Wow...good to see Mendenhall is cleaning up the BYU reputation that Crowton tarnished...still, if it had to happen, that's the position they could afford to lose someone. Between their new found inclination towards injuries, and the usual ineligibles, might be hard suiting up a full roster this fall....Good luck zoobies! I really am pulling for ya! I like BYU, and hope they can clean it up a little. What's good for the conference is good for the Utes. GO UTES!

Hay at least we get to see Fui Vakapuna celebrate on his huge one or two yards carries.

He isn't on track to graduate from BYU, and now he's not on track to play pro football. This young man is really shooting himself in the foot - twice. What exactly does he think he will do for a career??

Can Fui lead block like Manase, though? Let's hope so!

thirty years ago they would have found a way to keep him on the team, that's the only way McMahon kept playing. He dropped out of school before his final Holiday Bowl. Two months later the zoob basketball team suspended one of their players while they sorted out some correspondence courses he took; which turned out to be OK, if I remember correctly. Find a way to keep the record setting, glory hogging, tobacco chewing, beer drinking, school drop-out McMahon on the team but suspend the role player from the basketball team. Glad to see the zoobs cleaning things up and actually applying the honor code to more of their athletes.

This is another great example of the discipline of Bronco Mendenhall. At Utah this would have just been swept under the rug. He would have been allowed to take some flunky course to maintain his eligibility. Once again it has been proven that BYU is the right place to be. BTW. Harline is still open!.

Harvey Unga is a good RB but he was not the MWC player of the year in 2007 as stated in this article.

And there you have it - the first post from a Ute fan at 1:22am, trying to cut down BYU in some way other than on the field, as the Utes have been unable to do anything on the field (or for that matter, on the court as well) for a few years now.
I think the picture with this article sums it up pretty well...

Manase was a key contributor, but BYU has a deep backfield this year and shouldn't have any problems filling in for Tonga. This will give other players like Fui more touches.

I wish Manase well with regaining his academic eligibility and hope to see him back with the team next season.

Thanks Bronco and BYU. The most important aspect of BYU football is integrity - not winning at any cost. Gary Crowton learned that the hard way (and lost to boot).

Isn't suspending him AFTER he is academically ineligible a little late? Shouldn't someone have been on top of this BEFORE it got to this and suspended him earlier?

Yeah, he should be an adult and take care of it himself, yada, yada, but the school has a tremendous investment in the kid, and now his spot will be filled by someone who wasn't at spring practice.

The horse is out of the barn -- too late to shut the door now, isn't it?

Perhaps he'll go into business with his younger brother.

I'm sure that there were plenty of efforts to keep him in line. Bronco has always been very clear what his expectations are. There should be no room for any excuses. No one is to blame in this case but Manase--period.

Tonga will be missed. He's the best power runner BYU has. Most of last years 8 touchdowns were from goal line runs when we needed a tough, powerful runner. The good news is the cupboards not bare. Time will tell if Unga and Vakapuna can fill in adequately when power running is needed.

Woooaaahh, Easy there little fella, its just one guy. There are plenty of other rock-stars in the back-field stable who will churn out 6's all season. All were at spring practices who will fill in nicely.

BYU is going to run the table and win out the season around 5th in the Nation. We've got a Heaven-of-a team this year.

I'm pretty sure academic suspension and being academically ineligible can be completely separate. Being ruled ineligible does not mean you'll be suspended from the entire university as he was. This suspension did not come from Bronco.

Weather Bronco liked it or not when you are ineligable because of grades the coach can't do anything about it. It's not his call.

Unfortunate story. Usually you are placed on academic probation before you are kicked out of school. Either he really did poorly or he was already on probation. Either way, I am sure that the football team knew what was going on and he had tutors available. In the end, the athlete is responsible for their own education.

At my university, South Dakota State, the guy would have been sent packing after the first offense. BYU obviously needed him around for a while. The Y needs to act sooner, not later.

after all, what is a role model?

That says alot about the program, doesnt the coaches keep up with thing like that so they can stay eligibale. Dont they have study hall.

This only helps reinforce to other student athletes that academics are part of playing college ball.

Yo fan, what do you mean it says a lot about the program? Like what?

BYU has an awesome program. You think the coaches have nothing better to do then make sure that the players are getting their assignments in everyday. Where did you go to school?

