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The Silver LIning of the Unga Situation

by BerliNY · 5/20/2010

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BerliNY
Ok, I'm not going to spin this in a "yay! now Quezada and Phillips get more playing time" love fest.



Unga leaving hurts the team plain and simple, there is no way around that, when arguably the RB in school history misses his senior season the same year you have to replace your quarterback, it is just plain going to hurt.



For me though the good news comes from BYU showing in a very real way what Bronco has been saying for years: football is not the top priority. Unga will finish his degree, he'll get a shot in the NFL, maybe not a first-round shot, but a shot. Unga will be ok. BYU on the other hand has made a serious statement about how seriously it takes the honor code. I'm not saying that the HC office was extra hard on him in making him wait until January AND I'm also not saying that the HC office would have been extra lenient if they had let him come back in time for the season. What I AM SAYING is that SINCE Unga was not allowed back for his senior season, NO ONE CAN COMPLAIN THAT BRONCO OR BYU IS HYPOCRITICAL OR DISINGENUOUS about the claimed priorities.



I'm going to miss Unga, a lot, I loved the way he played, I loved his energy, and I loved that he was going to have a killer senior season. If by missing his senior season he shuts the mouth of a couple of yewt fans who were just waiting for BYU to give him the star athlete treatment so they can "told you so," then I have my silver lining in a situation where I wish we didn't find ourselves.



Good Luck Harvey, all the best.
D
Ddawg
Unga not playing his Senior year ....... really painful - for all involved. Harvey, his family, his friends, his team, his fan base ...... uggghhh!!!! The Yewt derelicts are giving high fives & daining double margueritas over Harvey's personal troubles. Screw those low dogs!!!! I hope Harvey is standing w/ the team during the BYU vs. Yewtah game this Fall. I hope Harvey can inspire & cheer his teammates on as we beat them again. Screw the Yewts!!!!

:crazy:
S
snoscythe
FWIW, the decision to refuse him re-enrollment was not made by the Honor Code office. They had no part in the decision. It was made by the Dean of Students.
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Y12
Ddawg wrote:
I hope Harvey is standing w/ the team during the BYU vs. Yewtah game this Fall. I hope Harvey can inspire & cheer his teammates on as we beat them again. Screw the Yewts!!!!

:crazy:


That will be the cherry on top. Beat Utah in RES, run for 150+ yards, and win, again.



To state the obvious, no one on the team can replace Harvey, but he was going to run out of eligibility sometime. The team identity will be different, but we were beating Utah and having 10 win seasons before Unga came a long, so there is no reason to get pessimistic. This is a great coaching staff with a team loaded with great players.
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BerliNY
snoscythe wrote:
FWIW, the decision to refuse him re-enrollment was not made by the Honor Code office. They had no part in the decision. It was made by the Dean of Students.


Good to know. Thanks. I assume the decision was made based on input from the HC office and Harvey's BP?
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Ddawg
snoscythe wrote:
FWIW, the decision to refuse him re-enrollment was not made by the Honor Code office. They had no part in the decision. It was made by the Dean of Students.


That's fine. There was open communication at the top amongst all the key decision makers - back & forth. The Dean of Students made the announcement & is publicly putting himself out there. But, I have no doubt the decision was discussed at great length behind closed doors by all the key principals. I still think it was a little tough. I believe they did not want to appear to be giving Harvey any preferential treatment - so they nixed him till after the season. These decisions have more latitude & flexibility than they let on.
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Lawboy
So which is a tougher loss for BYU--Unga or Lloyd? having 2 very good players have to leave school over HC related issues in the top 2 sports in the same year is not good at all. I do think it hurts football recruiting more than hoops though.
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BerliNY
Lawboy wrote:
So which is a tougher loss for BYU--Unga or Lloyd? having 2 very good players have to leave school over HC related issues in the top 2 sports in the same year is not good at all. I do think it hurts football recruiting more than hoops though.


Lloyd showed a lot of potential and had flashes of brilliance, Unga showed lots of production and had whole seasons of brilliance. I think Unga averaged more points/game than Lloyd did and Unga was playing football. Lloyd could'abeen a contendah, Unga was the contendah. Lloyd's departure stings, Unga's departure hurts deep.



