Now that top-rated quarterback Jake Heaps has verbally committed to play football at BYU, it stands to reason some people would whine about it.
It's all unfair, you know. Heaps is LDS, and those Mormon kids ALWAYS go to BYU. The church hits 'em with the guilt trip, and there they go, marching in lock step, down to Provo. Then they complete those two-year missions, and that helps the Cougars even more. Their players come back bigger, stronger and more mature.
It's not fair.
I have only one thing to say to those who feel that way: Grow up.
Everyone uses their recruiting advantages.
The pros and cons BYU encounters in football balance out. Which is why the program is able to compete on an upper-division level in the first place.
The issue came to light nine days ago, when Heaps called a press conference in downtown Salt Lake City to announce he was going to BYU. At the same time, two other highly regarded LDS players said they would follow.
This brought the usual groans from opposing fan bases. Among the most vocal critics was former Washington assistant coach Dick Baird, who took on the issue of BYU and recruiting in a column for the Washington Huskies' fan Web site Dawgman.com.
Baird resurrected an old complaint, intimating that BYU bends the recruiting rules by contacting players through ecclesiastical authorities. You know the gripe: coach Bronco Mendenhall can't talk to a player as early as he wants, or as many times as he wants, but the bishop sure can.
"Somehow, BYU has been able to communicate almost at will with him and they have done so through the church," he wrote. "The LDS Church is one of the fastest-growing churches in the country, and they are organized all the way down to the ward level. It is very difficult to beat them on a Mormon kid, because they pull out all stops to keep their young in the fold."
Yet if you believe Heaps, he said he felt no religious pressure whatsoever to attend BYU. Either way, Baird went on to say the NCAA's deferred eligibility rule gives BYU "an unfair advantage over every other school in the country."
Most student-athletes have five years to complete four years of eligibility, but missionaries get seven.
Baird continued, saying "when they return from serving their mission, they are older, and I promise you kids mature a lot from 18 to 22." An additional shot: "What other school in the country — or religion for that matter — has church missions that take place during a player's college career? Then there would be no need for the mission exception at all. Then everyone would be playing by the same set of rules. Now I realize that other colleges that sign LDS players also benefit from this rule, but my point is any rule shouldn't give anyone an advantage, and this one does."
Oh, waaaah!
BYU has more turnover than any other school, due to missions. And while players may come back bigger and stronger — and almost everyone comes back more mature — they also come back fatter and slower.
If having 24-year-old players is such an advantage, how come USC doesn't have 20 of them? Don't tell me it's because LDS players wouldn't want to go there.
Pete Carroll would rather have someone who runs a 4.3 than a mature guy who runs a 4.7, any day.
An all-time truism is that every school goes to its strength. Some use academics, some use location, others use reputation. Notre Dame uses tradition and religion to recruit. Arizona reportedly used cheerleaders in a recruiting brochure, claiming it had the prettiest in the country.
For anyone to intimate the best LDS players go to BYU because they feel pressured is oversimplifying. If BYU football stunk, hardly any good players would show up. As it is, some heralded LDS players didn't go to BYU. Haloti Ngata (Oregon), Manti Te'o (Notre Dame) and Stanley Havili (USC) said no. Ben Olson went to BYU, served a mission and transferred to UCLA.
BYU doesn't have a guarantee on anyone. But the fact it has an edge with LDS players only balances the fact it must recruit around missions and the nation's most rigid honor code.
Name another school that could and would render a player ineligible for drinking coffee.
If LDS kids are inclined to go to BYU, that's natural. Florida kids want to play at Florida, Texas kids in Texas. Party kids want to go to Wisconsin. Military kids want to go to Navy or Air Force.
Don't like playing against married, mature players?
Go get your own.
Otherwise, show up and play with what you can get.
BYU has been doing it for years.
E-MAIL: rock@desnews.com