He sees the game in a way that I was never fully able to. He reads defenses and checks plays to put his team in a position to succeed. It also doesn’t hurt that he has a cannon for an arm and can make all of the throws. – Parker Mangum, on Tanner Mangum
The Mangum brothers have forged their own destiny in different ways.
First came Parker, then Madison and the caboose is Tanner in this football brother train.
They’re all gentlemen, polite, well-mannered and courteous as hotel doormen.
Parker finished playing three positions at BYU through 2009 and now works for Nike. Madison is a star receiver for Idaho State hip deep this week in spring football. Tanner, who once shared MVP of the Nike Elite 11 Quarterback camp with Florida State Heisman Trophy winner Jameis Winston, is finishing up an LDS mission in South America.
At 6-2, 210 and once a walk-on receiver at BYU, Madison will challenge for fame as the best receiver in the Big Sky this season after transforming himself physically and mentally into a go-to target.
The father, Michael Mangum, of Boise, was once asked to compare his sons in the realm of football. He said Parker has work ethic and persistence, Madison has the raw talent and sheer athleticism and Tanner has football intelligence and competitive drive.
Michael is a 6-foot-6 former cross country runner and very athletic, but he tells everyone it is wife Karen’s genes that give his children their athletic ability and speed. She never played sports in high school but was a cheerleader.
All the sons followed in the footsteps of their father and went on LDS missions. Michael went to Canada Quebec Montreal (1976-1978); Parker Italy Milan (2004-2006); Madison Texas San Antonio (2010 -2012) and Tanner who returns from Chile Antofsgasta in June.
“Madison always had a knack for speed in elementary school and won a competition to see who’d log the most miles per month around the school track,” said Parker. “He’d use recess time to log extra miles and won the competition several times. That’s the kind of athlete he is and it led to earning all-state honors in high school and now he’s all-Big Sky.”
Madison walked on at BYU out of high school, wanting to follow Parker to Provo. But he was way down the totem pole and barely got recognized for his work behind freshmen Cody Hoffman and Mitch Matthews before leaving on his mission. Upon his return home, he took a year off before a friend convinced him to take football up again and he decided to go to Idaho State. It proved the perfect opportunity.
During the Bengals’ 2013 season, playing at Washington, it hit Madison like a ton of bricks: He wasn’t big or fast enough and he felt horribly inadequate to compete with the Husky defenders. That event changed his entire athletic mindset. He took the next year to hit the weight room, diet properly and at 6-foot-2, he went from 185 pounds to 210. “What it did is give me strength and the confidence that I can dominate any opponent and I’m strong enough to go across the middle and not worry about getting banged up.”
This fall, his receivers coach Sheldon Cross told the Idaho State Journal, “Each week you could see this confidence growing, growing and growing… You can see it now. I think he’s one of the best wideouts in the country. I really genuinely believe that.”
“Growing up, we would play what we called ‘Offense and Defense’ in our backyard. Being the oldest, I played all-time QB, while Madison and Tanner, 'the bear cubs', as Mom would call them, would switch off on offense and defense,” said Parker, who set 17 school records at Timberline High as a quarterback.
“Basically it was a one-on-one, will vs. will, full-on tackle attempt to break past the other brother and score a TD by reaching the opposite fence. We would play this game for hours, and I believe it made Madison quicker by juking and outrunning his younger brother, and it made Tanner tougher by taking some pretty legitimate shots from an older brother. No doubt, it made them both more competitive. Neither of them enjoyed losing. Ever. And they made it known.”
Parker had a motto growing up: Not the fastest but the first. He wouldn’t win all the races but he would compete more drills going full speed than others.
“I strived to be the first to show up and the last to leave. In high school, I threw the ball every day in the gym with my quarterback coach during lunch, striving to perfect my footwork and throwing mechanics. I played both football (QB) and baseball (pitcher) at St. Mary’s College (WCC conference) during my freshman year because I loved both sports and wasn’t willing to commit to just one at the time.
“Following my mission, and once at BYU, I set a goal to survive through the walk-on process that tends to make or break so many guys who dream of donning the blue and white.” After sticking on BYU’s squad, Parker won the ECO Challenge triathlon that head coach Bronco Mendenhall conducted to evaluate conditioning and mental toughness. “To me it represented the work ethic and passion that I felt I could bring to the team. I also finished second in the conditioning beep test we did back in 2007.” He tore his LCL and hamstrings at BYU but stayed involved and made a comeback. He did anything BYU would let him which included playing QB, then receiver, then back to QB and then tight end.
As a senior, he made the travel squad for the first time. “I relished the few plays I was given. Work became my form of competition and I fed off it. My life was forever changed for the better because of it.”
Parker said Madison is the fastest, jumps the highest, reacts the quickest and is blessed with hand-eye coordination. “He is one of the most gifted all-around athletes I know. He makes ridiculous catches.”
When Madison and Tanner played at Timberline High together someone asked Madison how many passes he caught from Tanner. “All of them,” he replied.
Tanner simply gets football, said Parker. “It shows in his decision making and accuracy. He sees the game in a way that I was never fully able to. He reads defenses and checks plays to put his team in a position to succeed. It also doesn’t hurt that he has a cannon for an arm and can make all of the throws.
“Tanner’s been able to study the game from football’s finest: Trent Dilfer, George Whitfield, and the other Nike Elite 11 and Under Armour All-American coaches, and we’re all eager to see him put into practice all that he’s learned when he suits up for BYU. Tanner’s been playing QB ever since he was old enough to suit-up for flag football as a 6-year-old. Even when the pads came on, he was the only youth football player dropping back, completing respectable downfield passes to his teammates.”
Parker remembers as an eighth grader in 2007 Tanner proved to him he might be onto something with football. Tanner was registered for the grade 6 to 8 BYU football camp. Neither Parker or Tanner realized this particular camp focused on fundamentals of each position and didn’t allow specialization.
“In between my own BYU football workouts and after watching one morning session of Tanner rotating between stations teaching him how to line up in a 3-point stance, or how to hold the football, or what a B-gap is, he came to me rightfully frustrated and said, ‘I came here to be a better QB. These basic drills aren’t going to teach me that.’
“I immediately called then QB-coach Brandon Doman and asked — even though Tanner was only 13 — if he could participate in the full-contact BYU high school camp that was going on concurrently. He agreed, and I’ll never forget the visual of a young Tanner, swimming in his borrowed, oversized college pads, throwing a football with touch, accuracy, and strength, so much so that he was awarded MVP of all the 9th and 10th grade quarterbacks. It was then that I believe coach Doman saw something special in Tanner, and watched him grow up and sharpen his skillset to become the potential starting QB we’ve all envisioned him to be someday for BYU.”
Two Tanner sisters are also excellent in athletics. Meredith, now 27, was a star fullback soccer player at Boise State. Abby, 16, plays varsity basketball and volleyball at Eagle High.
Tanner will return from South America June 3 and his report to local church members is June. 7. “He will be in Provo June 8,” said Parker. “He’ll go though BYU’s returned missionary workout protocol and immediately get in the film room and playbook to get ready for fall camp.
“He took a football with him on his mission and throws on preparation days when he can.
“He’s currently blessed with a weight room in their apartment complex, so he and his companion have been taking advantage of that during their morning workouts. “
Tanner’s mission in Antofagasta, Chile has experienced several natural disasters during his two years, including severe earthquake damage and most recently flash flooding from abnormal rainfall. Homes are not properly equipped to handle the excessive rain. Parker says Tanner and fellow missionaries have spent quite a bit of time in relief efforts, ensuring both members of the Church and non-members are stocked with adequate living resources while homes are repaired, and in some severe instances, replaced.
“He’s currently serving as an assistant to the mission president, and is humbly grateful for the many opportunities he has to lead and train his peers,” said his oldest brother.
What can folks expect from Tanner, the caboose?
Madison says, “They expect him to get back and be motivated, have the drive to get in shape and compete for the backup quarterback spot.”
Dick Harmon, Deseret News sports columnist, can be found on Twitter as Harmonwrites and can be contacted at dharmon@desnews.com.