3 Latter-Day Saints in the News
Three deeply fascinating Latter-day Saint figures in American football made news over the past week, and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about any of them.
I finally met Niumatalolo this year during the Washington D.C. Temple open house, and he is as nice a guy as people say he is. Don’t take my word for it: Legendary writer John Feinstein leaped to Niumatalolo’s defense in a Washington Post column in which he wrote that Niumatalolo is “an excellent football coach but a much better person.”
I will always wish I had met Leach, because I always wanted to talk to him about LaVell Edwards and the BYU offense, which Leach learned when he was recruited to play at BYU. Leach got hurt, so he never played, but he took what he learned and created the next iteration of the passing game. He even gave it its cool name, the “Air Raid.”
And Leach was one of the most oddly fascinating people in the sport, as another legendary Post writer, Sally Jenkins, wrote here. She noted that the definitive profile of Leach was written by the great Michael Lewis (“Moneyball,” “The Blind Side”) for The New York Times Magazine. It’s an incredible read.
For more on Leach, read this story about how while he was not an active church member, he continued to read the Bible and Book of Mormon. And here’s a new story about a man who was the Leach family’s home teacher and reflected on his own relationship with the mercurial coach.
But I really went down a rabbit hole on the subject of McKee and returned missionary quarterbacks.
Years ago, when I covered BYU football, people wondered if a returned missionary QB would ever become a star at the school. Since then, we’ve seen plenty of them.
It feels safe to say that the greatest returned missionary QB in NFL history is the one playing right now, Taysom Hill, and at least officially, he’s a tight end.
Hill has a 7-2 record as a quarterback in the NFL, according to Pro Football Reference. Only one other returned missionary has won an NFL game. Max Hall was 1-2 in six NFL games. John Beck was 0-7 in nine games. (Quarterbacks don’t earn a win or loss when they make short appearances in a game.)
So could McKee become the greatest returned missionary quarterback in NFL history? Or could BYU quarterback Jaren Hall become that player?
McKee actually turns 23 on April 27, the day of the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft. Pro Football Focus lists him as the fourth-rated QB prospect in the draft.
One ESPN projection says he’s the eighth-best (paywall). The projections will change over and over again over the next few months as players work out for teams prior to the draft.
In McKee’s announcement that he was leaving Stanford to turn pro, he wrote, “Most importantly, I would like to recognize my Heavenly Father and acknowledge his hand in my life.”
My friend Jeff Call famously visited McKee during his mission with church permission and wrote this profile.
The ESPN article projecting QBs in the draft says Jaren Hall, who will turn 25 in March, would be the ninth-best quarterback in the draft if he leaves BYU early.
Here’s a tidbit: If Hall’s ankle allows him to play in BYU’s bowl game this weekend and he throws three touchdown passes, Hall will pass Gifford Nielsen, Zach Wilson and Steve Young into eighth place for most career TD passes in BYU history.
Note: Sorry you didn’t see a newsletter last week. I was on vacation. It’s good to be back with you this week.
