Utah State's Brent Guy issued a generic statement saying only that he and his staff are "disappointed" to see Nelson leave, and that they "want to wish him the best in the future," and BYU's Bronco Mendenhall declined through a spokesman a request to discuss his policies about recruiting missionaries.

Many fans on Internet message boards and talk radio debated the "hypocrisy" of Mendenhall recruiting a player from another school who was serving his mission after allegedly having said that the Cougars do not indulge that practice.

In fact, when BYU's Austin Collie was supposedly being recruited by other schools while still serving his mission nearly two years ago, Mendenhall acknowledged that the Cougars do sometimes contact recruitable players from other Division I-A programs who are serving missions - but only rarely, and only after "strong recommendations from their parents that they have an interest" in BYU.

"We don't go looking for them," he said at the time.

That seems to have been the case with Nelson.

According to the player's father, discussion about transferring began during "casual conversations" between BYU assistant coach Patrick Higgins and Logan High School coach Mike Favero, for whom Nelson played.

Favero then mentioned the Cougars' potential interest to the Nelson family, which eventually led to e-mail discussions between Nelson and BYU coaches. The family also won the approval of Nelson's mission president before discussing the issue with Nelson.

Once Mendenhall learned of Nelson's interest in the Cougars, an athletic department source said, he phoned Guy to alert him that Nelson "has expressed an interest."

Typically, players such as Nelson who serve LDS Church missions are away for two years, but their commitment to a college team expires after one, making them recruitable athletes again before they return.

In years past, coaches such as Utah's Ron McBride and BYU's LaVell Edwards abided an "unwritten rule" not to recruit one another's mission-serving players, but that guideline has eroded somewhat recently, other coaches have said, particularly as coaches outside Utah have sought to lure highly regarded Mormon players.

When that apparently happened with Collie in 2006, Mendenhall expressed disappointment, saying that "it is a shame" that rival schools "don't see the big picture."

mcl@sltrib.com