Thursday wasn't about delivering a message to the BYU football team.

Head coach Bronco Mendenhall simply decided the previous night that a movie theater was a more appropriate way to spend the morning, rather than another hot practice field.

The team was whisked off Thursday, amid many players' delight, to watch the new Batman movie.

Whether the Cougars took many life lessons from "The Dark Knight" is missing the point. This was some rare goof-off time as preseason camp is in its second full week. This was a boost-morale day.

But it doesn't mean Mendenhall's team hasn't used movies, books and other media tools to also attempt to build character and deliver something indelible.

"I think there's a football part of it, but I'd say there are more times the concepts are to develop people," said Duane Busby, BYU's director of football operations. "It's an educational process of appreciating peoples' concepts."

Mendenhall is regarded as a visually oriented coach. He's been mocked and revered for his decision to once take the team to LaVell Edwards Stadium and have the it sit on the field while getting fed audio and video clips of some of the program's greatest moments.

Something clicked -- BYU rediscovered home dominance and hasn't lost at LES the past two seasons.

Now, it's players who usually deliver the lesson plans on a near-daily basis.

Fall camp is a perfect time to create them, because the players have a lot of time on their hands without school in session.

As Busby points out, it was about three years ago when the NCAA declared that schools must have five-day acclimation periods and also cannot have two-a-day practices on consecutive days. The new rules were meant to curb health issues that had been rising, like dehydration.

But it's meant teams are in camp much longer. Players reported to Provo on Aug. 1 and the first game isn't until Aug. 30 against Northern Iowa.

"We have the same number of practices available, 29, but we're in camp about 10 days longer than we used to be," Busby said.

While players may get help from him in producing the multimedia, it's their job to come up with the topics and 10-minute seminars. That approach started for this season, rather than Mendenhall brainstorming all of the time.

Busby said the position groups will hit at least one of four categories: Motivational, instructional, musical and spiritual.

Jan Jorgensen, a defensive line standout, used the now-famous Olympic swimming relay finish by the United States on Monday. That team, led by superstar Michael Phelps, shocked the favored French quartet with a rally in the closing meters.

BYU teammates pointed out a few crucial concepts besides the obvious one of never quitting. Of course, it wasn't just the superstar Phelps who led to the gold medal in the 400-meter freestyle relay-- it was the more unheralded Jason Lezak.

And another Cougar noticed that the final French swimmer pulled his head out of the water to spy the competition -- losing his focus for a brief but crucial moment. (One other consideration: The French talked some serious smack before the race.)

A group of tight ends showed a video of a Louisville marching band member who is blind.

The team howled with delight when a tape was shown of BYU football alum Vai Sikahema last month beat the tar out of former baseball slugger Jose Canseco in a celebrity boxing match.

David Tafuna, a senior safety and nephew of Sikahema, told the story of how Sikahema gave up seven inches and nearly 50 pounds but was prepared and not intimidated.

One rarity will be the Cougars convincing themselves of being the underdog. They play at Pac-10 Conference member Washington for the second game of the season, but no team on their schedule will start ranked. They've also won the last two Mountain West Conference championships.

"There are a lot of ways you try to inspire players, and a lot of ways you feel it necessary to get a lesson to them," said associate head coach Lance Reynolds. "We're doing it all of the time."