My main thought of the day is, remember the athletes are people, persons that usually have a far wider variety of talents and abilities than just what they can do on a court of field. It is why I harp about the academic side, the "student" aspect of the phrase "student-athlete." I love BYU athletics, but I can also love and respect the performances of others that choose to attend Utah or some other institution though LDS. BYU is a unique institution. Not every LDS kid grows up wanting to attend BYU. In fact a majority of young men grow up and their first exposure to college athletics is often their ultimate goal because of geography, parentage, any number of things including future vocation. All over the country, about 2/3rd of every high school senior that will get a D1 scholarship to play intercollegiate sports has decided where they want to go to school and the recruiting carousel has no real impact on them. They grew up 20 miles from Ames Iowa or Macon Georgia. Iowa or the Bulldogs are all they ever knew or cared about. At 17 assuming they are the best kids, family kids, kids of faith they are still concerned about playing in front of mom and dad. Getting the BEST LDS ATHLETES to come to BYU is even more difficult than say louring a lifetime Hoosier fan/player to take a scholarship at Ohio State or Michigan.

1. When kids choose to go to another school, do NOT assume they had HC issues or didn't have the grades. If they can get into most PAC schools, Oklahoma or Texas, Alabama, Michigan, Notre Dame, Florida or Clemson, they have the grades.

2. Often the young athlete just grew up with other aspirations (UTAH for Zach Wilson), but didn't get that offer. Who really knows why Zach wasn't recruited by UTAH. But Porter Guston, whose sister looks like an All American on the hardwoods, didn't somehow fit into BYU's scheme. Its funny how Guston went to USC while Takitaki came to BYU. Both now play for Cleveland and Takitaki is the starter. It doesn't make Guston wrong or unsuccessful. Maybe USC was academically a better fit at the time. Maybe BYU knew that's what he wanted.

3. Per #2, coaches not offering means coaches know things that the public never knows. Coaches are not going to toss out offers to kids who cannot make the grades, or that can make the grades, but at UTAH that has a School of Architecture. Never think the academic side is irrelevant. Its usually very relevant in some form.

4. The HC is a blessing not a curse. BYU has gotten some absolutely fantastic athletes and young men who one would think might never attend BYU. Except their parents wanted them in a rigorous, disciplined and faith based environment. The HC is as much a + and it ever is a - and if you go back through the decades I have been following the game, you can see the kinds of men that BYU has turned out in part because of the HC.

5. Young people should be told that education does not culminate on a matriculation with a sheepskin. It only really begins with that. Above the entrance to the building that houses the USC School of Architecture there appears a quote from Leonardo da Vinci; his last spoken words before death, "I'm still learning."

In another thread this morning, I reminded the readers of the reason I get rather animated about poor speech practices. That story about a UTAH football player is one example of loving a person up to their potential. It's why I believe McBride was a phenomenal coach and person. If you have not read that, perhaps this other story will likewise convey my reason for wanting young people to dress their speech as well as their bodies. My father was at 18, a young Naval Aviator and in OCS. He was brilliant in every way, but he hailed form Alabama and had a bit of a drawl. When he was at Pensacola, Florida in 1944, prepping for sea trial in take-offs and landings, his commanding officer pulled him aside and said, "...young man you are by far the most intelligent pilot I have. You graded out higher than anyone. But you sound like a {expletive} hillbilly and you will not advance in the Navy until such time as you learn to speak English." Dad took his words in not as a mean man, but as a mentor who loved him and respected him enough to help him grow as a complete person.

My father took that to heart, spent three months flushing his system of his "southerness" if you will, and went on to an incredible career. Dad was distinguished as a pilot, officer, leader and went on to Georgia Tech where he finished #2 by <2/100 of a point in his class, graduating in three (not four) years as a double engineering major. He went on to work for a year in the Skunk-works at Lockheed and then was recruited by Donald Douglas to help build the A4d Skyhawk. He went on to the the Sky-hook SAM program, and then became Program Director for the creation of the Delta Rocket Program. We still fly Delta Rockets today (60 years later). From there dad managed the Apollo S1VB (3rd Stage) and the Skylab Missions among many other notable Douglas/McDonald-Douglas era projects. My dad began to get his drawl back as he aged but by that time, he had made his mark in aerospace aviation and people knew of his genius.

Do not think speech pathology isn't important. People say your shoes says a lot about who you are. Your speech says it louder and earlier than your shoes. We owe it to athletes to help them become great off the field and after the games are over, not just while on our grass or hardwood courts.