Cougars’ Lark finally gets his calling

When James Lark signed to play football at Brigham Young in 2006, he did so with visions of becoming the next Jim McMahon, Steve Young or Ty Detmer.

Instead, the senior has received more bench time than perhaps any other quarterback in school history.

That could end Saturday when BYU (6-5) travels to New Mexico State (1-9) for a 12:30 p.m. game to be aired on ESPN3. With senior quarterback Riley Nelson mending bruised ribs, Lark is preparing to make his first career start.

"I've been waiting for this for a while," Lark said. "I'll be ready."

Lark threw for 6,739 yards and 79 touchdowns at Pine View High School in St. George, Utah. The Cougars offered Lark a scholarship instead of Nelson, who accepted an offer from Utah State.

Lark redshirted in 2006 before serving a two-year Mormon church mission to St. Petersburg, Russia. At the same time, while on his mission to Barcelona, Spain, Nelson transfered to BYU and took over the starting job from Jake Heaps midway through last season. Lark was relegated to third string.

After Heaps transferred to Kansas, BYU began 2012 with Lark as Nelson's backup. But after the third game, he was surprisingly demoted to third string in favor of true freshman Taysom Hill.

Hill suffered a season-ending knee injury Oct. 5 against Utah State, and with Nelson banged up and the Cougars' offense struggling, the opportunity for Lark finally might be here in his final regular-season game.

"The coaches will call the plays that I'm most comfortable with and that I've run in practice over the years," Lark said. "I feel confident and good."

BYU has played 50 games with Lark dressed in uniform on the sideline. He has appeared in mop-up duty 12 times and completed 20 of 33 passes for 208 yards, two touchdowns and one interception - certainly not the glorious career he envisioned in 2006.

■ NUMBERS GAME - Despite outgaining San Jose State 282-96 in the second half and 192-6 in the fourth quarter, the Cougars managed just seven points in the final three quarters of their 20-14 defeat last week.

BYU is ranked 72nd nationally in scoring, 60th in passing, 65th in scoring offense and 80th in red-zone scoring.

In comparison, BYU is fourth nationally in rushing defense, third in total defense, seventh in scoring defense and second in red-zone defense.

"I hate losing," junior linebacker Kyle Van Noy said. "You have to bring a mentality each week that we are going to win, and we are going to bring that (Saturday)."

■ WALKER REUNION - New Mexico State coach DeWayne Walker spent the 1994 season on LaVell Edwards' staff, coaching the defensive backs. He was also the first African-American hired as a BYU assistant and played a key role in recruiting quarterback Steve Sarkisian.

Walker was also UCLA's interim head coach when the Bruins played BYU in the 2007 Las Vegas Bowl. The Cougars blocked a 28-yard field-goal attempt as time expired to win, 17-16.

■ BIG VISIT - Jabari Parker, one of the nation's top high school basketball prospects, will make his official visit to BYU this weekend and will attend Saturday night's Cal State Northridge-BYU game at the Marriott Center.

Two BYU alums raised enough money to make 6,000 T-shirts that say "From Chicago to Provo," and they will distribute them to the students to try to woo the Mormon star to campus.

Parker has trimmed his list of potential schools to BYU, Duke, Michigan State, Florida and Stanford.

■ ALOHA IN 2014 - The BYU basketball team will play in the 2014 Maui Invitational along with Arizona, Missouri, San Diego State, Purdue, Pittsburgh, Kansas State and host Chaminade.

The Cougars last played in Maui in 1992, when they lost to No. 1 Duke in the championship game.

■ SOCCER ELITE EIGHT - The second-ranked women's soccer team hosts North Carolina at 5 p.m. today in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament. A victory will put the Cougars into the Final Four for the first time in school history.

Dave McCann is a news anchor for KSL-TV in Salt Lake City and the play-by-play voice for BYU sports on BYUtv. He is also the host of "True Blue," which airs Mondays 5:30 p.m. Mondays on BYUtv. He can be reached at dmccann@ksl.com or on Twitte:r @DaveMcCannKSL.