Junior colleges a great start for athletes

When Snow College faces Butler Community College of Kansas Saturday in the second annual Zions Bank Top of the Mountains Bowl in Rice-Eccles Stadium, fans will be treated to a level of football that sometimes goes unnoticed and unappreciated by some within our state. But for those familiar with the junior college game in Utah, many recognize the invaluable experience young student athletes gain from beginning their collegiate careers in places like Ephraim or St. George.

This year's match-up between BYU and Utah — one of the most exciting games of this storied rivalry — saw both rosters laced with student-athletes who transferred into Division I programs as juniors. Dan Beardall, Utah's kicker, honed his skills at Snow before heading to Salt Lake City. Nate Miekle, BYU's punt returner and receiver, was a first-team academic all-American while at Snow College and was recently named to the ESPN all-Academic team by virtue of his 3.85 GPA in business management.

One often hears coaches state their preference for players to be part of their programs for the full four years as undergraduates. The national trend is just the opposite: Recent statistics show that, on average, students completing a bachelor's degree in the United States now attend 2.5 different institutions during their studies. And who can argue against game experience gained by student athletes who choose the junior college route as a way to launch them into some of America's top programs? No amount of practice at a four-year institution could have ever prepared Brett Ratliff for his superb performance against BYU as compared to the game experience he gained as a starting quarterback at Butte College during his first two years.

A list of schools where student athletes from Snow College have transferred in the past two decades is a ranking of some of America's finest institutions, both in terms of athletic reputation and academic distinction. They include Cal-Berkeley, Stanford, Arizona, Arizona State, Utah, Brigham Young, Utah State, Southern Cal, Oklahoma, Kansas, Georgia Tech, South Carolina, Boston College, Oberlin College and Cornell. Paul Peterson, Snow's starting quarterback three seasons ago, went from playing against the Gila Monsters of Eastern Arizona in places like Thatcher to defeating the vaunted Irish last year in South Bend as the signal caller for the Boston College Eagles. Paul was named Boston College's "Person of the Year" by the student newspaper for his athletic and academic achievements. Not bad for a young man from Bingham High who walked on at Snow College because no in-state schools offered him any scholarships.

Even the Ivy League has recognized the benefit of culling the best and brightest from two-year programs. Brian Romney at Cornell was named to the all-Ivy League team last year as a wide receiver and punt returner. Three current Snow players are being considered by Cornell, Yale and Columbia.

The beauty of a school like Snow College within the larger Utah System of Education is that along a broad spectrum of options, there are various points of entry for students of all abilities, interests and aspirations. In a place as unlikely as Ephraim, one of our slogans is, "Start here, go anywhere." For those student-athletes committed to excelling both athletically and academically at Snow, our track record speaks for itself.

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Michael Benson is president of Snow College in Ephraim.