Blame Southern Utah’s struggles on God
Throughout each season, NDSU football head coach Craig Bohl must concentrate on finding players to replace the graduating seniors.
It can be a stressful job, but if Wes Meier hears Bohl complaining, he will likely chuckle and say “That’s nothing, pal.”
Meier, the head coach at Southern Utah, knows a thing or two about finding replacement players.
After the 2004 season, 37 players left the Southern Utah program. Twenty-four of those were seniors; the other 13 chose to miss the 2005 season to go on a religious mission trip.
That year was a bit extreme, but every season the program loses players to missions trips.
At a university where the majority of the students are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (referred to as Mormons by most), the departure of players was something that didn’t surprise the team.
“ It’s not surprising to us, we just feel that our religion is very important to who we are,” Southern Utah safety Brett Smith said of losing players to mission trips. “We like to put God first in our lives and put aside whatever else is going on, even if it is football.”
Smith, a true freshman, knows first-hand about losing players to mission trips. His brother, Steve Smith, is currently on one in Germany.
Last season, Steve played for Southern Utah and was named to the all-Great West Football Conference second-team.
Despite his success on the field, Steve thought that going to Germany was the next step he needed to make in his life.
After this season – just one semester into college – Brett will be leaving to go on a mission himself, but he is not sure where yet.
He said that he doesn’t find out where he’s going for a while.
After he hands his paperwork in, his minister will pray about it for some time until he decides where Brett should go.
On a typical mission trip, the players are gone for two years. Even though they don’t lose eligibility when they are gone, they might fall on the depth chart.
When the players return from their trip, they basically have to tryout again.
“ There is definitely no guarantee, but we feel like if you are in the right place the Lord will bless you,” Brett said. “Hopefully we can come back and work hard and be successful.”
That’s because when they are gone, there is no lifting weights, or even a conditioning program. Smith said the only way he will be able to exercise is if he wakes up very early in the morning.
That is almost impossible as he will wake up at 7 a.m. and work until 10 p.m.
Working consists of trying to spread the word of the gospel and trying to convert others to the LDS religion.
Meier can’t bank on the players returning to the team after they complete their mission trip, either.
A lot of players decide to concentrate on school or do other things related with the church when they return.
In some cases, former coaches have recruited players when they get back.
A few years ago, when players returned from their missions trip, they bolted for the University of Utah, where a former Southern Utah coach had gone.
Currently, there are five former Southern Utah players on Utah’s roster.
So why do these players leave just as they are getting into the prime of their college football careers?
In the Latter Day Saints religion, the age of 19 is when they are eligible to go. As many will go on a couples’ mission when they are married, they like to get this one done right after they turn 19.
When the players left following the 2004 season, Southern Utah suffered immensely.
Three players who were expected to start at linebacker all left. As a result, Southern Utah went 1-9 in 2005.
The team has shown some signs of improvement from a year ago, but the program will likely never be consistently competitive.
To put it in perspective, imagine that after this season, NDSU linebackers Joe Mays, Ramon Humber and Mike Maresh, all left the team.
Throw in the graduation of safety Craig Dahl, defensive linemen Justin Frick and Brian Dahl, and the Bison would be in quite a bind for the 2007 season.
So, next time NDSU loses solid players to graduation, and when a few others are academically ineligible, just remember, it could be a whole lot worse.