I graduated from BYU two weeks ago and had class with a few players. They were responsible for their own work.

BYU takes both its academic and athletic programs seriously.

Oh yeah and it's eligible, not "eligibale".

It's disappointing to hear about Tonga. But atleast he will be around to run over the utes defense in 2009. Vakapuna and Unga will do their job this year. And in the years to come... GO COUGARS

Utah will take him in a heart beat. Bring him up!

While it's true we have a whole stable of quality runners, there really isn't a fullback-type that compares to Manase. Fui can pound it in short yardage situations, that's not a problem. The problem is more lead blocking and pocket-blocking on pass plays. Manase was the best we had there. Too bad Semanoff graduated.

To Hurting Himself: Are you serious? When was he or any other of our running backs "on track to play pro football"? Our last great running back(Luke Staley) was last seen selling cell phones in the Southtowne Mall after graduating with a degree in General Studies.

I think all the blame falls on Tonga since he was the one that was not showing up in the classroom(either physically or just not doing anything if there) but I also wonder why the coaches weren't on top of this. You wouldn't think that only 1 bad semester would get a kid kicked out of school so this had to be an ongoing thing. I blame the student but at the same time I think the coaches should have been ontop of this long before it got to this point.

For everyone congratulating themselves and BYU for being on top of things and having integrity, remember that this guy has a criminal record that he got while playing at BYU. The team didn't "suspend him" until after he was kicked-out of school for academic reasons. So to "Too Bad" who said that this would have been "swept under the rug at Utah," it was swept under the rug at BYU. Apparently having a criminal record at BYU is OK, as long as you can still play.

Don't they have tutors? How does this get to this point?

I've tutored athletes before - not at BYU, though. No matter the institution, a tutor isn't a miracle worker. I don't know what Tonga did/didn't do, but a tutor can't screw off the top of a kid's head and pour the information in or do all of his work for him. A tutor can support him along the way, assuming he shows up for tutoring sessions in the first place, but he's got to put forth some effort himself. The term is student-athlete, after all.

People who go to BYU know the rules and that they do not play games. If a man cannot keep his rear out of trouble, then he should be playing at another University. I may even root for the Y if they have such standards. I wish more schools would follow suit.

I want to make 3 points:

(1) Tonga was not suspended from the team. He was ruled academically Ineligible. He likely earned less than a 2.0 GPA the previous semester and was on Academic probabtion. After a successive semester with a GPA below 2.0, he was dismissed from the University. Obviously, if you are no longer enrolled in school, it is pretty difficult to be part of the Football team.

(2) As a former BYU football player myself, I can tell you that the school provides you with every resource you need to be successful. If you fail, it is your own fault. As some point, personal accountability has to enter into the equation.

(2) Tonga does not have a criminal record. To my knowledge, he has 2 traffic violations on his record. Traffic violations are not criminal in nature.

Darren,
Just in case you can't read (must be a ute fan), Tonga was suspended for his legal issues. It's nice to see the U is still graduating the best and brightest (not)!

Move Fui to Fullback, and put JJ to back up Harvey!

Are you kidding me! What are you talking about? Getting suspended for only 1 game sounds to me like it IS EXACTLY what Darren said, being swept under the rug. See, Utah grads can read between the lines, unlike the bubble among Cewgs. There is balance up north, among the many faithful LDS Utah fans. Last I remember, your school President is a Utah Grad and gave up season tickets for the BYU job. Don't insult your leaders intelligence by saying Utah people can't read.

every Ute fan would love to see BYU players kicked off the team for changing lanes without signalling. It ain't gonna happen. Get over yourselves, already. Manase was suspended a game (a big penalty, for those that don't understand athletes have a max of 52 of those in their carreer) for traffic violations. Ute players charged with DUI and Rape have played on as if nothing happened. So don't lecture us about sweeping stuff under the rug.

In the past three years there has maybe been one incident that would've warranted disciplinary action at any other school in the nation. One. Uno. Isa. You guys are pathetic if you think suspending Manase over traffic violations is sweeping stuff under the rug. If anything, it's more than a little over the top. At South Carolina a year ago, Stephen Garcia was arrested for under age drinking, resisting arrest, and keying a visiting professor's car. For his troubles, he was suspended for spring practice. Whoopdee ladi da.

