The couple had just returned from a drug run to Salt Lake City to find their front door kicked. They called police to report a burglary. A balloon of cocaine was mixed in with the 16 balloons of heroin they bought. Atkinson tossed it on the kitchen counter never intending to use it. A police officer spotted it, and a subsequent search of the apartment yielded their drug stash.

Atkinson spent 28 days in jail; his wife 14.

"If (our parents) had bailed us out after a day or two, I wouldn't be clean and neither would Bryant," Mindy Atkinson said.

On their way to their first court appearance, Bryant told Mindy, "We need to change our lives."

The Atkinsons were charged with felonies for possessing and intending to distribute a controlled substance and a misdemeanor for having drug paraphernalia. Both entered pleas in abeyance last month. Charges against Atkinson will be dismissed if he stays clean for 36 months. Mindy Atkinson must complete a drug court program. He said his only relapse was last June. He attends weekly treatment sessions.

Two semesters shy of a degree in health sciences, Atkinson hopes to return to college — not BYU — to become a physical therapist. He works in the warehouse of his dad's engineering firm. He and his wife hope to start a family. He doesn't hold his coaches, doctors or trainers responsible for his addiction.

"I think it's definitely my deal," he said. "I'd never blame anybody for it."

His father doesn't quite see it that way.

"There was so much pressure to be back on the field," said Scott Atkinson. "I have a hard time still not being angry about that."

BYU and his son share the blame equally, he said.

Coaches, he said, demand "body and soul" of players.

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E-mail: romboy@desnews.com