Speaker 1: You've been called to listen to the missionary moment here
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nine ninety eight point three Esben the Fan, I've been
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of my favorite segments and be a little missionary moment.
We're gonna be catching up with a future mission president. Yes,
indeed a former BYU Cougar. We've been talking about the
National Championship game and we got a National championship quarterback
on the line here. It's going to be brought to
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Welcome to a former BYU great, a BYU legend, the
only quarterback to lead us to glory and victory in
a perfect season, and national champion and now mission president.
We got President Bosco. Robbie Bosco on the line. Robbie,
how you living?
Speaker 4: I'm doing pretty good? I about you?
Speaker 3: Ben doing awesome?
Speaker 4: Man?
Speaker 3: Hey, congratulations on the call. How does it feel?
Speaker 4: Man?
Speaker 3: What was it like opening that mission call?
Speaker 4: It was great? Really was? I mean, we're super excited
to serve. The initial interviews and stuff like that were
a little bit like what because they didn't really mention
anything about a mission president and so they just asked
a bunch of questions and stuff like that. But it's
been it's been super fun for my wife and me,
and we're looking forward to being with those missionaries.
Speaker 3: So give me the process. You said, hey, you signed up.
Speaker 2: You're like, hey, I we want to serve. We want
to thrust in our sickle, right, we want to get
out there to the mission field.
Speaker 3: So they ask you a lot of questions.
Speaker 2: You didn't know you were going to be a mission president,
you know you'd be called as a mission president.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean we didn't. We didn't even put in
any papers. So the initial the initial thing is just
getting your call and you speak to a seventy and
he kind of goes through a little interview process, asking
about your family, asking about retirement, stuff like that, and
then they pretty much don't worry about it after that,
you know, he says, you know, we just do these
all the time, so no big deal. And then about
three weeks later I got another call and that was
that was the one that was the one that did it.
Speaker 3: Love it man.
Speaker 2: So you've been called to serve as a as a
mission president in the Ohio Columbus Mission.
Speaker 3: Is that correct?
Speaker 4: That is correct?
Speaker 2: Just any connection there, like any memories, any family, what
what what connectivity do you have to the region and
the state.
Speaker 4: The only time I've been to Columbus, I went back
to the Columbus, Ohio Columbus Touchdown Club and got an
award after the eighty four seasons and that was that
was it. That's where I met. I met Lawrence Taylor
for the first time and he sat next to me
at the awards banquet, and when he stood up, I'm like, oh,
so this is what the NFL is like, huh, that's
the only time I've been to Columbus, and I hear
it's a beautiful state and we're looking forward to it.
Speaker 2: Man, What was the conversation like with LT arguably the
most dynamic pass rusher at to ever be on a gridiron?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean it was just I mean, he was
super nice, super friendly, and just it was kind of
neat to be next to him. I'd never really been
with someone that was at the top of their game
in the NFL like that, so it was just pretty
cool to rub shoulders listen for a little bit Robbie.
Speaker 2: Before we get into some of the missionary elements here
and maybe even your missionary story and your background with
the faith, et cetera. We did watch a national championship
game last night, and you're the only quarterback to leaders
to an sational championship Number one. What did you think
of the game? What stood out to you? You may
be all in so all in on on missionary work,
you didn't even watch it, but I'm just asking just
in case you did take a peek at it.
Speaker 4: Well, let me tell you this. I actually did not
watch it.
Speaker 3: I knew it. I knew it.
Speaker 4: We were we were out of dinner with a couple
other people, one that has served already and one that
is going to serve and so but I listened to
it on the way going up to their house, and
I watched kind of the key highlights of the game.
But I've watched Indiana play this year, and I'm just
super impressed what what that team has done, what their
coach has done. Everywhere that coach has been, he's been
a winner, and he's just done a remarkable job. And
they're just their overall team. I think one of their
players set it best. Were not the Fasten not the
most athletic, and it kind of when he was talking
like that, it kind of reminded me of BYU teams.
You know, we always felt like we were the underdog,
but we had we played together, we worked hard together,
and we had more talent than you think than people
thought we did. I mean we had the Kurt Godbey
as a Leon Wis, the Glenczlowski's. I mean, these are
some of the best players that ever played at BYU,
and they were on that team. So I just looked
at Indiana and I just think it's going to be
a Hollywood movie one of these days. That was just
remarkable of where they've been the last twenty years and
then to win it in two years when that coach
came aboard, it's pretty remarkable.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's uh, it's funny you say that because I
thought the same thing. I'm like, well, it begs the
questions like how you know b Yu wanted Natty right,
and you wonder how far away they are present day
from to getting to that status again to compete for
a national championship, and so like when you say that,
I'm like, oh my gosh, Yeah, you're right, there's a
lot of similarities, the kind of the collective of the
collective body of talent and coaches and things that nature are.
