BYU Needs More "Athletes"

Every time I hear/read this on the boards, it reminds me of one of the greatest send-ups of stereotyping--Undercover Brother:



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"Shoooo-nuff"

You're right, when people say we need more "athletes," it's usually just a less direct way of saying we need more athletic black players.

KingCoug wrote:
You're right, when people say we need more "athletes," it's usually just a less direct way of saying we need more athletic black players.

Someone on Twitter yesterday said "I love Craig Bills, Andrew Rich, and Scott Johnson, but BYU needs more athletes at safety."

Could athletes = playmakers? Guys we can give the ball to in space and let them work their magic. Or guys on defense who can make plays all over the field.



Yes, many of these players are black. James Dye, Ronney Jenkins, and Jaron Dabney quickly come to mind. But, I consider Luke Staley and even Austin Collie to fit this category. Jordan Pendleton would meet the defenseive criteria.

Y12 wrote:
Could athletes = playmakers? Guys we can give the ball to in space and let them work their magic. Or guys on defense who can make plays all over the field.



Yes, many of these players are black. James Dye, Ronney Jenkins, and Jaron Dabney quickly come to mind. But, I consider Luke Staley and even Austin Collie to fit this category. Jordan Pendleton would meet the defenseive criteria.

But when you are using the "athletes" distinction to say you are looking for someone other than the Utah football player of the year (who we've only see as a true-frosh in 2009), an all conference academic All-American, and an NFL talent in Rich, you really have to wonder what they are talking about when they say we need "athletes" instead of these three white guys, who by anyone's estimation are heckuva athletes.

They are talking about early first round NFL draft picks - NFL franchise players. Equivalent to Jabari Parker in basketball. Manti Teo comes close to what they mean.



Jim McMahon and Steve Young both ended up being in that category, but neither were projected to be elite out of high school.



That is why BYU fans got so giddy over Ben Olsen and Jake Heaps and Shawn Bradley and Chris Burgess.



There - they can be white guys. Except our highly touted white guys often fizzle.



And Mac and Young are proof that overachievers can work out well on occasion.



Whether High School five star or just overachievers - white or black or poly - the list of early first round NFL picks like Jason Buck and his twin tower teammate iirc, is very, very, very, very short.



Very



That is what they mean by more athletes. We go 1 loss or undefeated when we have those guys.



Do we have any future early first rounders on the team now? Maybe at best. None for 2012 draft likely.



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You are correct. We do need more athletes.



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Look at our recruiting class shaping up for 2013 - we are getting athletes but with great work ethic and character as well as those from other denominations or RMs that are transferring. The attraction - exposure garnered from Televised ESPN games, BYUtv and the campus atmosphere - lifestyle. Bronco has stated that we are getting 10x the interest from non-LDS athletes as well as the top LDS recruits. Let's see how class of 2013 shapes up before we pass judgment. I'll take a Chad Lewis, Dennis Pitta, Bryan Keihl, Brady Poppinga, Chris Hoke, Brent Kiessel type of player that is under the radar but has the intangibles such as highly intelligent, very competitive and incredible work ethic (quest for perfection) over all these entitled 5-star athletes any day.



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