Recruiting-wise, I don't know that it hurts much at all. If Bronco is giving recruits the same impression he sends at press conferences (that of a sincere, no-nonsense head coach that expects - and gets - a lot from his players) then I think this drives the point home that you don't choose BYU unless you mean it.
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Lawboy
BerliNY wrote:
[quote="Lawboy"

Recruiting-wise, I don't know that it hurts much at all. If Bronco is giving recruits the same impression he sends at press conferences (that of a sincere, no-nonsense head coach that expects - and gets - a lot from his players) then I think this drives the point home that you don't choose BYU unless you mean it.


And that is my point. BYU will lose some fence sitters who would help the program get better. Has happened in the past, as recent as last year. Kids get villified for it too, but if they do not think they can handle the HC, they should go elsewhere. The HC does cost BYU recruits. And if you are serious about winning at the top level, that is a concern.
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taekwondave
When you say the decision to keep Unga out was not made by the honor code office, but by the dean of students, what are you getting at? The dean of students presides over the honor code office. He always makes the final decision on these matters. When you say the dean of students made the call and not the honor code office that doesn't absolve the system that is in place at BYU. The honor code SYSTEM is keeping Unga out of BYU, the honor code OFFICE never makes that call. The fact is that the Dean of Students is keeping him out FOR HONOR CODE REASONS, and THAT is what's going on here. My only issue with BYU is the honor code SYSTEM. There is an office, there is a dean of students, etc, but the whole system is set up so that it gets to know what's going on in your personal life. I don't like it. Some of you do, some of you don't. But saying, "Oh it was the dean of students, not the honor code office" doesn't really mean anything.
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snoscythe
BerliNY wrote:
FWIW, the decision to refuse him re-enrollment was not made by the Honor Code office. They had no part in the decision. It was made by the Dean of Students.


Good to know. Thanks. I assume the decision was made based on input from the HC office and Harvey's BP?


Because Harvey withdrew before his ecclesiastical endorsement was revoked, the HC office doesn't have anything to say in the matter. They were cut out of the loop before any action was taken that could have brought them into the mix. All the Honor Code office has to do with the situation is verifying whether he has his endorsement or not.



As far as the bishop, his ONLY interaction with BYU is submitted or rescinding an ecclesiastical endorsement. That's it. He cannot tell them anything beyond that unless Harvey lets him.



Now, I'm sure that the Dean of Students is well aware of the whole situation, and he would be foolish not to take into consideration the fact that to many it looked like Harvey was trying to manipulate the system to avoid the Honor Code Office and get back in time for football despite his shennanigans. I think this was a don't mess with us decision.
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snoscythe
taekwondave wrote:
When you say the decision to keep Unga out was not made by the honor code office, but by the dean of students, what are you getting at? The dean of students presides over the honor code office. He always makes the final decision on these matters. When you say the dean of students made the call and not the honor code office that doesn't absolve the system that is in place at BYU. The honor code SYSTEM is keeping Unga out of BYU, the honor code OFFICE never makes that call. The fact is that the Dean of Students is keeping him out FOR HONOR CODE REASONS, and THAT is what's going on here. My only issue with BYU is the honor code SYSTEM. There is an office, there is a dean of students, etc, but the whole system is set up so that it gets to know what's going on in your personal life. I don't like it. Some of you do, some of you don't. But saying, "Oh it was the dean of students, not the honor code office" doesn't really mean anything.


Again, this was not an honor code issue for BYU--Harvey withdrew from school expressly to prevent that. The Dean of Students is involved here because Harvey discontinued from the Winter semester. When you discontinue from Fall/Winter Semester, you have to reapply to BYU, which puts the application on the Dean of Student's desk. If Harvey reapplied with an ecclesiastical endorsement in hand at this point, the Honor Code would have absolutely nothing to report--Harvey withdrew before anything was reported and before his endorsement was rescinded. I know you hate the Honor Code and the idea of holding people to the consequences of their exercise of agency because it hurts football occaisionally, but what screwed Harvey here was Harvey. He (a) broke his promise, and (b) made a pretty public show of trying to make an end-run around the consequences. I think BYU made a smart decision, and yes, it was a decision that was made in large part because of the Honor Code, but only because Harvey made it an issue in the first place.



