U
urronerSome other football programs complain that BYU's team is too old, but when they get a chance to do the same, they reject it.
Here's a young man from Oklahoma who was recruited by other colleges until they found out that he wanted to go on a mission.
http://www.tulsaworld.com/sportsextra/highschool/article.aspx?subjectid=2&articleid=20110117_227_B1_CUTLIN436857
All I have to say is good for him.
Here's a young man from Oklahoma who was recruited by other colleges until they found out that he wanted to go on a mission.
The calls came to Brian Rawlinson from all over.
The Big 12. The Sun Belt. The Pac-10. Conference USA.
And one by one, the calls would stop.
It wasn't his talent. He's a two-star recruit, an All-Metro offensive lineman.
It wasn't his size. He's 6-foot-6 and 286 pounds with long arms.
But Rawlinson wasn't willing to give up a two-year mission trip with his church to pursue a life-long mission of playing college football, so coaches weren't willing to give him a scholarship.
"I don't know if they could quite get it," Rawlinson said. "It's not a normal thing."
Maybe not for college recruiters, but it's common for Mormons.
...
Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, was impressed by Rawlinson's 108-knockdown senior season for one of Class 4A's top offenses. Coaches offered him a scholarship, and he verbally committed to the Cougars.
As a Mormon school, BYU knows how to work with missionaries. Its website lists 42 football players on missions from California to Bulgaria, and it has a program to get players back in shape after two years away.
"He was Cougar blue all the way," said his father, who was an offensive lineman at BYU from 1981-85 - after serving his own two-year mission trip.
Rawlinson plans to sign with BYU on Feb. 2, even if it's mostly a formality. His scholarship won't take effect until January 2014, but the signature will be enough to end months of stress.
"It'll be a big relief when it's all worked out," Rawlinson said, "and I don't have to worry about that anymore and can focus on what I need to."
That's faith first.
Football follows.
All I have to say is good for him.