Time in Tijuana helped Martin become mature two-sports athle

[Colter_Nuanez]

Weber State senior defensive end is one of the oldest and most mature players in the league.Read the Full Article on BobcatNation

[Bobcat Steve]

Weber State senior defensive end is one of the oldest and most mature players in the league.Read the Full Article on BobcatNation

Its too bad all the kids aren't given the same opportunities.

[SonomaCat]

Weber State senior defensive end is one of the oldest and most mature players in the league.Read the Full Article on BobcatNation

Its too bad all the kids aren't given the same opportunities.

Agreed. The NCAA doesn't allow other students to take time off like that without losing eligibility, does it? It could well be a good thing for a lot of different people to take a few years away from college sports to pursue something they are passionate about and discover new perspectives on life, all knowing that they can return to college athletics and get their degree afterwards.

As it stands, competitively, it seems like this is a competitive advantage for schools with large LDS populations.

Great story and it sounds like this experience will be a very positive one for this guy's life.

[Colter_Nuanez]

Here's a story I wrote during the Southern Utah week last year about James Cowser and various other SUU missionaries
http://bobcatnation.com/node/628" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Cowser will be 25 going on 26 by the time he gets to his senior year next year. I met him at the Big Sky meetings this summer. Even guys like Taylor Sheridan or Quinn Catalano, big dudes, still seem like kids to me. I'm five, six, seven years older than them. Cowswer is a straight man. He's enormous. His hand size and the strength of his grip is crazy. He's 6-5, 268 pounds. The guy already has 16.5 tackles for loss giving him a ridiculous 49 over the last 2.5 years.

LDS missions are very beneficial for the maturation of young men, but they are no doubt a huge advantage, especially in football, for those who return to the game and stick it out until they are this age. Can you imagine how strong a guy like Sheridan would be if he got to play until he was 26? He might break the MSU weight room.

[catgrad05]

Here's a story I wrote during the Southern Utah week last year about James Cowser and various other SUU missionaries
http://bobcatnation.com/node/628" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Cowser will be 25 going on 26 by the time he gets to his senior year next year. I met him at the Big Sky meetings this summer. Even guys like Taylor Sheridan or Quinn Catalano, big dudes, still seem like kids to me. I'm five, six, seven years older than them. Cowswer is a straight man. He's enormous. His hand size and the strength of his grip is crazy. He's 6-5, 268 pounds. The guy already has 16.5 tackles for loss giving him a ridiculous 49 over the last 2.5 years.

LDS missions are very beneficial for the maturation of young men, but they are no doubt a huge advantage, especially in football, for those who return to the game and stick it out until they are this age. Can you imagine how strong a guy like Sheridan would be if he got to play until he was 26? He might break the MSU weight room.

Hasn't Ash and co recruited a couple of guys that have done this? Possibly from the Dillion area? If my memory is correct do you expect that they could also have a similar impact when they are seniors or are these more exceptions rather than the norm

[91catAlum]

If age/maturity was that big of an advantage, wouldn't we see better results from the Utah teams, in more playoff appearances and championships? That includes the FBS schools.

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[SonomaCat]

If age/maturity was that big of an advantage, wouldn't we see better results from the Utah teams, in more playoff appearances and championships? That includes the FBS schools.

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If they didn't have that advantage, in theory they'd have even fewer playoff/champsionship/bowl appearances.

Granted, the advantage doesn't overcome the fact that the best athletes in the country tend to not want to play for Utah schools.