412: The roster are BYU changes dramatically every year at BYU because of players leaving and returning from mission trips. How much do game planning goes into addressing that or is that attitude more along the lines of this is how it works here and move on?

So yeah, there is some game planning that goes into it, but with the benefits that serving a mission brings, not only on the field, but for the rest of the players lives, we wouldn’t want it any other way.

412: The Houghton twins weren’t big time stars freshman year at Denver. This summer they transfer to BYU and everyone is talking about them. Have you gotten a sense that they are playing with something to prove, possibly pressing? Have you made a point of trying to get them to play within themselves?

Harris: The twins are awesome.  They both contributed as defensive midfielders at Denver their freshman year. It’s no small feat to break into a starting role at a good Division I school as a freshman.  I met them both before they went to Denver when they came out to a summer camp at BYU.  They were monsters even then. They played with us in one of our summer scrimmages and they towered over everyone, but I remember thinking they were pretty raw. Don’t get me wrong, they were good lacrosse players, but they had a lot of work they needed to put in with their stickwork and game sense. Seeing them play now, there is no question that they took care of those things between then and now.  They have some of the best sticks on the team, and they both have a near unstoppable shot. Based on what we have seen from them so far, we do have high expectations for them, but going back to the question about the missions, they both just got off missions to Argentina in July.  They are still getting their legs under them and getting back into shape.

They are very smart kids. They understand what they can and can’t do, and they play a smart brand of lacrosse. They need to be coached, like everyone else, about shot selection, how to ride, movement in the offense ect.  They have the right attitude in that they understand they have a lot they can work on to become better players, and they are putting in the work.

We haven’t had to get them to play within themselves because they haven’t really tried to “do too much”.  It may be something they need work on later as they get more comfortable, but really they are great about understanding it’s not who scores the goal, it just matters that your line gets a goal.  If they don’t score a goal the whole game, and we win, they are happy.  They get teased every once in while when they blow a shot, or miss a pass. Elliot Grow usually lets them know “You may have gotten away with that in DI, but not in the MCLA”.  They have fit in with the team great everybody loves them, even if they can’t tell them apart.  From a coaching standpoint I usually just call them “Houghton” instead of guessing which is Jared and which is Jacob.

412: Simon Fraser is a non conference opponent but one the Cougars usually play in the regular season and sometimes in the national tournament. Did you have any fears of scheduling a scrimmage against team you’ll likely see again?

412: This scrimmage was in all likelihood the biggest scrimmage of fall ball this year. Where you at all surprised by the score?

Harris: Scores don’t really matter to us too much in the fall.  It’s more important to us that we play well doing the things that we have emphasized this fall. We came out with an awesome start, jumping up 6-0 in the first quarter.  Simon Fraser owned the second quarter and would have kept us scoreless if not for a last second unreal goal by Elliot.  So while we were pumped with our start, it was frustrating to watch the level of play drop off in the second. A lot of that has to with Simon Fraser being a great team and not staying down, but there were things that we could have done better.  We talked about that at halftime, and the guys came out and had a great second half. The score ended up favoring us nicely, but it was more important for us that corrected mistakes from early in the game by the end of the game. It was a great day for us because a lot of our hard work from the fall paid off, but again it’s fall. Until it’s the end of May and we all have a new ring on our finger, we won’t be satisfied. We are not working to win fall ball games, we are working to win a championship. Keeping that in mind, there are a lot of things we need to do better.  Simon Fraser will be better too. They were playing without Ben Towner, who is probably one of the top 3 attackman in the country. We will need to be much better than we were today to beat them in the spring.

People who know me know me know that I am a huge Denver Broncos fan, and I love Josh McDaniels. I listen to his press conferences after every game because I think he is a fantastic coach. After they beat the Patriots last week he said something along the lines of “being 5-0 is great, but 5-0 doesn’t win the division, doesn’t make the playoffs, and doesn’t win the Super Bowl.” That’s how we feel. Winning a fall ball scrimmage is great, but it doesn’t bring the National Championship back to Provo. That is where our eyes are focused, not on fall ball scores.

Harris: We have had a few pleasant surprise freshmen this fall. We usually know who our stud recruits are.  We’ve seen them play and we know what to expect out of them. The two biggest surprises have been Freshmen Zach Hansen from North Carolina and Zach Jordan from Bountiful, Utah. Hansen is a lefty attackman that wasn’t really on our radar coming into the season. He has been great. He had two goals on Saturday, and two goals the week before against Utah. He hands are smooth as butter and he has a great rip. It’s tough because he is behind three amazing attackman. Shumway, Ferrin, and Mann is probably the most talented attack unit we have ever had, but we are forcing ourselves to find a way to work Hansen in because he has been that good. It’s a great problem to have, to try and figure out how to get great players playing time.

Zach Jordan was an attackman at the Utah powerhouse Bountiful High School who won the last two state championships. He is blazing fast up and down the field, so when he came in we took him and converted him to a D-Mid.  He has exploded on the scene as a D-Mid. He learned the defenses in a week, and his 1v1 defense is as solid as anyone on the team.  One of the first thing we look for in a D-Mid is “who can be a threat in transition”. You have the be able to clear the ball, and push a break if you want to be considered for D-Mid at BYU.  Zach has been awesome in that area. He is so fast on clears he is gone before the other team starts riding. He stuck an awesome shot Saturday vs SFU, and we expect big things out of him this year.

There have been others playing well, but they are mostly players that we knew were going to be good coming in. These two were the best surprises of the year.

412: When does the 2010 schedule come out?

Harris: Soon. We are finishing up the last couple games, and working out the details for the TV games. Once we get those all finalized we will post the schedule. We have some huge games though. Coach Schneck has done a great job of going out and getting some of the best teams in the nation on our schedule. Michigan, Chapman, Simon Fraser, and Colorado rounded out the top 5 with us last year, and all of them will be on our spring schedule.

412: For younger players looking to play for a top notch club team but who aren’t Mormon, can BYU be a good fit?

Harris:  Absolutely. Every year we have had kids on the team who are not Mormon.  Junior Brian Mathay from Colorado is not Mormon and has been on the team for the past 3 years. He is actually an ordained BYU Campus chaplain and works with other students who are not Mormon. The only requirement to come to BYU is signing the Honor Code, which says that you will: be honest, live a chaste and virtuous life, obey the law and all campus policies, use clean language, respect others, abstain from alcoholic beverages, tobacco, tea, coffee, and substance abuse, participate regularly in church services, observe the dress and grooming standards, and encourage others in their commitment to comply with the Honor Code. Anyone who is willing to commit to those guidelines is more than welcome at BYU.

We understand that it’s not a life that is for everyone, and we recruit accordingly.  We believe that following the Honor Code helps us both on and off the field, and we are strict in the enforcement of it.

Thanks to Coach Harris. We hope to interview him again soon.

For an article on the BYU vs. SFU scrimmage click here