s easy to highlight guys like Kaleb Hayes and D’Angelo Mandell in the cornerback room, but Boren continues to garner attention.

It caught me by surprise, but Boren saw significant playing time last season.

Where Jakob Robinson ends up will have an impact on how much Jacob Boren plays, but there is a real possibility that Robinson plays safety which would mean Boren would become the starting nickel back.

Coach Sitake in mid-camp form on day one. #BYUFootball ⁦@PKKinahan⁩ also getting 1st team reps. ⁦@kslsports⁩ ⁦@ZoneSportsNet⁩ pic.twitter.com/ffbfi6BuiO

— Alex Kirry (@AlexKirryKSL) August 4, 2022

He earned the coaches trust last season, and got meaningful reps with the starting defense to start camp.

What needs to be cleaned up in the next practice?

Keanu Hill and Ethan Erickson both dropped passes in the media observation period.

Hill ran an intermediate route in the middle of the field on an accurate pass from Jaren Hall that bounced off his hands.

He was visibly angry after dropping the pass.

Chase Roberts, Hill, Kody Epps, and Brayden Cosper are battling for playing time behind Puka Nacua and Gunner Romney.

Consistency is key and will go a long way in determining who fills the void left by Neil Pau’u. Hill will need to make those plays on a regular basis to earn that spot.

Freshman Erickson was running a corner route when Kade Fennegan threw a nice pass into traffic that Erickson wasn’t able to haul in.

Both players are fighting for playing time and will need to catch those passes as camp continues if they want to see playing time against South Florida.

You can hear Matt Baiamonte every Saturday on KSL Newsradio for Cougar Sports Saturday from 12:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. or you can find him on Twitter here.