You guys feed the ute stereo type every time you call for a BYU player to be kicked off the team over traffic violations.

Does this mean there is a scholarship available for someone. Maybe BYU could help get a couple of speedy kids some scholarship.

The way it works academically at BYU is if you get poor grades in a semester you go on academic warning (below 2.0), next semester. . . academic probation. Poor grades the third semester and you are suspended or basically dismissed from the university and have to sit out a year and can reapply like every other applicant. Usually students will take classes at another school or online to show they are trying to improve academically. He likely didn't know his fate until the final grades came out beginning of May. I'm sure last semester his tutors and others were on his case to turn in assignments, but who knows what happened, college isn't for everyone.

Yes, the original offenses were traffic violations. Then he didn't go to court which is a possible felony. A warrant was issued for his arrest. Then at another traffic offense he gave a police officer a false name. That is a felony. I guess the part of the honor code about being honest is for people who aren't athletes.

Yo Darren, relax. Tonga will take care of his "felonies" and he'll be back before you know it. BYU isn't trying to sweep anything under the rug. It's funny to see these Yewt fans getting all riled up.

It's funny how every situation involving collegiate athletics can be turned into a BYU vs. Utah war. Really, the issue isn't whose school has more integrity but that Tonga was dismissed from BYU. He will be missed by Cougar fans and the situation is good for Ute fans.
Just for the record, the U has an honor code, as well. A lot of schools do. And the US has a Constitution. That doesn't mean no one on the planet is going to break laws. In a perfect world, yeah, but it's not a perfect world.

RE: SL

BYU isn't a perfect world? Come on, we're talking Happy Valley, the Lord's university. It looks like the quest for perfection has come up a little short. I'm a Y grad. BYU does many things very well, but maybe the extremely high expectations are a bit unrealistic. Tonga, and no one else is responsible for his poor academic status. It's too bad so many athletic scholarships are wasted when it comes to academic performance.

Too bad for this young man. He had the opportunity of a life time to make something of his life. Perhaps he thought he was at USC and could get away with it. Kudos for BYU and the football coach.

I was at Snow College with Bronco when he played and when Gary Crowton was the quarterback couch. Both guys are great individuals. Gary is a great man who during his time at Snow College was the second councelor in the bishopric of my ward. BYU, stop bashing Gary. He and Bronco are great friends and worked together with the players that are Juniors and Seniors now. They both had a hand in recruiting. Gary had to discipline numerous bad eggs. It happens on every team. People make poor choices and both men have dealt with it for the positive. Both men had the best thoughts in mind when it came to discipline. They wanted what was best for the kid and the University! I will still yell for the Cougs when they step on the field, and I am proud of both of my former Snow College bros! Now, go Utes!!!!

Man...from reading these comments you would think that Manase killed someone as opposed to ran a stop sign and like he's the first athlete in HISTORY to have ever done poorly in school. Who says his career or rather, his life is OVER because of one semester? If i remember correctly, Reno Mahe was academically ineligible at one point and was kicked out of byu as well...and look at him now. STILL tearing it up in philly. Don't forget that manase still has a redshirt year...and this is no one's fault but his own. Not the university, coaches, tutors, etc. Maybe this is the reality check he needs to get it together. And don't sit here and point fingers like you're not all human. If all your crap was on the internet and in public forums everytime you messed up i'm SURE you would be a little more hesitant to spit judgement.

and to darren....

oh i'm sorry...do you have some sort of access to his criminal records that the rest of us don't know about?! Are you so close to him that you know EXACTLY what the situation was? were you sitting next to him when he paid his fines? If you were you would know that the name he gave was SIFA TONGA. not FIFA like the papers said. SIFA happens to be a family name..but i'm sure you knew all that cuz you seem to stalk him. i didnt think so. So shut up. Just because you read something in the papers doesn't make it true. HE DOESNT HAVE FELONIES ON HIS RECORD. AND HE WAS SUSPENDED 1 GAME FOR FORGETTING TO PAY A TRAFFIC TICKET. AND NOW, HE FAILED A COUPLE CLASSES SO HE'S PAYING THE CONSEQUENCES. GET OVER IT. get a life..seriously. You probably talk so much crap cuz you can't play football yourself.