NCAA adds 'Riley Nelson Rule' to books

When BYU and Utah State meet at LaVell Edwards Stadium on Friday night, it will mark the return of a long and sometimes bitter rivalry. Seldom more bitter than this year, if you're coming from the Aggie perspective.

If you're a BYU fan, you're holding up your hands and saying, "What, did we do something wrong?" If you're an Aggie fan, you're invoking the code of the Old West, whereby cattle rustling was punishable by hanging. In the eyes of USU fans, that's what happened with quarterback Riley Nelson: The Cougars rustled their property.

That's not entirely accurate, but emotion often rules in these cases. Nelson made the choice to transfer from USU to BYU, nobody else. No one recruited him, he says. He just decided to play at the school of quarterbacks.

Objectively, it's hard to blame him. When he was on his LDS mission, USU was going through the worst period in its football history. BYU has won 24 of the last 27 games against the Aggies. So he transferred to BYU, where he has been insisting all week he's happy as a retriever.

Meanwhile, details remain vague. Did BYU actually recruit him while he was on his mission? How could he leave the school where his father played and his grandfather coached? Does he KNOW what he did to people in the Cache Valley?

If you ask him, or BYU, nothing underhanded occurred. His parents learned a scholarship was available at BYU from a high school coach in Logan. They then notified their son, who was serving in Spain. After due consideration, Nelson informed BYU he was transferring, so the school sent him a note of welcome.

It was all very civilized and simple.

Who initially notified whom seems to be the debating point. Was it a BYU coach, who contacted Nelson's prep coach, who contacted the Nelsons, who contacted Riley Nelson? Or did the prep coach do the research and act on his own, by notifying Nelson's parents?

In a way, it's a moot point. Nelson would likely have reached the same conclusion after he got home, anyway.

The main point is that this sort of scenario — where a player announces a transfer, mid-mission — is unlikely to occur again. That's because on Aug. 1, the NCAA enacted legislation to keep missionaries from being contacted by colleges while they're on their missions, period. Known to USU fans as the "Riley Nelson Rule," the NCAA is saying, in essence, keep your hands off those missionaries.