Does serving a mission hurt a player's chances for a pro career? Numerical evidence suggests it does.
Of 11 former BYU players in the NFL at the start of the 1992 season, only three were returned missionaries. No returned missionary has had a long NBA career, and only one returned missionary has ever played major league baseball.Ironically, the very factor viewed today as such an advantage to returned missionaries in the college ranks - age - is frequently seen as a detriment by pro scouts.
John Hinek, head of the San Diego Chargers scouting staff, called the drafting of returned missionaries a "double-edged sword."
"On one hand, you're getting a better player for the immediate future because he's more mature," Hinek said. "On the other hand, he may never get much better physically."
Hinek said that when NFL teams draft players, they do so expecting them to be better two or three or even four years down the road.
"It's a big jump from the college ranks to the NFL, more than most people realize," he said. "Some good players take a year or two to develop. If you draft a guy who's 25 and he takes two years to develop, suddenly he's 27 and how much time does that leave him to play?"
"If there's a disadvantage to returned missionaries seeking to get in the NFL, it's obviously the age factor," said Vai Sikahema of the Philadelphia Eagles, a former BYU running back and missionary to South Dakota. "If it comes down to you and two or three younger guys, you have to be head and shoulders above to beat them out. Most teams will go with the younger guy they can bring along and develop."
Sikahema wanted it understood, however, that he wasn't advising against a mission. "Had I stayed home, I might have two extra years in the pros," he said, "but for my own personal growth, a mission was more important to me."
But Sikahema has the advantage of speaking from the vantage point of a successful pro career; what about those who weren't so fortunate?
Chris Smith was an All-American tight end at BYU, a player everyone considered a lock to play in the NFL. But Smith, who served a mission to New Mexico, was cut from the Cincinnati Bengals' training camp after arriving as an 11th-round draft choice. Now selling Xerox machines in Utah Valley, Smith thinks he might have had a better shot at the pros if he'd been two years younger.
"It (a mission) was a disadvantage to me," he said. "I was my fastest when I was 19. By the time I was 24 I was old and ancient. They were figuring, by 28, I'd be finished."
BYU baseball coach Gary Pullins said returned missionaries are an unquestioned advantage to his team, but he acknowledged that it isn't the path to a pro baseball career.
"If Wally Joyner, Cory Snyder, Jack Morris, Vance Law had gone on missions, you might not recognize their names today," Pullins said. "They might not have been pro baseball players . . . because professional scouts and professional teams have such a negative view of the older player."
The only returned missionary to play in the majors, former BYU pitcher Scott Nielsen, was with the Yankees and White Sox for parts of the '86 and '87 seasons. Pullins said Nielsen might still be playing if he'd started younger.
"He (Nielsen) will tell you that he got up there because he was very effective in the minor leagues, and they said, `OK, at this kid's age, he's gotta do it right now.' If he'd been three years younger, they'd have said, `OK, let's give him a shot, and if he stumbles a little bit, send him back to Triple-A ball and we'll bring him up again.' "
Another BYU star athlete, Mike Willes, went on a mission, came back and led the nation in home runs two years in a row. But when he concluded his college career at the age of 25, the scouts wouldn't touch him.
Pullins understands the scouts' point of view but says it shouldn't have to be that way. He tries to point out to scouts that going on a mission doesn't mean a lack of dedication to baseball and won't necessarily mean a shortened career.
"I tell the scouts that these guys aren't going to ruin themselves with drugs or alcohol, like a lot of guys they're going to sign," he said. "Sure they're older, but the way they take care of themselves, they're going to have a longer career."
Some returned-missionary athletes flatly disagree that the extra two years hurt one's chances at a pro career.
Bart Oates, a two-time Pro Bowl center with the New York Giants, served a mission to Nevada. He said that without the mission experience, he might never have made the pros.
"In my heart of hearts, I wonder if things would have been different without a mission," he said. "If I had decided not to go, it could have been a different situation."
Devin Durrant, a former BYU basketball star, takes exception to those who say his serving a mission hurt his pro chances. Durrant played with Danny Ainge, Fred Roberts and Greg Kite - all of whom chose not to serve missions and all of whom are still in the NBA. Durrant lasted one year with the Indiana Pacers.
"It's just nonsense to say the reason Devin Durrant is not in the NBA is that he went on a mission," Durrant said. "If anything, a mission helped me. My problem was, plain and simple, lack of talent. If I could have knocked down a 20-foot jumper 60 percent of the time, I'd still be in the NBA."
Still, the evidence indicates it's harder to make it in the pros after serving a mission - especially in the major sports of football, basketball and baseball. In other pursuits, however, a mission may be a plus.
Before his mission, Henry Marsh couldn't even letter on the BYU track team.
"I was a walk-on before my mission and that first year back I made the Olympic team," Marsh said. "Just getting older would not have made that kind of improvement. A mission gave me a different outlook and perspective."