Cougars may lose Devon Blackmon for season opener.

With the new BYU policy of not announcing suspensions, the fans and media have been left to speculate on a number of missing players.  Today wide receiver Devon Blackmon seems to have announced over Twitter that he will be missing the season opener against the University of Connecticut:

Rules are rules.. Abide by them or suffer the consequences.... Looking forward to the Texas game

— DevonBlackmon (@AshantiBlackmon) August 11, 2014

It appears that the suspension he infers is only for one game and he will be back when the Cougars face off against Texas in week two of the season.  The specific infraction that led to the presumed suspension has not been released and will not be commented on by the school.  Based on a tweet by Blackmon that has since been deleted, wearing earrings may be a part of it, but we may never know if that is the full story.  All we know at this point is that a rule was violated, a suspension may have been handed down, and the rest is inconsequential.  What transpires behind the closed doors of the football office may only be known by a select few, as it should be, but the hope is that the Blackmon will be back on the field in Texas.

As of today we know that Blackmon may miss the opener with starting running back Jamaal Willams (suspension) and Nick Kurtz (injury).  With the depth the Cougars have at receiver, the hit may not be as dramatic as it would have been in years past, but it is still a hit.  With the speed and size that Blackmon provides as a target for Taysom Hill, a dimension might be missed in week one.  BYU will rely on returning receiver Mitch Mathews, newcomer Jordan Leslie, and tight end Devin Mahina to lead the Cougars to a victory in Connecticut.  Blackmon has impressed in fall practices as you can see from the video below:

BYU and Bronco Mendenhall have continued to state that keeping discipline behind closed doors will help the player to grow and progress without the bright lights of the media.  At this point there is no reason to think that it will be any different in this case.  Blackmon seems to be taking responsibility for his actions and is looking to grow and come back stronger afterwards.  As fans, we should feel lucky that we have players on the team who will take responsibility for their actions and look to improve and move on.  In a time where it is the "thing" to blame someone else, Blackmon and Williams are showing us that even though we are not perfect we can still better ourselves through our mistakes and be examples to those around us.