Since spring camp in college football is all about development as teams get some work in to lay the foundation for the fall season, one of the most important objectives is to stay on track.

BYU head coach Kalani Sitake said earlier in the week that he’s comfortable with the progress he is seeing.

“We’re good,” Sitake said. “I think we’re in a really good spot.”

He said that it’s been a physical start to the practices as the Cougars are working to be physically prepared for the rigors of the upcoming campaign.

“It’s always hard when we go live,” Sitake said. “We’ve probably gone more live now than I thought we would honestly, especially with the ones, but I don’t know any other way to get better as a team. I know that we’re doing a lot of physical work and they are getting better. If we can keep working that way, then I’ll be really, really pleased with how we’re going to go going into the offseason before fall.”

When asked if he had any areas of concern through the first few practices, anything that might be behind where he wanted to be, Sitake said there really isn’t and credited the players and coaches for making the most of their practice.

“With retaining the coaches and then having everybody here, I would say that we’re right where I thought we would be,” Sitake said. “Last year we had to kind of move things really quickly, because TJ (Woods) was getting used to the offensive line room, for example, and now they’re all back.

“The new guys coming in are actually adapting really, really well, and it’s not even a tough transition. I give a lot of credit to them. Football is an every-day thing now throughout the year and we have all these different resources available that can get us there. I can say our program is using all of them.”

BYU senior safety Tanner Wall agreed with Sitake’s assessment. He said that from a player’s perspective, things are progressing nicely to this point in camp.

“I wouldn’t say that we’re behind anything,” Wall said. “I think toughness and physicality are things that we can always improve on and help us in directly preparing for a game.

“We want to keep our teammates healthy but at the same time we want to play fast and physical. Learning the balance of keeping your teammates safe from injury but also playing hard, I think there’s still some guys who are figuring out what that tempo looks like. I think across the board we can be better at that. I think that’ll be something that will help us really elevate as we as we go into the next the back half of spring ball.”

The Cougars spent the week preparing for a closed scrimmage that’s scheduled for Saturday, although the original plans may be altered due to the forecasted weather.

The scrimmages will be the closest thing to a game BYU will have during spring, since the Cougars won’t have a spring game.

It’s become more and more common for programs across the country to forego what was once a spring tradition, and Sitake said he understands why.

I think you just have to figure out what’s the best thing for your team,” Sitake said. “I think everyone’s dealing with the roster cuts and then the transfer portal. I think a lot of people are hesitant to have a spring game. Because you were showing it on TV, teams were really generic in it. We want to get better, so we don’t want to waste the practice.”