More Mendenhall comments from media days
BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall talked a lot about recruiting during his visits with the media on Monday at the Mountain West Conference football meetings, and I've detailed some of his thoughts on our Recruiting Trail blog.
One thing the coach said his staff might need to be more aware of as it recruits future prospects to BYU is the language barrier some of the high schoolers face when they take the SAT or ACT college admission tests.
"We need to not just necessarily look at the core GPA a student has, which reflects work and going to class, but the ability to handle [admission] tests, with the language barriers," he said.
Mendenhall was referring to the case of receiver Atem Bol, a native of Sudan, who apparently had strong grades but struggled on the admission tests and will not qualify for BYU. He said the Cougar coaching staff is trying to get Bol into nearby Snow College.
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If you haven't seen any out-of-state recruits in Provo yet, there's a reason. Mendenhall said he likes incoming recruits' first exposure to be within the structure of the program, so he asks the out-of-state guys to not arrive in Provo until the day players report for fall camp. That's Aug. 1 this year. However, he makes exceptions if a player has family in the area, or if the player is married. That's the case with juco transfer Bernard Afutiti. Because he's married, Afutiti is already on campus and living in married student housing. Another juco transfer, Jessie Taufi, has not arrived yet.
High school players from Utah are encouraged to attend workouts and strength-training drills in Provo the summer before they enroll, but are asked to commute back and forth from home.
"I don't like down time with our players without them having been taught the correct principles in our program, how we expect them to behave, etc." Mendenhall said.
One thing the coach said his staff might need to be more aware of as it recruits future prospects to BYU is the language barrier some of the high schoolers face when they take the SAT or ACT college admission tests.
"We need to not just necessarily look at the core GPA a student has, which reflects work and going to class, but the ability to handle [admission] tests, with the language barriers," he said.
Mendenhall was referring to the case of receiver Atem Bol, a native of Sudan, who apparently had strong grades but struggled on the admission tests and will not qualify for BYU. He said the Cougar coaching staff is trying to get Bol into nearby Snow College.
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If you haven't seen any out-of-state recruits in Provo yet, there's a reason. Mendenhall said he likes incoming recruits' first exposure to be within the structure of the program, so he asks the out-of-state guys to not arrive in Provo until the day players report for fall camp. That's Aug. 1 this year. However, he makes exceptions if a player has family in the area, or if the player is married. That's the case with juco transfer Bernard Afutiti. Because he's married, Afutiti is already on campus and living in married student housing. Another juco transfer, Jessie Taufi, has not arrived yet.
High school players from Utah are encouraged to attend workouts and strength-training drills in Provo the summer before they enroll, but are asked to commute back and forth from home.
"I don't like down time with our players without them having been taught the correct principles in our program, how we expect them to behave, etc." Mendenhall said.
9:41 PM
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3 Comments:
The policy on unmarried new players staying where they are until practices begins sounds like a lesson learned from coach crowton's last year, where several new out of state players had enough time on their hands to hook up with a local girl and ended up with rape charges.
I thought I heard somewhere that O'Neill Chambers was already in town. I guess I was misinformed.
We were told that Chambers' mother is with him in Provo. For how long, I don't know.
-- Jay
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