Elder Ben Olson: The mission thing.
The town, with only about 80 LDS members, is a hard sell. In addition to gun threats, there have been cuss-a-thons, accusations of working for the CIA, and canines. Olson removed a dog from a comp's ankle and outraced another one. "You learn to hate dogs," he says. But outrunning dogs just about does it as far as his physical activity goes. (ESPN The Magazine, Dec. 22, 2003)
The mission deal: It's mysterious, misunderstood and often maligned by outside observers.
That's why it's refreshing to see a national-caliber sports writer take time and effort and do some first-hand research when writing about LDS athletes who go on missions. This is what ESPN The Magazine did when senior writer Gene Wojciechowski met up with BYU quarterback Ben Olson in Sparwood, British Columbia, for a story in the Dec. 22 edition.
Unlike some, Wojciechowski waded through the red tape, sought permission from the LDS Church missionary committee and met with Elder Olson of Thousand Oaks, Calif., a young man once considered the top high school football player in the U.S..
What Wojciechowski found is the two-year deal really is a sacrifice, costly in terms of athletic progress and continuity — hardly a huge and imposing advantage for schools like BYU. Linemen may gain some maturity, but skill players face some deterioration and it takes a lot to come back. Muscle tissue begins to break down after only 10 days of inactivity.
"Some things you pay a price to do. You don't count the consequences," Olson said in Wojciechowski's piece. Olson quoted his favorite scripture found in the Book of Mormon in Alma, chapter 29, verse 9: "I know that which the Lord hath commanded me, and I glory in it."
After BYU's 1984 national championship season, Sports Illustrated's Gary Smith sought and obtained permission to meet with Cougar LDS athletes in the mission field. It was the first major expos of what missions give and take away from LDS athletes. In the summer of 1985, Smith met with offensive lineman Don Busenbark in Brazil, quarterback Sean Covey in South Africa, quarterback Scott Peterson in Bolivia and offensive lineman Duane Johnson in Kentucky.
In 1988, ESPN sent a crew to Mexico City for a piece on offensive lineman Chad Moffat.
This weekend, BYU coach Gary Crowton gathered his team for an end-of-the-semester meeting and described how his staff was combing the country for additional recruits to add what's needed.
In the meeting, he pointed out how managing voids in mission comings and goings has never been more critical. Previously, about 30 or 40 players were in this state of flux, but now more than 70 were coming, going or serving.
USC offensive coordinator Norm Chow confirmed the struggle and how numbers have caught up. When asked about the issue last week, Chow pointed out that the LaVell Edwards regime made a conscious effort at the quarterback spot to recruit players who had continuity from three-year high school careers directly through their four college years. It almost always involved a redshirt year, and these skill-position players usually ended up playing as juniors and seniors after an intensive and lengthy apprenticeship.
"The best way to go — if for purely football only," Chow said.
That brings to focus the decision made last year, the week of BYU's game with Utah State. That's when Crowton opened up his QB derby and hinted he might play Olson. In the ESPN piece, Crowton explained he would have made the change if then-quarterback Bret Engemann didn't move the offense.
Engemann did — in a remarkable 28-point second-half comeback.
If Crowton had played Olson, taken off his redshirt season, given him the playing time Matt Berry struggled with the remainder of the season, there may not have been an Elder Olson right now.
Said Crowton to Wojciechowski: "If he'd played, he wouldn't have left, and all I could think about was his mother sitting in my office talking about her son going on a mission."
The past four years, it's been an interesting picture in BYU's camp, where 100 percent of the QB candidates are in the mission deal, coming, going or absent for serving. Returned missionary Brandon Doman spent 2.9 Cougar years waiting to be discovered. In Year 4, 2001, his work paid off in leading BYU to a 12-2 season. Until then, no returned missionary quarterback had ever led BYU to a conference title in school history.
This weekend, College of the Canyons quarterback Jason Beck visited BYU and has committed to join the group. At least Beck played two years beyond his mission to Denver. With a verbal commit from Idaho prep quarterback and mission-bound Jacob Bower, again the Cougars will be 100 percent entrenched in QBs with the mission deal part of the equation.
This is the opposite of the handoffs between Gifford Nielsen, Marc Wilson, Jim McMahon, Steve Young and Robbie Bosco. It is the opposite of the baton exchange between Ty Detmer, John Walsh, Steve Sarkisian and Kevin Feterik.
It all changed in 1999 when Feterik begat Engemann who begat Charlie Peterson who begat Doman who begat Engemann who begat Berry who begat Beck who begat Berry who begat Jackson Brown.
What does it all mean? It speaks volumes about BYU circa 2003. It also should give any reasonable football fan anecdotal expectation proof that when Olson returns in 2005 — whether returning to BYU, UCLA or some other Pac-10 school — it's going to take him a minimum of a year, to 2006 or even 2007, to be an impact player even if he left wearing a cape.
Olson would be the first to admit it, according to BYU football publicist Jeff Reynolds, who accompanied Wojciechowski to the Olson interview in British Columbia.
ESPN The Magazine affirms Olson likely will return to BYU. An L.A. Times article more than a week ago indicated his father, Rick, may be shopping his son around. Another Pac-10 coach confirmed other similar inquiries. But it's a long time from being decided. For Olson, there are dog jaws to be released, scriptures to be quoted.
As Wojciechowski's piece testifies: The sacrifice is costly.
E-MAIL: dharmon@desnews.com