You know, you look at you know just how special
that season was for you at nineteen eighty four. You
had some key players obviously NFL colber players, NFL guys
that played for a long time, but you also had
a ton of role players that were just great overall
football players.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, those are all great points then,
and honestly, I think we're closer than you think. The
key is to just getting into the playoffs. Once you
get into the playoffs, you just don't know what's going
to happen. You definitely got to be playing your very
best football. You probably have to catch a couple of
breaks along the way. But if you and we've been
there two years in a row now, we've been on
that point of we feel people feel like we should
be in and then we didn't get in, and so
whatever that takes to get in. I think Kilani has
done a masterful job of leading this team over the
last you know, three or four years, and we just
keep getting better and better. But it's you know, they're
going to find a whole different thing. Next year, Indiana,
I will and you know, so will We We're not
sneaking up on anybody now and we could easily be
the favorites in most of our games. I don't know
if we were this year or not. And so it's
hard to stay on the It's hard to stay on top.
And that's one of the hardest things to ever do
in sports, is to be on top and to stay
on top. And that's what's so impressive about what Tom
Brady did in the NFL to win I'm guessing here,
was it eight Super Bowl that he won or something?
Speaker 2: I don't on that. No, Yeah, he's obviously leave the
goat quarterback. You know, in all the Super Bowls that
he won, I think he's won six.
Speaker 3: He won Russtar seven to seven. He r on seven
six with the New l Patriots.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and you know, that's holy cow. I mean, that's
that's remarkable. Joe Montana was probably behind that a little bit.
But it's tough. So it'll be interesting to see what
happens in the future here.
Speaker 2: You mentioned the correlation between BYU and Indiana, and I
thought about something that Kirk Signetti stated post game. One
of the key things that he discusses when he's recruiting,
is productivity over potential, And I think a lot of
that has to do with, you know, just being able
to stay healthy.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 2: And I looked at eighty four team, and I've chatted
with you, I've chatted with a lot of guys from
that roster, and I want to say, like, there.
Speaker 3: Were no key injuries that season.
Speaker 2: Seemed like you guys just stayed healthy throughout the entirety
of it until I know, you got dinged up in
the in the Michigan game, but you came back, baby.
Speaker 3: You know what I mean.
Speaker 2: It wasn't like these season ending injuries that sometimes like
that that derail a season.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, as I as I look back, I
think Trevor Matich missed our third game of the season,
and that was the only game he missed. He missed
that one game that he was back in the starting
lineup and we were healthy. But I will say this though,
times have changed back then for whatever reason, I think
everyone's a little bit more careful now with injuries and
just can't be like, yeah, you can go back in
the play, and so it's harder to stay healthy, I think,
and to play in every single game, and the teams
that can do that are probably going to have an
advantage of being to camaraderie, being together, staying together for
a full season, and not having to play you know,
second or third string guys. And that's where it gets
pretty tough because I think in the past, our depth
has never been the best out of the other teams
in the country, and so we always had them. When
we had our first team in there, we were pretty competitive.
We could play with most anybody, and so that's kind
of the key.
Speaker 2: Like you said, Robbie, have a key fact of the day,
and I think this is a good omen. Did you
know that Kirk Signetti was a graduate assistant. I think
he was in his second year as a graduate assistant
at the University of Pittsburgh in nineteen eighty four.
Speaker 3: Did you know that? No, isn't that crazy?
Speaker 2: He was he was coming off obviously, he was a
West Virginia quarterback, right, A good football player.
Speaker 3: Ended up I think he may have.
Speaker 2: I don't know if he ended up trying to go
to the league or anything like that, but he ended
up getting into coaching.
Speaker 3: In eighty three and eighty four, he was a GA there.
Speaker 4: For pitt Wow, that's a pretty amazing How'd you even
find that out?
Speaker 3: I just did some dude diligence.
Speaker 2: Man, we show up to the show and we you know,
we start talking ball and you're starting to do a
little research.
Speaker 3: I'm like, hey, he was a part of that team.
That's that's a good sign, isn't it. I feel something
good brewing here.
Speaker 2: We're a little bit superstitious or a little bit stitious
here in Cougar Country.
Speaker 4: Right, we all everybody is to a certain degree, for sure.
