Kona Swenke situation draws scrutiny

Some have asked my opinion on the Kona situation wherein the DE recruit from Hawaii had his scholarship offer taken back when he took a late trip to Notre Dame.

Drew Phillips, the Alabama RB had the same situation crop up this week with a late trip offer from Cincinnati. Phillips, when questioned by BYU coaches over the commitment to BYU and how it weighed with taking a late trip, immediately canceled plans to go to Cincinnati this weekend.

What you have here is BYU questioning commitment. Either you have it or you don’t. Regardless of what is said, actions speak the loudest. After having several recruits do similar things and decide to go elsewhere in recent years, several from the Islands at the last minute, BYU’s staff has simply decided these last minute trips do not ring true with the mutual agreement made in an oral commitment by both parties. Such trips take time and energy from schools not to mention a lot of money.

I know many football coaches who are excellent and experienced recruiters. They do not like the business. It is tacky and humiliating to go before a teen age kid and beg for his services. Some coaches loath the experience.

They hate the last minute drama. I remember when Sean Salisbury from Escondido committed to LaVell Edwards on a Sunday night then signed with USC on Wednesday. BYU got stuck with Steve Young. And they liked what they got stuck with. Young is in the College Football Hall of Fame; Salisbury is not.

Coaches are sick of this stuff. Evidently Bronco is not going to play the game with recruits now or in the future.

I think Bronco Mendenhall is trying to change the dynamics of how BYU athletes are approached, groomed, sold and accepting scholarships for football. Either they want to be at BYU or they do not. It is a simple question. Once that answer is given, BYU looks at that as a signing on to the entire program and school and team. A deviation from that questions the commitment. Mendenhall could care less if a guy has two, three, four or five stars behind his name on the recruiting services. If he doesn’t believe he shows by his actions that he is sold on BYU, he’ll help find the guy another place. He’ll call Steve Sarkisian on the phone personally and get him a place somewhere he’ll be happy. Can you say Shiloah Teo?

Unhappy and uncommitted BYU players don’t do themselves nor the team any good.

I don’t know Kona. I can’t judge him in this case. He may have been 110 percent committed to the Cougars, like he has told folks following this story. But when he accepted a late trip from Notre Dame he started the motion for his scholarship to be taken. Like most years BYU has over-committed scholarships. BYU told Brighton’s DT Ricky Heimuli this more than a week ago. Because of the economy of these scholarships this year, they’ve become precious as gold to BYU’s staff. A late trip didn’t make sense and they’ve let recruits know.

I’ve talked to Phillips coach when he had his trip scheduled to Cincy. I then talked to folks in Boaz after BYU OC Robert Anae got there on Wednesday for a Thursday visit. That Cincy trip went by the wayside faster than you could say Bearcat dip.

In the current climate, Phillips read the message correctly and there was no misunderstanding.