Michigan soccer coach Jim Harbaugh was having lunch with two missionaries in white shirts and ties at Orem’s Brazilian barbecue tucanos on Tuesday and was not supposed to receive a copy of the Book of Mormon.
We’re not sure how many servings of the skewered garlic steak Harbaugh took in.
But Harbaugh made the deal with one of the best high school offensive linemen in the country two years ago from Columbine High, Colorado, the four-star 6-foot-8, 300-pound Andrew Gentry, who signed to live in Virginia Class to play from 2020.
Gentry currently serves as a full-time Spanish-speaking missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Orem Utah Mission. He will complete his two-year mission in May 2022. Gentry was originally called to serve in Argentina, but COVID-19 forced a transfer back to the United States and Orem.
Understanding the difficulty in this culture of getting an outside entity to meet a Latter-day Saint missionary in the field is not easy to take. It would be like throwing frisbees at the Vatican guard – a major distraction.
When Bronco Mendenhall announced that he would no longer be a coach after that season, Gentry’s post-mission plans were turned upside down.
The early signing deadline for the National MoU is next week. Harbaugh personally imprisoned Gentry just 24 hours after Gentry announced that he would be going to Ann Arbor after his mission.
Please pass the grilled pineapple skewer on.
It is almost unheard of for a college recruiter to come by in person and sign a recruiting contract with a missionary. If you have an example please share. However, it is not uncommon for schools to send letters of intent for signature after a year in the field of mission.
But for Gentry, Mendenhall’s announcement last week was a big deal. He had to sort out his college football future. He was about to enter a recruiting circuit with disruptions and distractions.
Mendenhall’s decision to leave Virginia prompted Gentry’s parents, Todd and Susan, to take steps to resolve their son’s scholarship situation.
The gentry immediately contacted Mendenhall and discussed a release from Virginia. You got it. They then contacted two schools that Andrew had recruited from high school, Michigan and BYU.
During his schooldays, Andrew Gentry was recruited by more than 30 schools, including Alabama and Notre Dame. He had limited his choices to Virginia, but Michigan was just behind and BYU was important because of his beliefs and great-grandfather.
“When we heard about Mendenhall last Thursday, I called BYU and Michigan and explained how Andrew had to make some decisions. We didn’t want this to detract from his mission and asked the Harbaugh and Kalani Sitake coaching staff not to contact or recruit him, please – that I would contact him on Monday, his preparation day.
If missionary recruiting becomes a thing during their missions (come on mission presidents, that shouldn’t be an issue lol) then the answer is simple: send NLIs to the children on missions after they’ve been away for a year. Stanford already does.
– Jeff Hansen (@ rakoto10) December 8, 2021
Latter-day Saint missionaries are allowed one day a week on Mondays for the gentry to do laundry, write letters, and do non-missionary matters. Todd Gentry emailed his son stating that he was the right person to talk to with every decision he made and that they needed to speak on the phone. The gentry also contacted Orem Utah mission president James Evanson and asked if he would allow Andrew Gentry and a trainer to meet in person to cement an agreement.
Evanson agreed to allow Harbaugh to make contact if it wasn’t a distraction.
The interruption of the missionary service – even for 90 minutes due to such a situation – requires the consent of the porter. In this case, President Evanson.
On another mission with a different president it could have been the same or absolutely forbidden. Evanson apparently believed the meeting was in the missionary’s best interests.
“President Evanson has been phenomenal in helping Andrew navigate a potentially insane experience,” said Todd Gentry. “I initiated every conversation with Harbaugh and BYU.”
Michigan’s head coach Jim Harbaugh celebrates with his team after the Big Ten championship game against Iowa in Indianapolis on Saturday, December 4, 2021.AJ Mast, Associated Press
Andrew Gentry didn’t take the time to tell his parents that he was going to Michigan on Monday. “I contacted the Harbaugh and BYU coaches and told them my decision. BYU has been great respecting our wish not to contact or recruit our son during his mission, “said Todd Gentry.
It was decided that Harbaugh would come to Utah, shake hands with Elder Gentry, look him in the eyes, and officially offer him a scholarship. He would be joined by a Latter-day Saint Faith on Harbaugh’s staff, former BYU defensive lineman and BYU assistant coach Shaun Nua.
