B
BYULVWarning: May be long for those not interested
Just a few comments and observations from tonightâs fireside. Overall a great experience. I have always wanted to attend one of these and have never made it. Tonight I came away feeling a greater sense of purpose in the BYU football program than I have felt before. You can definitely tell this team buys into a higher purpose than just football. The overall theme (although mostly unscripted) seemed to be, becoming greater men/people. A lot of off the cuff comments and humor with a serious underlying message. Would have been great for any youth who attending.
Speakers:
Michael Yeck:
Spoke about working hard on his mission, even during difficult and nonproductive times. He thought after high school he had 7 years (2 yr mission then football at BYU) then he would know it all. He is a senior now and doesnât feel like heâs anywhere near knowing it all. He met his wife at BYU in Biology class. They stood up together after class, heâs 6â8â and sheâs 6â4â, and they said, âWhat the heck lets get married for the kids.â Or something along those lines. He says they donât have kids yet, but that any future kids they have are already committed to BYU athletics.
Jherremya Leuta-Douyere:
I did not know he was not a member of the church. He gave one of the better talks. He spoke about the power of prayer and shared the story of Daniel in the lions den. He shared a few stories about coming to BYU as a nonmember and how he felt very welcomed, especially by all the girls. He says it might just be âflirt to convertâ, but he didnât mind. He lost his cell phone one night at Wal-Mart and some of the girls back at the dorms offered to pray with him for his phone. He went back and found his phone safe and untouched in the parking lot.
Zac Stout:
I was very interested in hearing what Zac had to say in light of his checkered past at BYU. I was extremely impressed with the way he owned up to his shortcomings and his mistakes that led to his losing his scholarship and getting kicked out of school. He says he was very dedicated in high school to working out and focusing on athletics. He wasnât really active in church, scouts or other similar activities growing up and it left him not knowing who he really wanted to become. While at BYU, his lack of direction/purpose along with his injuries and up and down football career led to his making poor choices in friends, activities and actions to the point he was dismissed from school. Since then, he realized he didnât have anything else meaningful in his life and that he wasnât becoming the man he wanted to be. He basically had to fight his way back into school and onto the team. Mendenhall and many of his teammates were instrumental in his turn around. He feels he is now headed in the right direction and expressed gratitude for being able to reevaluate and refocus his life, not for football, but as a man. I loved how he took full ownership for his actions and choices and made a total turnaround. I was one who after seeing the things he was doing was glad to see him kicked off the team, but hearing his transformation and feeling his sincerity, I am so glad he is back. It is one of the great things about the program when you see young men turn their lives around like that.
Q&A was fun, not much to it, although one non-member lady got up and asked a question that wasnât very clear then followed with a more serious one about how to know which church to join â One of the players gave a pretty good answer to her about asking the Lord sincerely and she will get an answer. She also addressed her first question to âThat Idaho guyâ (Tayson Hill) which got a huge laugh from everyone.
Another question from a young boy was addressed to Jamaal Williams (who was absent), so Devon Blackmon got up and answered for him (must have been his first ever fireside). He said he grew up with Jamaal and is at least as black as Jamaal so he guessed he would be a good one to answer the question. The question was why did you come to BYU. Devon compared the focus at Oregon being all about football and getting into the NFL, not about being a better person or growing outside of football. He said he came to BYU to work on being a better person and a better man during the next 40 years of his life.
Coach Mendenhall spoke for a few minutes about becoming the best version of ourselves possible and how the BYU Football Program is setup to do that. He also said that and sharing the message of the gospel is more important than winning football games, however, he has noticed that people are a lot more interested in the message when BYU is winning. Coach showed a lot of emotion during the playersâ talks. You can tell he is invested in their future success as men and fathers. He was tearing up when Zac Stout was talking.
Overall, a lot of great insights and comments into the hearts and minds of these players. You can feel the spirit of this team and the purpose they share. There is a great deal of camaraderie and joking which translates well during a fireside â there were a lot of great laughs.
PS: Sat next to Chad Lewis who was just like your every day guy. He introduced himself as Chad Lewis, just like we were meeting in church on Sunday, not like he was an all-pro Tight end. Awesome guy and representative of the church and BYU Football.
