If all 12 scholarship players return and Nick Emery rejoins the team after withdrawing from school last fall in the midst of an NCAA investigation into improper benefits and some personal issues he has detailed in blogs, the Cougars would be two over the NCAA-allotted 13 scholarships because Timpview’s Gavin Baxter returns from his church mission in May and Connor Harding of Pocatello, Idaho, returns in June.
BYU coaches learned the hard way the past few years that assuming that every player will return is not wise in the age of wide-scale transferring and turning professional early.
That’s probably why assistant coach Quincy Lewis said Thursday that program improvement, and not the roster logjam, is the chief offseason goal.