Dino Babers made a pointed joke toward the age of BYU football players, “It’s a lot easier to protect when those offensive linemen are a little bit older than everybody else.”

The room erupted in laughter from the other coaches.

Sitake fired back, “They didn’t go on a mission to Gold’s Gym, I can tell you that. These guys are riding bicycles and eating ramen noodles for three years.”

When asked, why he was so fired up about the topic he said, “I’m defending the missionaries, he’s attacking the missionaries. Those are my guys.”

He followed up with, “If it was a great system to develop your athletes, Alabama would be doing it. Not one of their guys is going on a mission, case closed.”