OK, this is getting ridiculous, in the best sense of that word for BYU.
The Cougars on Tuesday landed if not the best, certainly one of the best high school quarterbacks in the country, a five-star recruit who threw for a zillion touchdown passes last season, an NFL-sized and -armed QB who Oregon desperately wanted, who USC wanted, who every college team in the country wanted, and that BYU landed.
Remarkable, in the best sense of that word.
In times gone by, a young Latter-day Saint athlete like Ryder Lyons would have patted BYU coaches on the back, would have said, “Hey, Brother Edwards, Brother Mendenhall, Brother Sitake, nice to meet you, I wish you and your Cougars well. I believe the Book of Mormon is true, and, yeah, after my church mission, I’m headed to Texas. See y’all later.”
Not anymore.
It’s always a bit risky, singing the praises of a prep recruit who hasn’t yet done jack at the college level, hasn’t faced a rugged college defense, hasn’t thrown a spiral through a tight college window, hasn’t gotten hit by a 6-6, 280-pound college defensive end who runs a 4.5 40, hasn’t defeated a loaded college opponent.
But this Lyons kid has given everyone every appearance that he is the real deal. If I’m wrong on that, every college coach fortunate to have been in the running for his services is wrong, too. Every single one of them.
Oregon fans will complain that BYU’s money, money associated with the program, is what made the difference for the Cougars over the Ducks. That’s a complaint that is rich with irony, considering the bucks Uncle Phil and Nike have poured into Oregon football in recent years.
Yes, BYU has NIL money, but in a case like this it has more than just that.
And I’m as surprised, in a general sense now, as anyone. Not exactly now, as in right now, but before this past year or so.
I’ve covered BYU sports for nearly 50 years, from near and far. I’ve seen the ups and the downs, the moments of triumph, the moments of defeat, the moments when the gutty little Cougars couldn’t keep up and when they’ve taken what was thought to be lesser talent — that sometimes turned into greater talent — and won games folks didn’t expect them to win. LaVell Edwards’ name is on the side of BYU’s stadium because he and his assistants made a habit of finding rough diamonds buried deep and polishing them into college and, now and again, NFL athletes, along with a bunch of sort-of-OK dudes, who did enough to make the program’s name. Coaches came out of those offices, too, people like Doug Scovil and Mike Holmgren and Norm Chow and Mike Leach and Andy Reid and Steve Sarkisian and Kyle Whittingham and others.
Usually, though, BYU was simply adept at making more out of less. When Steve Young first showed up there, an unknown prepster who had been recruited by schools like Southwest Presbyterian State, he took what he possessed and under correct tutelage climbed up a quarterback ladder that had eight rungs on it.
In one of his first games atop the roster, he threw an interception. He came off the field and Edwards is said to have said, “Don’t worry about it, Steve.” When Young threw his second interception, Edwards said, “Don’t worry about it, Steve.” When Young threw his third interception, after he came off the field, telling Edwards, “I’m not worried about it.” Edwards replied, “Isn’t it about time you started worrying about it?”
That’s the kind of nurturing for which many BYU coaches were known. They brought guys like that along, in Young’s case straight into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
But the base was typically low, the transition dramatic.
Now that the base is high, the transition will be compelling to watch.
Thing is, it’s not just football.
Everybody knows about AJ Dybantsa, the No. 1 basketball prospect in the land, a 19-year-old who is drawing praise from hoops experts all around, a player who has enrolled at BYU, who is dominating in practice and play for the U.S. U-19 team, and who is a good bet to be the top pick in next year’s NBA draft.
Kevin Young has him, and a whole lot more, lining up to play for BYU.
The Cougars will still lose top Latter-day Saint talent to great teams like USC, Oregon and Utah, among others. Not every promising LDS kid wants to play in Provo. But, suddenly, a whole lot of them do. Same for certain non-LDS guys. A big part of it’s been the NIL draw — and it will be notable to see how leveled-out limitations on such payouts will influence this trend — but, in the meantime, while major enough to get BYU in the door, that cash is not the only component to what’s happening here.
Coaches like Young, who’s doing it pretty much overnight, and Sitake, who’s taken the longer route, and their higher-paid, better-qualified staffs are bringing recruits like Dybantsa and Lyons home. Those kinds of athletes have had plenty of green flashed in front of them by other suitors. It takes more than just that. It takes opportunity to thrive and a commitment to football and basketball.
That commitment at BYU hasn’t always been there. It is now.
Will it last? Beats me.
But the contrasts in Dybantsa and Lyons are worth noting, along with two particularly significant commonalities. Lyons is a Californian who is in the religion. His father played at BYU, although his brother is playing at USC. Dybantsa is a teenager originally from the Boston area with no affiliation with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They are different people from different places. And … they both were chased hard by the best basketball and football outfits in the country. They both ended up at … You-Know-Where.
Dybantsa will be done and in the NBA before Lyons ever enrolls at BYU. But a tone is being set — has been set — at BYU, where the school’s direct and associated resources — of which there are many — are being used not just to further the faith, but to further the faith in football and basketball, as the benefits of being good at both, the pub that comes alongside, bounce back to the original goal.
Cougar boosters and fans, who have craved this kind of push for years, all as the limitations that come into play by way of sometimes-inconvenient, sometimes-unrelenting objects such as the school’s honor code have impeded progress. All of that is being worked around or worked within to enable what’s happening now.
Until about a year ago, this appeared to be impossible.
It appears that way no more.