A Special Message to grasshopper

Football
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Dear friend, grasshopper: (I hope we can be friends),

I know that I dance to a different drummer than you, but I enjoy most forms of music and most forms of dancing.

Yes grasshopper,

I agree with all that you say about the morality being all that important. I believe that everyone connected with the cougars would also agree. I agree with all that Bronco always talked about Morality. I get it. We all get it. We are not stupid, so in the broad general since, and not directed at you by any means,

why set yourself (yourself being generally speaking), up and take credit for telling us how to live assuming that we don’t know unless you tell us.

I find it very appropriate to be reminded of those values by the Bishopric, the Sunday School teachers, the Stake Presidency,
The General Authorities, the home teachers, the visiting speakers, the missionaries, and sometimes from our own parents and family.

I find it very appropriate and refreshing when I hear the football coaches talk about football and leave the other people to do their jobs.

Sometimes, I feel patronize when somebody tells me the obvious assuming that I don’t know the obvious unless they with all of their goodness, tells me what the obvious is. Just saying !!!

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GTwo, Thank you so much for expressing yours and my feelings regarding:"

I agree with everything that you said in this post except for theJake heaps issue. We will probably disagree forever on this issue. With Jake Heaps, I saw a very excited, perhaps over excited, 5 star quarter back that loved his Churches University.
He was excited about being able to choose any P5 team in the nation, BUT HE CHOSE, his Church University and wanted to bring it back to the Glory Years of the middle 80’s to the early 90’s. He was so excited that he was able to bring not one, but fours 4 star players with him to bring back that glory to the Y. I see his sin, with all of that excitement, as forgetting the coaches part in bringing back that glory and forgetting the other team mates part in bringing back that glory.

Instead, this sinful 5 star QB thought that it was he and the four 4 star players that he single handedly brought to BYU that would bring back that glory. This kid was immature. This was a young kid. The head coach, not a young kid, could not deal with it. Instead of gently and politely and respectfully, yet gratefully help this young football genius learn how to deal with his recognized importance to the team, deal with the importance of the coaches in developing this QB to his fullest attention, get the team and the 5 star QB to like each other, trust each other and support each other, he destroyed the kid that could have gone to any P5 school in the nation.

The 5 star player was told that his 5 stars meant nothing until he proved himself at the Y. He was told that it was he that should be grateful to be at the Y and it is not the Y that should be grateful to have him, the five star player that ever P5 team would have liked to had. It was he that was given no respect, no appreciation and left him feeling, “What happened in this hostile environment” He was destroyed. He could not make it anywhere. He didn’t know what hit him. I think that the real sin, was not knowing how to handle any player with more stars than the coach had which was probably 3 stars at best.
That is my opinion.

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Ron,

Thanks for your thoughts. I seem to recall Jake being highly praised and supported and given every opportunity to lead. I thought I saw the coaches giving him more latitude and leeway because of his supposed stars and ability. However, if a player of such magnitude and genius wilts at any and all opposition and challenge then perhaps he is not a complete player and really of limited greatness. The reports of his practice and off-field weaknesses and then the way he played so poorly in his Sophomore slump has more to do with Jake than the coaches in my opinion. Three sets of professional and accomplished college coaches could not get more out of him. I think Jake has some personal responsibility in this. A fragile flower that has to be coddled, carressled, talked to lovingly or it fades and dies is not really the stuff of quality footballers in a harsh and violent game where results on the field give immediate feedback. I am not so sure Lombardi and at team of the finest psychologists could have changed his outcome much.

I understand there was much parental pressure and discord. I understand he was very young. I understand he got married very early and all these things impacted him. I believe they account for what many saw as change of and a lack of heart his second season - when the team was his to lead, without question - but he did not.

We have not walked in his shoes nor Bronco’s nor any of the other coaches. Hard to say for sure what the whole story is. My theme on this is the great ones adapt and overcome and it seems to me Mr. Heaps was a bust. But maybe, just maybe he is a really late bloomer and it has taken this long to get his psyche together and perhaps he can pull it together in the NFL. I hope that he does. If he does I will applaud him but I will also resent that he did not do that at BYU when we all were pulling for him to be the best QB ever.

Thanks for the dialogue my friend.

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The good news them, I teach Sunday School. So, you shouldn’t have a problem with my comments :slight_smile:

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Well said…I have been in Young Mens for many years now. The kids that have a solid family do very well, follow through on everything. The kids in broken families ALWAYS have an excuse, rarely follow through, are always a no show.
Heaps had every opportunity to shine. He had the support from everyone, the mature RMs on the team certainly would have worked around his immaturity, as well as the coaches. Heaps chose to not come to the off season workouts, He chose not to do the basics needed for a starting QB. He had it all but by the 2nd year the welcome mat was finally pulled.

One kid cannot hold the entire team hostage.

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I agree, it was tough for the team when an injured Nelson would leave himself in there and commit costly errors that adversely affected the teams ability to win.

