Part 1 of 7 BYU special in-depth football preview: Offensive Backfield

BYU should be very solid next year in the backfield. Returning is senior QB Max Hall. Yes Hall did struggle at the end of the year, but he is still the best returning QB in the conference. BYU has had tremendous success with senior QBs in previous years. Expect a big year for Hall, especially if Collie returns. Lets not hype up the Heisman talk though, unless we somehow beat Oklahoma at the beginning of the year.
Backing up Hall will either be Brenden Gaskins again, or Utah St. transfer Riley Nelson (pictured above). Riley will be getting back from his mission in Spain in the next couple months. He was a freshman sensation with the Aggies two years ago and is the QB after Hall graduates. Just from watching James Lark and Jason Munns in practice, I was much more impressed with Nelson his freshman year. If I was the coach, I would have Nelson be the backup QB and let him play some serious minutes when the game is out of hand, just to get him some experience. Another option is just to redshirt him. Kurt McCuen is also an option.

We will be deep again at RB. Returning is workhorse junior Harvey Unga. His only weakness is his speed. If he can lose about 10 pounds for next year and gain some speed, he could be special. He has great hands and runs hard. Coming back for his senior year will be FB Manase Tonga (pictured below) if he can get back into school after being suspended for academics. He will be very important as he will take Fui's spot. He also has great hands and is an underrated runner.
Also looking to get carries will be sophmore J.J. Diluigi, returning missionary Mike Hague, and true freshman Adam Timo. Diluigi has not lived up to his hype, but in fairness to him, he hasn't really gotten the playing time necessary to succeed. The coaches quickly lost trust in him after fumbling twice in crucial situations. He looked good in spring ball and I believe he still can be productive. He is very quick, has good vision, and soft hands. Timo has some serious upside. Scout.com has him rated as a 4-star recruit with good speed. His highlights in high school are very impressive. I was impressed with Brian Kariya this year. The coaches trust him so he should get some carries as well. Expect a battle between these players to get playing time behind Unga and Tonga.

Next up is the WRs and TEs preview.