Just a few comments and observations from tonightâs fireside. Overall a great experience. I have always wanted to attend one of these and have never made it. Tonight I came away feeling a greater sense of purpose in the BYU football program than I have felt before. You can definitely tell this team buys into a higher purpose than just football. The overall theme (although mostly unscripted) seemed to be, becoming greater men/people. A lot of off the cuff comments and humor with a serious underlying message. Would have been great for any youth who attending.
Speakers:
Michael Yeck:
Spoke about working hard on his mission, even during difficult and nonproductive times. He thought after high school he had 7 years (2 yr mission then football at BYU) then he would know it all. He is a senior now and doesnât feel like heâs anywhere near knowing it all. He met his wife at BYU in Biology class. They stood up together after class, heâs 6â8â and sheâs 6â4â, and they said, âWhat the heck lets get married for the kids.â Or something along those lines. He says they donât have kids yet, but that any future kids they have are already committed to BYU athletics.
Jherremya Leuta-Douyere:
I did not know he was not a member of the church. He gave one of the better talks. He spoke about the power of prayer and shared the story of Daniel in the lions den. He shared a few stories about coming to BYU as a nonmember and how he felt very welcomed, especially by all the girls. He says it might just be âflirt to convertâ, but he didnât mind. He lost his cell phone one night at Wal-Mart and some of the girls back at the dorms offered to pray with him for his phone. He went back and found his phone safe and untouched in the parking lot.
Zac Stout:
I was very interested in hearing what Zac had to say in light of his checkered past at BYU. I was extremely impressed with the way he owned up to his shortcomings and his mistakes that led to his losing his scholarship and getting kicked out of school. He says he was very dedicated in high school to working out and focusing on athletics. He wasnât really active in church, scouts or other similar activities growing up and it left him not knowing who he really wanted to become. While at BYU, his lack of direction/purpose along with his injuries and up and down football career led to his making poor choices in friends, activities and actions to the point he was dismissed from school. Since then, he realized he didnât have anything else meaningful in his life and that he wasnât becoming the man he wanted to be. He basically had to fight his way back into school and onto the team. Mendenhall and many of his teammates were instrumental in his turn around. He feels he is now headed in the right direction and expressed gratitude for being able to reevaluate and refocus his life, not for football, but as a man. I loved how he took full ownership for his actions and choices and made a total turnaround. I was one who after seeing the things he was doing was glad to see him kicked off the team, but hearing his transformation and feeling his sincerity, I am so glad he is back. It is one of the great things about the program when you see young men turn their lives around like that.
Q&A was fun, not much to it, although one non-member lady got up and asked a question that wasnât very clear then followed with a more serious one about how to know which church to join â One of the players gave a pretty good answer to her about asking the Lord sincerely and she will get an answer. She also addressed her first question to âThat Idaho guyâ (Tayson Hill) which got a huge laugh from everyone.
Another question from a young boy was addressed to Jamaal Williams (who was absent), so Devon Blackmon got up and answered for him (must have been his first ever fireside). He said he grew up with Jamaal and is at least as black as Jamaal so he guessed he would be a good one to answer the question. The question was why did you come to BYU. Devon compared the focus at Oregon being all about football and getting into the NFL, not about being a better person or growing outside of football. He said he came to BYU to work on being a better person and a better man during the next 40 years of his life.
Coach Mendenhall spoke for a few minutes about becoming the best version of ourselves possible and how the BYU Football Program is setup to do that. He also said that and sharing the message of the gospel is more important than winning football games, however, he has noticed that people are a lot more interested in the message when BYU is winning. Coach showed a lot of emotion during the playersâ talks. You can tell he is invested in their future success as men and fathers. He was tearing up when Zac Stout was talking.
Overall, a lot of great insights and comments into the hearts and minds of these players. You can feel the spirit of this team and the purpose they share. There is a great deal of camaraderie and joking which translates well during a fireside â there were a lot of great laughs.
PS: Sat next to Chad Lewis who was just like your every day guy. He introduced himself as Chad Lewis, just like we were meeting in church on Sunday, not like he was an all-pro Tight end. Awesome guy and representative of the church and BYU Football.