Opinion: Let Harvey go, Utah, let Harvey go

(Tom Smart/Deseret News)


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Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

SALT LAKE CITY — Three minutes after I strolled into work Monday, I was invited to go to Maverik and enjoy a carbonated diet beverage of my choice. I politely declined. You know, since I had only been working for three minutes.

Before the quarter-hour had passed, I was leaving the swinging Maverik doors with a Jalapeno Bahama Mama hot dog, two giant bags of sunflower seeds and a carbonated diet beverage of my choice.

The moral of this story: I get to change my mind whenever the heck I want.

If I get to change my mind on a whim, then University of Utah's Harvey Langi gets to change his mind after a two-year, life-changing, character-defining LDS Church mission. Even if it hurts some feelings. Coaches, administrators and NCAA rulemakers need to stop punishing kids that have a change of heart. They don't have to like it, but they better darn well accept it.

Coming out of Bingham High School, Langi was one of the most dominating running backs that I had ever seen. He ran with fullback power, "So You Think You Can Dance" moves, and get-on-yer-hoss 4.5 breakaway speed. With nearly 4,300 career rushing yards and 55 touchdowns at Bingham, Langi was recruited heavily by USC, Stanford, Washington and UCLA, but he ultimately decided on the University of Utah.

His freshman year was a disappointment, gaining a measly 70 yards on 13 carries. After spring ball of his sophomore year, he decided to serve and was called to the Tampa Florida Mission.

While on that mission, he changed physically, emotionally and spiritually. Upon returning, he wanted something that Utah didn't have — the Honor Code.


If I get to change my mind on a whim, then University of Utah's Harvey Langi gets to change his mind after a two-year, life-changing, character-defining LDS Church mission.

In the Deseret News, Langi explained to former BYU great Vai Sikahema that, “there are higher expectations there (BYU) that I wasn't prepared or willing or able to live before my mission, but now going home, I want to live it. I'm a different person."

Whether the University of Utah or NCAA will let that happen is the query of this story.

"As far as I'm concerned, he's a Ute," Kyle Whittingham told Sikahema. "I'm not releasing him."

In my opinion, it seems simple: a player should be able to play where he wants and a school should be able to give that player a scholarship.

In Langi’s case, if I correctly understand the convoluted rules of the post-mission athlete — Utah has to release Langi from the program. If Utah does not release him, Langi can transfer, but BYU cannot pay for his schooling for an entire year.

This arbitrary release can also be granted with provisions: Salt Lake Tribune’s Jay Drew wrote about how Hawaii head coaches Greg McMackin and Norm Chow agreed to release defensive back Michael Wadsworth to any college in the nation, except BYU.

On the basketball sides of things, Utah State’s Stew Morrill agreed to release Kyle Davis to any school outside the state of Utah. Davis ended up at BYU, but must sit out a year.

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The NCAA can also gum up the works if it thinks that BYU recruited Langi while he was serving his mission. In what is affectionately known as the “Riley Nelson Rule," schools are prohibited from recruiting players while they are on missions. If that violation occurs, then the NCAA can deny the transfer.

Managing a missionary program in college football is incredibly difficult. Some — and perhaps many— schools choose not recruit LDS mission- bound athletes because the scholarship juggling act is too much of a headache. But those coaches who play the missionary-program-roulette know how the game is played.

Schools that deal with missionary transfers need to stop worrying about what is best for their programs and start wanting what is best for their players. These athletes are adults and need to be able to choose their futures. Standing in their way feels petty and vindictive. The consequences — good or bad — will be their own.

This adage for relationships works well for sports, "If you love someone, let them go. If they come back to you then they're yours forever; if they don't return, then they were never yours to begin with."

Common sense and personal experience has taught me that 18- and 19-year- old kids change drastically over those two years of voluntary service. They shouldn’t be subjugated to a decision made years before.

When the variables change, so should the answer. Isn’t that a lesson worth teaching our student-athletes?

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