Let's say (hypothetically speaking, of course) that there is an undergraduate student who wants desperately to be a lawyer. He's smart and ambitious, and ends up narrowing his list down to several schools - including BYU, Cornell and Harvard - which have all offered him a full-ride scholarship. Where should he go?

Where would you go?

Would your view change if the student was LDS?

If I were him I would go to Harvard, which is top-rate by any standard and would give me the best chance to make it in my dream job as a lawyer.

Here's the point: Manti Te'o, an LDS high school football player from Hawaii, has been unjustly skewered in the local media for his choice to bypass BYU in favor of Notre Dame.

Te'o's situation is not so dissimilar from one 12 years ago when Chris Burgess, a highly-touted basketball recruit from California, chose to attend Duke over BYU.

Roger Reid, BYU's coach at that time, was furious and reportedly told Burgess "he had let down all 9 million members of the LDS Church."

While Reid was justifiably criticized for his flippant comment - and subsequently relieved of his duties as basketball coach at BYU - many fans seem to think that his views have some merit. How else can you explain the backlash to Te'o's choice not to come to BYU?

While Reid was desperate for a program-changing player after several disappointing seasons, football coach Bronco Mendenhall is at the other end of the spectrum. Leading a successful football program, he only recruits players who want to play for BYU. So, while Mendenhall was likely disappointed to hear of the blue chip's decision, I doubt he's losing much, if any, sleep over it.

And BYU fans would do well to follow his example.

In Provo, Te'o would be a big fish in a growing, but still relatively small, pond. In South Bend, he'll have a chance to be a national star while still experiencing the small-town feel of one of the most prestigious universities in America.

Should the lawyer-in-training choose BYU over Harvard simply because he is LDS? No. Likewise, should a potential NFL player choose BYU over Notre Dame, which has sent its players to the NFL like clockwork over the past several decades? No.

Despite studying at a religious school that focuses on letting people choose for themselves (see Bible Dictionary: Agency), it seems that many of us could do a better job of practicing what we preach.

The bottom line is that Te'o has worked hard enough that he can play anywhere he wants to, and it's not our place to take that away from him because of his religious affiliation. What we can do is hope he represents himself and the LDS faith well while playing in front of "Touchdown Jesus" on national television each week.



Copyright Brigham Young University 4 Feb 2009