A high school athlete is going to chose BYU or non-BYU for a variety of reasons. I wonder though how many LDS high school athletes consider which option is going to help them be a future ambassador for the Church. Maybe Jake Heaps did and some others too. But my guess is that as a kid and his parents debate where he should play, the ambassador factor has to be way down the list. That's not to say it is not important. In fact, I believe it is very important for any LDS athlete at the college and pro level to do his best to be a good ambassador for the Church. But I seriously doubt that many 18-year old LDS kids think to themselves that when they make the pros, it would have been better to go to BYU because that will help them be a more visible ambassador for the Church. Because honestly, if a kid is that interested in being an LDS ambassador his impact is much more likely in college (so few college kids make it to the next level) and in my opinion, the opportunity for that impact is much greater at a non-BYU school.

I realize you and I were kind of arguing different points (my mistake probably). But here's my bias; my daughter is known by everyone she knows at Virginia as the Mormon from Utah (not implying she is the perfect ambassador but you know what I mean). had she gone to BYU, she would have melted into the 15k LDS female population. Now I get it that she is not a high profile athlete. But I bet if you were to ask the typical LDS college athlete at a non-BYU college how often the Church comes up it would be much higher than at BYU where everyone is LDS. You would probably concede that point if I concede that BYU is a great platform for guys like Steve Young.