BYU's Yoeli Childs making the best of a shortened senior season

February 23, 2020 — (KUTV) - As a junior at Bingham High School, Yoeli Childs didn’t even have BYU on his radar. Recruited by a few small schools, Childs didn’t even have an offer from the Cougars until his senior season. But even then, BYU seemed like a long shot. With its affiliation with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, BYU doesn’t get a lot of in-state non-member athletes to come to Provo. But Dave Rose — head coach of the Cougars at the time — stood out. Instead of offering empty promises, Rose offered Childs a fair chance.

“I kind of cane to a realization there that if I go to a school that’s promising me things, they’re promising 13 other guys things,” said Childs. “The fact that he was so honest with me, it was huge.”

Since then, Childs has made an impact to the point where he was considered an NBA hopeful. He entered the draft with virtually no intention of pulling out to return for his senior season, but pulled a 180 and ended up back in Provo for his senior season.

During his senior year, Childs was forced to sit out nine games for a clerical error when filing paperwork with the NCAA. He then sat four more games with a finger injury, but throughout the year he’s kept things in perspective.

“Nothing is going to stop us from having joy and nothing is going to stop us from being happy,” said Childs. “No matter what, joy is a choice.”

Even with the suspension and injury, Childs wouldn’t go back and change his decision to return.

“The biggest reason I came back is because I love my teammates and I love this place,” Childs said. “If I was suspended the whole season I would be here. I would be here for practice and make everyone better because I want to see this team succeed so bad.”

Watch the full interview above.