foot on a football field and were basically still recruits. It doesn't matter if they hadn't played yet because of missions. Football coaches have no reason to doubt a player when he hasn't shown any college film yet (or the lack thereof because he's been riding the bench). They haven't had a chance to prove themselves.
The ONLY thing we have to go on is HS.
That is not the case for someone who has been in a college football program for THREE seasons and hasn't done anything yet.

So no, I'm not sure how bountifulcoug can justify saying out of nowhere that BYU "needs him." BYU needs him based on what? Why does BYU, in a scholarship crunch, NEED to fill a roster spot with someone who has had multiple knee injuries and never contributed in college in 3 years? These are the kind of guys BYU is getting rid of.

If you can answer that question, I'm all for it. IF he can show his injury is far behind him, even though he didn't play last year, he might possibly be worth looking at to see what he can do as a depth chart filler. I have no idea what his athleticism is like now days. He's almost 300 lbs and was 210 in HS. Hopefully that's not part of why he's been getting injured.