The reason Harvey won't play next year is simple--he made a promise agreeing to certain fallout if he broke it, and he broke it, and the agreed upon fallout must happen. He made an ignoble attempt at avoiding those consequences, but I'm glad they didn't let him get away with it.
F
Florwood
If Harvey, for whatever reason, wanted to come back for a senior season in 2011, could he? Or does the clock on his eligibility run out this year, play or not?
M
Mars


I think this helps recruiting.



That being said, our recruiting class looks to be only 13 players this year, and mostly linemen, so our national ranking will look terrible.
B
BerliNY
Florwood wrote:
If Harvey, for whatever reason, wanted to come back for a senior season in 2011, could he? Or does the clock on his eligibility run out this year, play or not?


He redshirted in 2006, so he's done unless there's a loophole I'm not aware of.
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bball
I loved Harvey, he was a great kid, a great player, had some great runs. But I've said since the day the story broke about him, that this is good news for the football team, because I think we have better backs, more speed, more upside than Harvey had. Of course that remains to be seen, but I believe it.



Kariya was impressive against Oklahoma, no less. He would have had an exceptional year if Harvey could not have played. And Quesada seems to be the real deal, as does Phillips, and maybe some kids who's beneath the radar right now.



I think it's always silly to talk about "replacing" someone, a player, a coach, a CEO... Every player has his own upside. Heaps may force to all to forget Max Hall by the second game. Quesada or Kariya or Phillips may cause us all to forget Unga real soon too. None of these guys is Unga, but they may do things Harvey couldn't do.



One of the things that always bothered me a bit about Unga was his seemingly inability to see the opening, the lane, once he got past the line of scrimmage. Or maybe he just liked to take on linebackers, I don't know; but there was often more running room where he didn't go, than where he did.



I think we all wish Harvey the best, but I think BYU will be better this year--even without him in the backfield.
M
Mars
bball wrote:
One of the things that always bothered me a bit about Unga was his seemingly inability to see the opening, the lane, once he got past the line of scrimmage. Or maybe he just liked to take on linebackers, I don't know; but there was often more running room where he didn't go, than where he did.

It's funny, because I thought that was Harvey's #1 strength. He would take a play that should have gone for no gain due to the pocket collapsing, and somehow bounce it out a defender or two for a 7 yard gain. I've never seen a BYU player better at that.



Also, I just can't envision Kariya as a starter. He's not a great runner. His yards/carry against OU weren't very good, and neither were his season stats. DiLuigi, on the other hand, has "star" written all over him in my book.
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Ddawg
Mars wrote:
One of the things that always bothered me a bit about Unga was his seemingly inability to see the opening, the lane, once he got past the line of scrimmage. Or maybe he just liked to take on linebackers, I don't know; but there was often more running room where he didn't go, than where he did.

It's funny, because I thought that was Harvey's #1 strength. He would take a play that should have gone for no gain due to the pocket collapsing, and somehow bounce it out a defender or two for a 7 yard gain. I've never seen a BYU player better at that.



Also, I just can't envision Kariya as a starter. He's not a great runner. His yards/carry against OU weren't very good, and neither were his season stats. DiLuigi, on the other hand, has "star" written all over him in my book.




I'm a big fan of J.J. DiLuigi. If you ever get a chance to watch the video of J.J. during his Senior year playing in the Calif. State football CIF Championships. He was quick, fast, deceptive, slippery & just sensational. We have seen glimpses of his skill - making people miss & bursts of speed. If he can hang onto the ball - which he has worked diligently on & is vastly improved. I see J.J. having a break-out year 4 months from now. I have my fingers crossed for J.J. this Fall!!

8)
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ABYUFAN
Mars wrote:
One of the things that always bothered me a bit about Unga was his seemingly inability to see the opening, the lane, once he got past the line of scrimmage. Or maybe he just liked to take on linebackers, I don't know; but there was often more running room where he didn't go, than where he did.

It's funny, because I thought that was Harvey's #1 strength. He would take a play that should have gone for no gain due to the pocket collapsing, and somehow bounce it out a defender or two for a 7 yard gain. I've never seen a BYU player better at that.





Mars, I agree with you, I thought Unga was exceptional at making the right read - especially at the line of scrimage, and when he wasn't in, I'd see lanes that the other backs should be taking, that Harvey would have taken, but they didn't take and it resulted in no yards.
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jonnylingo
snoscythe wrote:
They had no part in the decision.

Do you really believe that?
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