Speaker 3: No doubt about it.
Speaker 4: No.
Speaker 3: I thought that was kind of a fun fact there.
Speaker 2: But it's cool to see, like, and look, it's we've
debated this on sports radio. I'm sure you've had discussions
about it, right that Over the last five six years,
we've seen the college football landscape change dramatically, nil transfer portal,
there's a lot of chaos, right, and a lot of people,
you know, you know, the old heads, you know, some
people feel like, hey, this is ruining college athletics. And
I'm like, to a certain degree, maybe, but it's hard
to argue with with with the proof that the losing
his team in college football history at the in the
power structure, Indiana just became the national champion in this
modern era.
Speaker 3: So what does that tell us?
Speaker 4: It's just incredible. I it'd be interesting to know what
they did nil wise are.
Speaker 3: I can give you a little bit of detail. I'll
give you a little bit of detailed.
Speaker 2: Their composite talent rating per two four seven, right, this
is the standard two four seven was seventy second. They
only had seven four stars on their roster, so, I mean,
you know that's decent, but it's not like it's not
the most talented roster.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 2: They were older, which is also kind of a BYU thing, right,
So you had a lot of guys that were twenty two,
twenty three, and even twenty four because they had got
that COVID year and they had a red shirt, right,
and so they got that extra year of eligibility. So
they were really tenured. If you look at the total
snaps played, they had played a lot of football, and
a lot of them had come up within that schame.
Some of them came up from James Madison. But they
were just tenured football players, not necessarily like the most
talented I guess recruiting rankings wise, Yeah, I mean when.
Speaker 4: You look at that stat you have to think of loyalty,
They've they've taken loyalty out of the game because of
this transfer where you can transfer at any time, and
even the last few stories I read about transferring, it's
got nuts people signing contracts and then a week later,
I'm gonna leave, and I'm gonna leave now. And so
I'm assuming not many kids have probably loved Indiana and
that staple of kids. They love each other, they love
playing with each other. They're loyal to their coach, their team,
the state of Indiana, and I, honestly, I don't have
anything to do with that team, but I'm very proud
of what they've accomplished this year. So I was very
happy to.
Speaker 3: See him win well and seeing it at BYU.
Speaker 2: Right, look at the retention under Kilane here, I think
they only had they've had like thirteen guys leave. Most
of the key contributors are all coming back, and they've
only had to go out and acquire like nine guys
via the portal. The retention, to me, the retention recruitment,
that's way bigger. That's a way bigger deal sometimes than
acquisition of key players in the portal.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's true. I mean when you find sometimes it's
hard to find a coach you love playing for. And
I know Kilane. I know what he's like with the kids.
I know the culture that he is building and has
built at BYU, and the kids love it, the families
love it. The parents they want their kids here, they
want their kids playing for Klannie. And we're getting people
coming over to play with Kilanie didn't pick us the
first time, and we're having kids, a lot of kids
that are just staying in place and because of because
of what he's built. And so a lot of kudos
to Klanney and what have you done here? For sure?
Speaker 3: Let's get back to the mission, the mission call.
Speaker 2: If I'm not mistaken, Robbie, I don't think you grew
up in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints.
You came to be Yu was a non LDS football.
Speaker 3: Player, correct, that is correct? Yeah, okay, out of Roseville, California.
Speaker 4: Right out of Roseville. My mother was a member, my
father wasn't. And my father's parents migrated from Italy over here.
And then my mom and dad both grew up in Helper, Utah.
Oh my god, if you can believe it, a small
little town.
Speaker 3: And you and Jan Jorgenson baby.
Speaker 4: Me and jam that's right and so and so they
had to make a choice. Do we stay here and
help her or price and be cold my or do
we move on? So they fortunately moved to California and
they were all skilled school teachers. There was about five
couples that moved on with them. And yeah, so then
when I came here, I strictly came to play football.
I didn't have at the time really any interest on religion.
It was strictly a football decision. But I'm grateful that
it worked out to where I could come to BYU
and be surrounded by good people of great coaches, the
great levelle Edwards. And I think the influence of my
mother and a lot of people around me helped me
to realize that this this is what I want in
my life. I need the Gospel and I need some
guidance in that direction. And it was just like it
was a great fit for me. And so I got
baptized my second semester, my freshman year, and then been
trying to grow and learn each each each day and
each year.
Speaker 3: Love that story.
Speaker 2: And I had Tom on as well last week to
discuss his uh his mission call and his story of
coming to BYU and eventually converting to the faith. And
I have this book and I've kept track of like
new uh you know former Bwall football players that have
uh have been baptized and converted to the Church of
Jesus Christ. And uh, it's truly tremendous how many conversion.
