B.J. McBryde and Kenton Adeyemi had as many combined tackles a season ago after offensive tackle Jimmy Bennett and punter Cole Wagner (five for those of you scoring at home). Yet,. as the Huskies prepare to face a multi-faceted Brigham Young offense, the two players expected to see the major of snaps at the right defensive end spot could play major roles in how well UConn is able to slow down the Cougars' offense.

McBryde enters the game as the listed starter but in the practices I was able to see, it was Adeyemi seeing a good chunk of the time with the first-team defense. It would not be a reach to say that this was one of the most competitive positional battles during preseason camp. The feeling is that both players are better off by having the other one to push them.

"They are friends and they compete well against each other, they make each other better and that is all good because that makes our team better," UConn defensive line coach Kevin Wolthausen said.

"One has more mass and the other one has a touch more, I don't want to say speed because B.J. runs pretty well too, but he has a little more explosiveness. I think they feed off of each other well and they are both going to play."

Both Adeyemi and McBryde believe the competition has made both of them better.

"I think everything is going well," Adeyemi said. "They have us working really hard. I think we are both great defensive linemen and both can do different things on the field, both can help the teams in different ways."

McBryde is one of the most engaging personalities on the team. I still remember in the pre-game warmups in the 2013 regular-season finale against Memphis, he went around and shook the hands of each and every senior.

He is thankful to Adeyemi for being their to challenge him on the field while developing a friendship away from the gridiron.

"It is really great with two guys are playing the same position can do battle every day," McBryde said. "Honestly, I have been in that position since my freshman year. Being a guy who didn't have a lot of football experience, I only played my senior year coming in here and being able to jump forward, being a part of this game ... Going against Kenton, I love it because I see him as my brother. We are close to the same age, I am a little bit older but going into work every day and battle against somebody like him is awesome. It kind of keeps you on edge too because I am here now, I am starting now but I have somebody behind me that wants this position just as bad as I do so the hunger never stops."

Look for more from McBryde in tomorrow's edition of the Register.