This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Provo • Brigham Young University football player Mike Hague hasn't just changed his position, going from fullback to safety during the offseason.
He's significantly changed his shape.
Call it the metamorphosis of Mike Hague.
"I look a lot different, don't I?" he casually jokes with reporters who haven't seen him since the fall. "I feel like a new man."
And well he should.
Hague figures he lost 45 pounds in seven months, going from 230 a month into the 2010 season to his current weight of 185. He says he stopped eating candy and fast food, even Subway sandwiches, and dropped a habit of drinking five or six Diet Cokes a day.
"I just didn't feel comfortable with where I was at, what I looked like," he said. "I just decided I needed a change, and I was hoping it would be for the betterment of the team."
Sure enough, coach Bronco Mendenhall noticed the new-look Hague in the weight room one early January morning and asked Hague, who will be a junior this fall, if he would switch over to defense.
"Absolutely," was Hague's reply.
"I feel better, and lighter, than I can ever remember," Hague said. The weight loss and dedication to physical fitness "has pretty much given me a new outlook on life."
Spring game, again
Mendenhall released more details regarding Saturday's final practice, which will be open to the public and conducted at LaVell Edwards Stadium. It will feature a kids' clinic at 11 a.m., followed by a 70-play Blue-White game at noon. Both events are free. How the teams and coaches will be divided up for the game has not been determined.
Twitter: @drewjay
Mike Hague's metamorphosis
Playing weights the past six years of the safety, a former fullback:
At Brighton High • 200 lbs.
Freshman year, BYU • 210 lbs.
Last fall, after church mission: 230 lbs.
2011 spring camp • 185 lbs. —
BYU's spring schedule
Tuesday • 4 p.m. practice at Indoor Practice Facility
Thursday • 4 p.m. practice, location TBA
Saturday • Blue-White game, noon, LaVell Edwards Stadium (open to the public)