I’m Not From Utah or LDS

[The Miami Ute]

Can someone explain to me why a highly touted Utah prep player would prefer playing for BYU versus Utah? Isn’t BYU’s so-called “Code of Honor” an impediment for college-age students? I know that, not coming from an LDS background, that there’s no way that, as an 18 year old, I’d have any interest going to that school. In addition to that, if we’re talking just plain campus appeal, to me Utah’s campus is much nicer than BYU’s which reminds me of a Community College in Miami.

[NashvilleUteFan]

The honor code doesn’t apply to athletes. Never has. Unless you’re Brandon Davies I guess

[The Miami Ute]

You mean it’s not enforced on athletes?

[NashvilleUteFan]

Correct

[2008 National Champ]

Yeah, not much chance Jim McMahon was ever going to follow an honor code. Sounds like Z Wilson got away with whatever he wanted if the rumors were true and I even heard about Jake Heaps’s exploits when I was working in California.

[Jim McMahon]

How dare you, sir. I followed the honor code to the T 😉

[The Miami Ute]

Yeah, an Irish Catholic kid from New Jersey…I’m sure you did…how about the other Irish Catholic kid, Clay Brown? I’m sure he also followed the Honor Code.

[2008 National Champ]

I loved when I watched the McMahon documentary how honest he was about his adherence to the code. And how he was drummed out of school immediately after that last bowl game. Thanks for coming, don’t let the door hit you on the way out.,,

[Jim McMahon]

How dare you, sir. I followed the honor code to the T 😉

[J Rocksville]

Some of the best and wildest parties I went to in college, 20 years ago, were in provo. It was a strange scene though, because most of the time the girls would put their clothes back on once someone showed up with alcohol ha ha. When they would come north, the lds kids would absolutely rage… Until other lds kids showed up.

I knew a girl from hs that went to byu, 4.0 student, honor roll, student government. Got knocked up by a football player. She was forced to leave school and it pretty much destroyed her life. He was all conference and a local hero…has never paid a dime for that child. Women have always been second class citizens in lds culture, so it’s not surprising.

Jim McMahon was a pretty notorious party guy in college 40 years ago. I recall palpable stress from byu trying to keep that guy under the radar.

I doubt it’s changed much much these days, and I’m sure there are countless similar stories.

[Rick Walker]

Here’s my perspective, feel free to agree or disagree with me. I am lds and honestly when considering byu for college the honor code wasn’t part of the thought process. I get why it would feel for restricting for lots of people but for me it’s rules I would adhere to on my own behalf, so it wouldn’t matter if the school enforced it or not. This is also the case for many other lds kids. Now for athletes, there’s numerous stories about players not obeying the honor code and part of that is that the 2% of students there that aren’t lds are mostly athletes, but I do think the athletes get away with wayyy too much (like McMahon). However, I also think the rules of things at any university especially byu are more strict than they are enforced just so kids don’t have too much elbow room to do the dumb things they’re gonna do anyways. But I know for many people that are lds they like that the entire university of like minded people which I understand but isn’t my cup of tea. I’d personally be somewhere there’s a presence of people that share my beliefs and a presence of people that have their own beliefs that I can have discussions with about different worldly views.

[The Miami Ute]

Rick, thanks for those insights. Much appreciated.

[belli1976]

This is the opposite of the question. I loved my time at the U. I am LDS, but grew up in Michigan. I transferred from Ricks College (now BYU Idaho). I have a similar mindset as Rick Walker. I choose the U over BYU P because I was wanted more diversity in my daily interactions. My biggest disappointment at the U was how big a divide there was between members of the LDS church and those that were not members. I would get to know people around campus but more than less if I mention something about church or serving a mission and if they were not LDS then the conversation typically would end. Or the next time I saw that person, they would ignore me.

Or in the Daily Chronicle how there would be comments tearing down the LDS church or comments about the wonderful virtues of the LDS church.

This was weird to me because in Michigan people were just friends. I had friends that were other Christian’s denominations, Muslim, Hindu, Jewish. I didn’t make a difference.

Why can’t we all just get along??

[UteFan Vineyard]

Because Ryan Smith has really deep pockets. Utah needs to step up in NIL or Ryan Smith, I mean BYU, will get all of the good local recruits.

[The Miami Ute]

I get that…but what about if the recruit isn’t LDS? Rick Walker just mentioned that only two percent of the students there aren’t LDS. Wouldn’t BYU have to way, way overpay to get some non-LDS kid to go there (or maybe some Jack Mormon kid as well)?

[Jim McMahon]

I’ll take a stab. I think Jay Hill is an elite recruiter and being in the B12 (compared to formerly being Indy) is a huge plus. I also think our NIL has stepped up.

I should also add that we have a lot of LDS high school coaches in TX, FL, and CA who pitch BYU and put good kids on BYU’s radar.

The real miracle to me was that we ever got any decent recruits with Tuiaki as our D coordinator. No offense, but we joke that Utah is where QB’s go to die. Under Tuiaki you could have said the same about defensive players coming to BYU.

Lastly, there is a good amount of non LDS players whose parents actually like the honor code. Our basketball team has had several Muslim players from Africa.

[Rick Walker]

I agree Jim. Look at byu’s basketball team turning the honor code into a strength by pointing out it can be another tool to help players stay focused on basketball if they’re very serious about it. Football could make the exact same pitch but it would just be a harder sell (3 years compared to 9 months). And sometimes players might just like the vibe they get from byu or kalani, hill, or arod and want to play for a coach more than a program.

[AlohaUte]

There are also some, not many, but some who are not LDS but for whom the honor code or at least a moral standard of living is important. There are many Christians and Muslims in particular who don’t want to party, drink, and have sex. BYU can make that easier.

[EagleMountainUte]

It is generally enforced on rape victims at TSPP from what I understand.
With the assistance of a crooked police force.

[RoboUte]

Living right, off the field.

[AlohaUte]

If one is LDS it has appeal. Believe it or not, people actually do believe in their religion, even young people.

[Author]

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