BYU football: Pendleton finds his place at linebacker

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2009, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Barring something unforeseen, three of the four starting linebackers the BYU Cougars will send onto the field against the Oklahoma Sooners in less than two weeks will be seniors with plenty of game experience on their side.

Then there is Jordan Pendleton.

The sophomore from Bingham High will be playing the position in a game for the first time in his life, having made the switch from safety just before spring camp began in March. It will be baptism by fire, Pendleton acknowledged.

"I'm slowly picking it up," he said. "I give myself an 'A' compared to where I was in the spring. I just feel a lot more comfortable now than I did when I first started playing the position."

Pendleton, who welcomed the change because it gave him a better chance to get on the field, said the easy part was adding 15 or so pounds to his 6-foot-2 frame. He had to go from watching what he ate to, well, not worrying about it so much.

"What was really hard to adjust to was just being down on the line [of scrimmage], being close to the ball," he said. "I have always been used to playing so far back. So it was just getting the right run fits and pass rushing [techniques] and stuff like that that I have really never dealt with."

Pendleton is the projected starter at what BYU calls the strongside linebacker position, or Sam linebacker, although he is being pushed some by junior Grant Nelson, who missed last year with a kidney ailment that required surgery.

Outside linebackers coach Barry Lamb said Pendleton is improving incrementally.

"All in all, if he is going to start, he is going to have to elevate his game and keep it elevated for longer periods of time in practice," Lamb said. "He has a ways to go, but he is making progress."

On the other side, at the position called weakside linebacker (Will), senior Coleby Clawson became the full-time starter when Vic So'oto broke his foot in the Washington game and has been solid there, Lamb and BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall said.

His backup will be junior college transfer Jordan Atkinson, who was an inside linebacker in the spring but moved outside when it was decided that So'oto would move to defensive end.

"We've had guys miss practice, so we are not where we should be, to be quite honest with you," Lamb said. "But hopefully we will catch up in the next week."

The coach said Nelson "is so smart, he knows both positions, which is really an ace in the hole."

Coaches are also high on true freshman Richard Wilson, who was recruited as a tight end but has made the switch to defense.

"Richard Wilson will be a good player once he learns the defense, because he can't use his athletic ability right now, because he doesn't know what he is doing yet," Lamb said. "But he is trying to learn it all. It just hasn't all sunk in yet, which is normal for a freshman. Sometime maybe next week it will, and he will be able to use his athletic ability to its fullest."

Atkinson missed some practices with an injury, while Pendleton missed two last week to attend the funeral of his grandfather, Don Larsen. Pendleton said missing practice didn't set him back a lot because he studied on the four-hour car ride to St. George.

"The only thing that set me back was that it was tough emotionally," he said. "It was pretty hard to come and play football after something like that."

drew@sltrib.com" Target="_BLANK">drew@sltrib.com