Todd Gentry knows the manager of Tucanos in Orem and has arranged lunch. “Andrew was literally serving at the Giving Machine when Harbaugh got there. They met for 90 minutes, ”said Dad.
Even at this rare moment for a coach and a recruit, Elder Gentry and his companion didn’t stop at Michigan football.
Todd Gentry said Elder Gentry did not present the Michigan coach with a Book of Mormon, but he and his companion taught him the comparisons between the organized Church of Christ in the New Testament and today. Harbaugh called Todd Gentry afterward and said how great it was to talk to missionaries and how impressed he was with how sharp and dedicated they are.
Todd Gentry said his son has always been in love with Virginia and Michigan and has no hostility towards BYU, where Andrew’s older brother TJ is currently a senior on the Cougars football team but has not played. “Andrew had no problems with Jeff Grimes or anyone in the BYU workforce when he chose Virginia,” said Todd Gentry.
“TJ had a wonderful time at BYU. You can see him on TV standing next to offensive line coach Darrell Funk holding a clipboard, ”said the father, a former BYU basketball player before moving to the state of Utah to retire from college .
They couldn’t find a recruit with greater ties to BYU, Utah Valley, Provo, and the Latter-day Saint Faith than Andrew Gentry.
And that begs the question, why not become a cougar?
Andrew’s family babysitter was Whitney Wonnacott, now the wife of BYU’s Naismith Award winner, Jimmer Fredette, and he’s a huge Jimmer fan. Whitney Fredette’s father is an independent sales representative from Todd, who is vice president of sales at Coleman Power Sports II.
Todd Gentry grew up in Orem playing high school basketball at Mountain View. His brother Brad, also an MVHS Bruin, is a huge BYU fan and a loyal supporter of almost every sporting event.
Elder Gentry’s grandfather, Lowell Madsen, was an all-conference football player for BYU and played with LaVell Edwards at Lincoln High, Orem. A younger sister, Elizabeth, is a basketball contender targeted but not yet offered by BYU’s Jeff Judkins.
The gentry clan has deep roots in Utah County. Todd and Brad’s parents, Bob and Marilyn, lived in North Orem before moving to Pleasant Grove. Bob, a BYU graduate graduate, was a high school principal in Provo and Orem and a retired school district director of Provo. Marilyn had a flower shop on State Street in Orem for decades. Bob and Marilyn’s old Orem house is four blocks from where Elder Gentry currently has an apartment across from Macey’s grocery store at 800 North.
“He wants to go his own way, away from home and away from Provo.” – Todd Gentry on his son’s decision to move to Michigan instead of BYU. to oblige
Recently, while visiting the church at the Orem Timpview Stake Center at 1000 North in Orem, Andrew Gentry looked at the wooden mission plaques on the wall and was surprised to see his father’s plaque with a photo showing his successful missionary service in Pennsylvania Harrisburg Mission 1987-89.
Gentry in Michigan is not being swayed by BYU’s invitation to join the Big 12, nor by the momentum of Sitake’s 21-3 record over the past two years. He may not even know Michigan’s status in leaderboards and CFP games. Missionaries are not allowed to surf the Internet, watch television, or listen to the radio. When they do, it is rare, usually in the home of a church member or family they are teaching. It’s against mission rules.
“He wants to go his own way, away from home and away from Provo,” said his father.
This week Todd updated Andrew Gentry’s Twitter, an account he told his followers he would visit again after his service was over. It shows a picture of Gentry in a Wolverines jersey with his statistics, a scripture, and describes Andrew as Wolverine: 6’8 ”310lb OT – University of Michigan – 4.33 GPA – 1420 SAT – Utah, Orem Spanish speaking missionary – 1st Samuel 2:30 “I want to honor those who honor me.”
And so there are some cliff notes of what happened to a missionary in Orem, Utah this week, a 24-hour period to write in his journal. A Michigan reporter contacted Todd Gentry this week and asked if he could help arrange a visit to Orem to see in detail what a missionary like Elder Gentry does during a day. Todd believes President Evanson was inspired this week to face his son’s challenges: This media profile can also advance the work and the message.
As far as we know, the Harbaugh-Gentry meeting could be historic: to be personally recruited as missionaries by a legendary trainer and Blue Blood program while God’s watch is still on?
This is Michigan soccer.
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