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Chad Hampton thinks Munns was better than either Nelson or Heaps.

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GTwo,

Thank you for your respectful disagreement. I suspect that if each of us try hard enough, we will find some truth in what the other of us has perceived from our different points of view.

Perhaps I have been too critical of Bronco in the way that I perceived that he mishandled this 5 star quarterback and the one before him, (Ben Olson). Maybe I just don’t like to hear the things, (right or wrong), that I heard from Bronco and unfairly, perhaps, I extended that dislike to areas that were unfair to Bronco.

I don’t like to hear a coach tell a 4-5 star quarter back that it is they that should be grateful to be accepted by BYU and not the other way around. That 4-5 star quarter back could have been accepted at any University and I believe that the Y should should be grateful to get them.

I told like the fact that a head coach tells a 5 star QB that has had professional training since the 5th grade, and earned his stars at High School, that those stars mean nothing to the coach until that player proves himself, as though all the said work than he had done since the 5th grade and in High School meant nothing.

I don’t like the fact that the coach was so quick to point out the 5 star players inability to get along with the team instead of helping him and the team form a good working relationship. I see a lot of potential that was not developed. I am sad for the boy and for the team.

I don’t like to have anyone set themselves up as the one to teach me their values assuming that I would not have those values unless I learned them from that teacher. I see that as patronizing. I did not like it when Bronco lectured to the seasoned coaches in the Nation that Football was just a game and was not all that important and that we should never run up the score. Then he didn’t practice what he preached. I am proud that we were able to get a 59-0 score from UCLA. I would have been disgusted to get less than the 70-0 scores from those FCS schools. I am not against getting the best score you can. I would prefer playing all the back up to give them experience and keep our starters from unnecessary risk of getting hurt, but still, I am okay with those scores. I am not okay with being a hypocrite. I am not okay sitting yourself up as the one to follow when you find that you are unable to lead in the manner that you instructed.

With all of these built in bias, on my part, of which i speak, perhaps I project too much negativeness towards the person that I had hoped would develop the kid to his fullest potential.

Perhaps, the kid, with all of his previous success and with all of his talent, regardless of his age and apparent immaturity, should have been able to overcome the fact that he gave up going to any P5 university he would choose, to come to a University that did not appreciate those stars and could not be guided to get along better with his coaches and thus, the team. I apologize. I do respect you GTwo and your opinion. We will just have to continue to respectfully disagree on this one, even in the areas that I see myself as perhaps unfair and bias for the reasons stated.

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grasshopper.

I am happy that you teach Sunday School. I have done so also. This is a very appropriate place to teach those things that each of us has taught. As Sunday School teachers, we had a course of study to follow and parents sent their children to us to get that course of study.

Football is also extremely important in our society. If we, as Sunday School Teachers, spent more time talking about football than the prescribed course of study, some parents, not all, but a significant number of parents may object that their students were hearing more about Taysom Hill, or Jaamal Williams, or Tanner Mangum, then they are hearing about the gospel the children were sent to our class to learn about.

I would have liked to hear more football from Bronco and less Sunday School lessons.

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Fish,

It is interesting that different people can see from their angle one possibility, that does not exist for others to see from a different angle, and vice versa,

Perhaps their is truth from all angles that can not be seen from any other angle except the one that the truth is being seen.

Perhaps from one angle the kid should have been strong enough to survive regardless of the hostile environment. Perhaps it is he that caused the hostile environment. Perhaps a very good coach could have prevented that hostile environment.

I hope that we will all wish the kid good luck as a Seattle SeaHawk.

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Craig,

I think that Mums was better than Nelson. This is another case where the coach preferred developing 3 star or less players while sitting 4 star players on the bench. The coach preferred playing Nelson, even with his fractured back, over playing the 4 star Mums whom the coach left wasting away on the bench. I thank Bronco for taking the job in Va.

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Thanks Ron. I agree Bronco had an interesting way about him but I also seem to remember him as excited as can be about getting Jake Heaps and I also think he gave him more than his shot.

I think every player has to prove himself on the field or he deserves to be passed up by someone who plays better on game day. Effort in practice can open the door but to me, results when it matters counts.

There is no doubt that Bronco and the other coaches could have done a better job with Jake but my premise is if Jake could not handle the challenge then perhaps there was something in Jake the he needed to work on. I don’t think Jake saw any unusual or especially difficult adversity. Maybe I am wrong. I think if Jake performed at Alabama like he did, especially his second season at BYU that he would have heard nothing but a long string of profanities on a regular basis. He got little of that at BYU.

Anyway, I am grateful to Bronco for the good he did but there were some “interesting” parts of his game methodologies that I was not fond of. I said over and over again we ought to send Bronco to SEC Coaches Boot Camp so perhaps he could learn a bit more about winning football and how not to get out coached.

