How many current BYU football players have served Latter-day Saint missions? Program shares update ahead of 2024 season

In 10 days, the BYU Cougars football program will begin the 2024 season, and five of its 12 regular season games are already scheduled to appear on national television.

In an effort to help media unfamiliar with the school and its owner, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Cougar football public relations department published on Wednesday night a comprehensive look at the missionary service that has occurred within the current roster.

Here are some of the highlights:

• 55 players on the 2024 roster have served full-time missions in 32 countries and speak 14 different languages (49 players in all speak a language other than English).
• Six coaches — Kalani Sitake, Jay Hill, Aaron Roderick, Fesi Sitake, Kelly Poppinga and Sione Po’uha — served missions.
• Spanish and Tongan are the most spoken other language on the team besides English, with 18 players having learned Spanish and 14 having learned Tongan. Samoan is the next most spoken language, with five players speaking it.

In addition to these statistics, Wednesday’s report outlined what a mission is, why people serve them, what the day-to-day activities of a mission can look like and how missionaries learn another language.

It also included several photos of BYU football players while on their missions and a tweet with a video of star defensive end Tyler Batty speaking Spanish during the Big 12 Conference’s media days last year (Batty served a mission in Spain from 2017-2019).

“BYU student-athletes who chose to serve missions do so out of a love for Jesus Christ and a desire to serve others,” the report says.

It also included some pointers for media who may talk or write about missions.

“We request that those referring to missions use terms such as as ‘serving a mission,’ ‘full-time mission,’ ‘two-year mission,’ ‘missionary service,’ ‘Latter-day Saint mission,’ and ‘a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,’” the report says.

Additionally, “We request that those referring to missions do not refer to missions as “mission trips,” “Mormon missions” or “LDS missions.”