It seems like both BYU fans and Utah’s fanbase are getting pretty sensitive about the large number of transfers leaving the school they committed to pre-mission and committing to BYU post-mission. I am not going to get into the ethics of recruiting a missionary on his mission as that is a different subject altogether. I don’t see this as being a regular occurrence since, when these young men left for their missions two years ago, BYU’s coaching staff was completely different. The current BYU coaching staff did not recruit these guys and now that they are home, what BYU has to offer is different from what it offered before they left. As the current BYU coaching staff recruits guys who leave now, when they get home they aren’t as likely to transfer now due to there being no material change from when they left (besides losing to Utah two more times).
Yes, I think the most recent had actually been recruited by Sitake, so he has more loyalty to him (or is xenophobically inclined to play for and with members of their own “tribe”) than to Oregon State, the school he signed with.
The idea that Sitake is now going to land all the quality LDS Polynesian players is laughable, however.