I am not disappointed he and much of his staff moved on. It seemed for a few years that no further success or improvement was to be had. Remember the definition of crazy? Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results? How many times in 11 years did we hear “we just have to execute better.” Implementing a game plan the team and coaches can execute in the face of an opponent?

Lastly, if Jake went on to excel at Kansas or Miami or New York I would say BYU is the anomaly. However it seems Jake’s failure post HS is the only constant. Of course he got on the Seattle roster. That says something positive. Hope he can turn it into something good. Maybe the folks breaking up and him getting married at 19 took him many years to get over and get his life and head in the game? I don’t know. I wish him best but I was sorely disappointed how I felt let us all down. I need to get that behind me.

Thanks for the adult discussion. Look forward to many more.

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We can agree on Bronco. Heaps did not do the things a starting QB and leader of the team does. He did not work out with the team during summer volunteer workouts (Blame that on the coaches?). We will always disagree on that one point. Heaps lost his job in spite of Bronco giving Heaps half of the sophomore year to figure it out.

“Talent without heart is nothing”

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That is so true…

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I guess it all depends on how you look at it, whether it is “failure” or success. The fact that he is being invited to participate is a success, isn’t it? How many nfl camps has Nelson been to? I hate to use that comparison but it works. On the flip side, Heaps hasn’t made a roster yet… while Sorensen and others that left are doing just that.

I guess it is all in the perspective of the person viewing the situation.

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Don’t understand the constant flogging of Nelson. He gave it what he had, an average college QB. He’s long gone, get over it.

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Jim,

I guess in a good football player sense, losing the starting position and riding the pine for numerous teams is not often looked at as any sort of significant success…no ribbons, medals, cups, trophies, awards, Halls of Fame or record book stats. Compared to those who never even make it to bench player status…that is success. So you are right. I hope for better success with the players on BYUs roster so call me crazy or delusional.

Best,
Gary

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Muns probably was but alas we will never know since we did not get to evaluate him over time in the face of opposition on the field.

I agree. It was a wonderful thing for Bronco to parlay his talent into a big payday in a bigger conference at a school far, far away. It was beneficial to all as best I can tell at this point.

While there are many facets to the Heaps story I see it simply. I believe he had every opportunity in the world to keep the starting position and do very well. The door was wide open and we all hoped for it. I believe his play on the field and his actions off lost games, lost fans, lost teammates, and lost coaches. Could the coaches helped him to better? Probably. Could he have helped himself? Absolutely.

I don’t believe the environment was particularly hostile until he lost the hearts of everyone around him and even after that I don’t know that it was particularly hostile. Nothing that any player with a little bit of gumption and effort could have overcome. I am probably looking at this wrong but it seems like he had a glass jaw and we are blaming the coaches for not performing miracles to keep his jaw from getting touched.

Can’t wait for the season so we can move on to new topics

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No… what you are saying is fine. Unfortunately our back and forth gives some people the idea that we are bashing one player or another. I am not bashing Nelson… I am over it. I only used him as an example to give an opposing perspective to what you were pointing out. I believe my point is legitimate.

One example I can give, and it has nothing to do with football, these two qb’s or anything… is this.

I think we all have our ideas of who will make it to the celestial kingdom, who has lived a life worthy of that reward, etc. I think most people would say - All of the prophets, all of the apostles, all of the general authorities and generally those people who we perceive as being well to do, independently wealthy because they are able to serve as mission presidents, GA’s, etc. How many think of the poor, old widower who faithfully attends church, pays a meager tithing, EXTENDS herself to pay a meager fast offering, donates to the missionary fund, the perpetual education fund, etc. and lives a meager existence according to the sufficient for her needs philosophy? I say she will be first in line.

How many live beyond their means and fail to do any of the things this widower (used as an example only, it could be anyone) does because they seek to maintain a perception of righteousness. How many wealthy people donate a token amount? something that doesn’t inhibit or make them uncomfortable? or extend them more than they want it to? I see and hear of (many) church members who take big, fancy vacations and trips, build big, lavish homes, drive expensive automobiles, etc. Are they right with the Lord? I am not speaking of anyone in particular or specifically, but you know it is true. But is it okay or right? I don’t know…

All I am trying to point out is that none of us really knows what is going on all the time, but I think our perceptions are probably accurate much of the time.

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ROY,

" Don’t understand the constant flogging of Nelson. He gave it what he had, an average college QB. He’s long gone, get over it. "

Hey, I don’t know anyone that doesn’t like Nelson as a person. He gave all that he had to give. He took all that was given to him. In a school like Wyoming, New Mexico State or even UNLV, he may have thrived. He certainly had guts and a desire to achieve. I don’t thing that I have ever heard anyone criticize Nelson. All the criticism that I heard was having a head coach that would continuously play the kid with his limited ability, while telling a four star quarter back, Mumns, with great talent, to sit on the bench his whole career. No Roy, this is not a flogging of Nelson.