Speaker 3: Stories there are. And like these are like high profiles.
I mean, obviously Tom.
Speaker 2: The greatest ad ever to come through BYU and he's
four time Super Bowl champion. You are a national champion
quarterback and playing the national football he tied Debtmer Heisman
Trophy winner. I can go down the list of guys
like my teammates too, great football players you know, that
came here not and not as members. And I have
converse sation with fans a lot, and even individuals that
are like BYU by your lumps, but may not like
the sporting elements of by especially in the NIL era,
And they always say, hey, you know, BYU athletics it's
not always a good missionary tool. It's not always a
missionary tool. I'm like, I beg the different. I really think,
you know, it's a bigger missionary tool, a more pactful
missionary tool than you realize.
Speaker 4: I've had. I've been many kids, many friends that were
serving missions in eighty four and when they got back
that was that was part of their story because from
BYU and you guys just want to ask him, come
on in. I want to hear about that out in
the world, and they want to hear about that. So yeah,
I think it's a I think it's a big missionary tool.
We have kids from all walks of life and we're
trying to we're trying to get the team come Roberie
together and these kids are going out out and serving
two years on their own and paying for it, and
it's it's really tremendous. And the one thing that I
noticed that by U, with myself and with others, there's
not a lot of pressure to get baptized. It's not
like coach Edwards, broncomnen Hall or whoever are out there
instead of coaching, Hey, have you taken any discussions yet
they don't really, they don't really talk like that. We're
playing football. Yeah, so there's not a lot of pressure.
So I guess my point is these kids that have
joined the church, they are joining because they felt something
they felt something that wanted to change their life. They
felt something that was meaningful and something that they were
missing in their life, and they found it here. They
found it here with the Gospel, and they are here.
They are They've got baptized on their own accord, in
their own testimony, not on a friend or a coach
or somebody else's. And so it's really cool to see that,
and then to see the growth well they've done, you know,
ten twenty years down the road.
Speaker 3: Love that perspective. What are you most excited about?
Speaker 2: Because you didn't serve a mission when you were in
your younger years. There's pros and cons obviously, the serving
mission in the younger years.
Speaker 3: We we go out and and.
Speaker 2: I know the church is true because you know, if
it wasn't, we would have ruined it by now, these
nineteen year old kids. But you get to go out at.
Speaker 3: The rifled age.
Speaker 2: I believe what you're sixty three now, I know you
don't want to maybe get to the sixty three sixty
three still full of vigor and vim and energy.
Speaker 3: What are you looking forward to, Robbie.
Speaker 4: Well, I think I think just working with these young missionaries.
You know, I was a why say, bishop for three years,
and I was able to talk with and Hell and
discuss the different issues going on in today's world. And
I don't think those issues are going to be any
different on a mission. And so to be able to
help and to teach and to help them not only
help them on their mission, but hopefully develop them after
their mission, so when they become a mom or a dad,
when they become a grandma and a grandpa, and down
the road and during to the end, not just a
two year stint or a year and a half stint
for them, but to help them to grow to what
is the most important thing in their life, and then
to be able to intertwine that with the real world
when you get back off your mission, and it's so different.
You know, they're twenty four to seven there learning the gospel, sleeping,
living the gospel, and when you get back home, you're
not It's not like that anymore. You got a job,
you're gonna have kids, a lot of different anxieties are
gonna be going on in your life. And so I'm
hoping that I can be some sort of an influence
to them to where they can see the big picture
down the road even more so than being on their mission.
Speaker 2: Love that man, Love that perspective and can't wait to
hear about the stories afterwards about the missionary work and
obviously the impact that not only that you get to
have on those young men and young women that you're
gonna be serving with, but also the impact that they're
gonna have on you. Robbie Bosco, Ladies and gentlemen, national
champion college football quarterback for Brigham Young University now being
called to serve in the Columbus, Ohio Mission as a
mission credit you and your your your lovely better half
are gonna be doing great work out there.
Speaker 3: Man. Excited for you.
Speaker 2: Congratulations and I'm sure your guy is gonna learn ton
and make a huge impact.
Speaker 4: Well, thank you, Ben, appreciate you having me on.
Speaker 3: Hey, appreciate you. Robbie.
Speaker 2: Thanks so much for joining us today and we'll catch
up with again soon. Keep in touch, goot bye they go.
That's Robbie Bosco, former BYU Rate in a missionary moment.
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