Are missionary players a blessing or curse?
Each year, Utah State University’s sports teams ink athletes committed to serving missions for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And both coaches and recruits alike say the outcome of missionary service becomes advantageous for the squads involved.
“The No. 1 advantage is maturity,” said USU assistant basketball coach Don Verlin. “They go out boys and come back men.”
Another advantage of returned missionaries is they come back knowing what they want to do with their lives, Verlin said. They build skills valuable to team sports – communication, being able to approach people and think for themselves, he said.
Steve Tate, a USU football recruit from Salt Lake City, said he would grow, mature and learn to work harder on his mission. Universities benefit from returned missionaries because they become 23- and 24-year-old seniors who are stronger and more mature after a redshirt year and a mission, he said.
What are the detriments of a returned missionary?
“It takes them out of cardiovascular sports,” Verlin said.
Missionaries build up a stamina from regularly playing the game and lose it while serving two years because they don’t participate in the sport, or if they do, they participate sparingly, he said. While missionaries may engage in other forms of exercises, like running, Verlin said to stay in top-notch condition they must continually play the game.
When Verlin was part of head coach Stew Morrill’s staff at Colorado State University, he said he thought the Utah schools had an advantage with returned missionaries. Now that he’s with a Utah school, he still thinks missionaries are an advantage.
While at CSU, he said he admired the leadership of two Brigham Young University 25-year-old starters. That kind of leadership is evident in USU’s Brennan Ray, he said. According to Verlin, Ray helps “build the family” on the basketball team.
USU excels at signing potential missionaries because of the Logan LDS Institute, Verlin said. When possible, signers visit campus and meet students and faculty at the Institute, it makes them more comfortable and more willing to choose USU, he said.
Signing a returned missionary is a little different than signing a non-missionary. After an athlete has served one year on a mission, he is no longer bound to the university, Verlin said. Upon his return, he must sign with the school again. USU redshirt freshman Chad Evans took that to heart – he signed with Loyola Marymount out of high school, but chose to sign with USU after his return. After sitting out last season, Evans has seen playing time this year.
Most missionaries opt for a redshirt year either immediately prior or immediately after service. In a perfect world, Verlin said, every missionary would redshirt one year; but in some cases they don’t. For example, if a team has three missionaries return the same season, all of them can’t redshirt, he said.
Many football-playing missionaries use a redshirt year before a mission, Tate said. Tate will a be little different, however. He has opted to play one year as a defensive back, serve his mission and jump into the starting quarterback position when he returns. Tate said USU head football coach Mick Dennehy wanted him on the field right away, and that’s one of the things that attracted him to USU.
The optimal schedule for basketball players, according to Verlin, is for a potential missionary to play 18-20 minutes a game as a freshman, go on a mission, redshirt a year, then come back and play. However, not all stick to the schedule, Verlin said. Each athlete might find himself in a different situation.
Tate will play defensive back next season with hopes of playing quarterback when he returns. Primarily an option quarterback while at Skyline High School, Tate thinks that won’t be a detriment at pass-happy USU. He said he thinks he has a good chance of playing quarterback after his religious service.
“I’ll prove I can throw the ball after my mission,” he said.
A mission will provide Tate plenty of time to learn the offense in order to be a competitor for the quarterback position. He will leave for his mission with an offensive playbook in hand, he said.
Tate said he is confident USU will get into a football conference soon and said he thinks the Aggies will beat the University of Utah and BYU on a consistent basis upon his return.