Riley Nelson & The Mormon College Football Recruiting Controversy

If you don't know who Riley Nelson is, read this blog.

Coming out of high school in 2006, college football coaches knew him as the 6'1" 195 pound Quarterback from Logan high school in Logan, Utah. You know, the All-State / Parade All-American / Deseret Morning News Mr. Football Utah / Gatorade Utah Football Player of the Year kid that set a new national high school football record for touchdowns (84--53 passing and 31 rushing), averaging six TDs per game. He also set nine Utah state records, including career total touchdowns (130), career passing touchdowns (79), season completions (277), season passing yards (4,041), season passing touchdowns (53), season total touchdowns (84), season total yards (5,815), single-game completions (38), and single-game touchdown passes (7). His senior year Nelson led Logan High Grizzlies to the 3A state championship game, which they won in a massive blow-out.

Unfortunately, the QB of the losing team (Pineview HS of St. George, UT) was also a 4-star record-setting high school football leader in the state of Utah (3800 passing yards, 41 passing touchdowns, 650 rushing yards, 7 rushing TDs), James Lark (6'3", 200 lbs.). Lark was taller, bigger, had been more visible for longer on the recruiting scene, and was one of three quarterbacks who had already accepted a scholarship that year to play at BYU (choosing the Cougars over Arizona State, Oregon, and Utah), along with fellow QBs Max Hall (a 6'2" 201 lb. transfer from Arizona State) and Sam Doman (a 6'4", 200 pounder from Oregon).

Riley Nelson was offered a chance to walk-on at BYU to try to earn a scholarship later down the road. Utah State, where his father had played football and his grandpa had been the athletic director (back when it was USAC, or "Utah State Agricultural College"), offered him a full-ride, tuition and everything. The Utah Utes came late to the table and tried to match USU's offer, along with Stanford and Washington. Nelson committed to play for his hometown Utah State Aggies of Logan, Utah. One news article declared "USU Lands Local Hero!"

Nelson was supposed to redshirt his freshman year. He made it about half the season, but after his team had played 5 games without a single offensive touchdown among them, his coaches got desperate. His first start came as a true freshman against Fresno State, one of the strongest football programs in the WAC (Western Athletic Conference, former conference home of BYU). And in one of the greatest upsets of the year, Nelson threw a 30-yard touchdown in the final minutes to lead Utah State to a 13-12 victory over the FSU Bulldogs. That made Riley the first USU QB to win his 1st career start since 1992! He continued to trade time at QB with the original starter for the rest of the season, experiencing very minimal success on a team that seriously lacked talent (925 yards passing, 7 passing TDs, 55.4% completion rate, 277 yards rushing on the partial season). He did manage to set another record though, completing 84% of his passes (21-of-24) against San Jose State. Not bad for a true freshman on a very poor team!

And this is where the story begins to go a different route. You see, Riley Nelson is LDS, and he wanted to go on a Mormon mission. He left after one year at Utah State to serve in Barcelona, Spain full-time for two years. Unfortunately for Latter-day Saint football players, this doesn't always work out well for them in the college football world. Many coaches don't appreciate missions interrupting their football plans. When the missionary get back, they may no longer have a scholarship waiting for them. They might not have the same head coach or assistant coaches in the program, due to firings or better offers. Their team may have gone downhill in their absence, or the team may have brought on additional players for their position who have taken over their spot on the starting roster. No matter what happens the returned Mormon missionary will be two-years out of shape (two years away from football entirely), rusty and older and more easily injured, and sometimes even lacking that same competitive fire.

It doesn't always work out well for their original college of choice either. The usual college football player who decides to leave their school of choice and transfer to another must sit out one year, unless they transfer down to a lower division school (from I-A or FBS to I-AA/FCS). That means they either use their redshirt or lose a whole year of eligibility. BUT, the LDS missionary is released from their contract after 18 months away from school (the same as with a military man, a Peace Core member, etc.). This makes them completely recruitable again, with no negative repercussions. In other words, they can transfer schools when they get back home without having to sit out a year. It happens all the time, and the NCAA is just fine with it. That's how BYU lost 5-star QB Ben Olsen, and it's how they gained Max Hall.

