Age may be just a number, but BYU fans didn’t like KU’s Lance Leipold mentioning it

Pete Grathoff
·4 min read
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A strange subplot has surfaced ahead of the Kansas football team’s game Saturday against new Big 12 member BYU.

When Jayhawks coach Lance Leipold was asked earlier this week what stands out about the Cougars, he mentioned their experience.

“Well, again, I think what is probably made a lot about is, of course, probably the age and maturity of the team,” Leipold said, per the Deseret News. “You know, I think average age of the roster is like, over, is 22 years old, or something, versus what a traditional college roster is. So the size and maturity and those things, experience. