Most of those names don’t do anything to promote the church by going to BYU. If Shawn Bradley went to Duke, left on a mission etc I argue the press on him would have been the same and possibly more.

People don’t care in general if an athlete is LDS unless they are a star or playing on big stage. Jimmer had a big stage, but it was quirky. Had he taken a brand name to the final four etc; people easily could have known him better and more PR around the church.

Do you really think anyone cares Ngata and others are LDS? Do you think if he went to BYU magically all these stories would appear about him being LDS. Get real, you are overplaying the impact of being BYU and being LDS and all this positive attention that would come.

I may be in the minority on CB, but getting top tier LDS athletes on big stages helps draw more attention than playing in Provo. You don’t think if Taysom Hill went to ND, Ohio State, Bama, Clemsonetc etc and was playing for an NC on a massive stage that anyone would notice he is an RM etc? There is a very good chance this gets more eyes in this scenario than a great player at BYU who plays on a decent team at odd hours.