While Riley Nelson has been gone, a lot happened with the quarterbacks at BYU. James Lark broke his leg and left for a mission of his own, along with 4-star QB Jason Munns (6'5.5", 226 lbs.). Max Hall replaced John Beck as the Cougar QB. Sam Doman, 4-star Cade Cooper, and 3-star Jacob Bower all transferred out of the program. 3-star Brenden Gaskins (6'5", 220 lbs.), Kurt McEuen (6'2", 213 lbs.), and Stephen Covey (5'11", 185 lbs.), a recently returned missionary, remain.

So now we're finally getting to the point of the story- This week, 15 months after Nelson left on his mission to Spain, his father Keith announced that Riley has accepted a scholarship offer to play for BYU and will transfer to the Cougars in March of 2009. And boy did that set off a firestorm of public opinion!!

This is how it all went down: BYU quarterback coach Brandon Doman and BYU wide receivers coach Patrick Higgins are friendly with Riley's ex-high school head football coach, Logan's Mike Favero, who they talk with casually from time to time. Favero asked if BYU was still interested in Nelson, and he was told that they were. Favero then contacted Riley's father and passed on the interest. Keith Nelson emailed his son on a preparation day and asked if he was open to transferring to a different school when he gets back, and the answer was yes. Mr. Nelson then emailed his son's Mission President to ask if it was okay for BYU to email Elder Nelson. BYU sent an email offering a scholarship which Riley quickly accepted, informing Utah State coaches of his decision at the same time. Listen to Keith Nelson tell the story himself!

BYU's head football coach Bronco Mendenhall is strongly against actively recruiting missionaries away from other schools, but at the same time he isn't going to ignore a player with interest in the Cougar program if they are dissatisfied with their own. But when they make a commitment to Brigham Young University, he expects them to act like men and not boys, and for their word to him to be their bond.

Now, Utah State fans are NOT happy about the transfer, for obvious reasons (though many saw this coming). The Aggies have always been in BYU's shadow, so this incident is just adding insult to injury for them. You can read some of their comments at THIS blog, including: "Shame on Riley... Now, he'll just be one of a thousand nameless Zoobies" and "Someone should really get the NCAA to investigate BYU. Let's be honest here, they are using the mission field as their recruiting grounds... [they] prey on the poor twenty year old with all of their religious mumbo jumbo". The reality is that USU's football program has gone 3-21 over the past two years, while BYU has gone 22-4, including two bowl wins to cap two Top 15 ranked seasons. BYU has won 18 of the last 19 games against Utah State.

The reaction of Utah Ute fans to this story is harder to explain. Yes, they also have to live in the wide shadow of BYU's storied football program. But this doesn't directly involve them. Yeah, they offered him a schollie when he was in high school. Yeah, they've offered him again while he's been gone on his mission. But he's leaving Utah State to go to BYU, leaving the Utes to their lonely selves. With Utah fans, though, that doesn't matter- BYU has always been their primary concern, not their own school. Read THIS Utah blog for an example. The author states "The immediate concern now, rather than worrying about how the Utes are going to stop the guy when the teams play, is how the recruitment of Riley happened... Were the Cougars wrong in recruiting Nelson? ...I'd say Mendenhall wasn't thinking things all the way through... Coaches need to be concerned with is how the church is going to handle such recruitings. Supposedly, Nelson's mission president approved the contact between BYU and Nelson. I have to wonder if such permission would be granted to BYU's biggest rival, Utah? ...Is the church going to treat all schools equally or give BYU, its private institution, favored access? ...We can't be naive to think athletes haven't been recruited while on missions by BYU coaches or others, but how much is the church going to get involved in approving such matters?" Like Utah's main concern should be the LDS Church, instead of going 10-6 in conference play the last two seasons, while BYU went 16-0.

Some recent transfers that BYU has lost:
DL Isley Filiaga
QB Cade Cooper
QB Sam Doman
QB Jacob Bower
RB Ray Hudson
WR Joe Griffin
DL Michael Marquardt
TE Antwaun Harris
OL Ofa Mohetau
DB Greg Lovely
DB Billy Skinner
QB Ben Olsen

Other suspended players that might leave:
RB Manase Tonga
DL David Angilau
DL Kyle Luekenga
DL Russell Tialavea

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