Bronco quote a mystery

So, has the furor over Utah State's Riley Nelson's transfer to BYU died down yet?

Well, it is summer and the Utah Jazz are out of the playoffs, and this one is ripe for a self-munching power feed this week.

The interesting part of the debate is the statement floating around that, once upon a time, Bronco Mendenhall declared he would not recruit LDS missionaries while they are serving.

If he indeed said that, he is a fool. He ought to retract it.

I can't find that Mendenhall mystery quote on file. I've been to nearly every Mendenhall practice and press conference and had plenty of one-on-one interviews and I can't find the policy statement where he made such an edict — one which now has many people labeling him a hypocrite.

Where is it? If I find it, he should certainly be held accountable for it.

The closest thing I remember came more than two years ago, when current wide receiver Austin Collie was serving a mission in Argentina. According to his father, Scott, at the time, Elder Collie was being recruited — or contacted — by several Division I schools, including Oregon of the Pac-10, where former BYU coach Gary Crowton had become the offensive coordinator.

At the time, I asked Mendenhall — in a group setting — if he felt he needed to recruit Collie all over again. His response was that he kept in touch with all missionaries on a regular basis and didn't feel the need to open up a discussion or make presentations to sell BYU to Collie. Asked about recruiting athletes who are on missions, Mendenhall said he'd be careful about such maneuvers, that he'd step lightly and only if the athlete's family insisted there was interest.

This has been the case in situations like Vanderbilt's Tom Sorensen, ASU's Max Hall, Louisville's Brandon Bradley, or even Ute commit Jan Jorgensen, who never enrolled at Utah out of high school but decided while on his mission to come to BYU after Ron McBride was fired.

Anyway, back to the so-called edict. Mendenhall should have a policy of responding to any inquiry from any prospect who just left a school and is interested in transferring to BYU after a mission.

It doesn't mean he calls them in Australia. Or sends him one of his fancy DVDs, media guides, or tries to enlist the help of a mission president to "press" the issue. That would be dumb. He knows it.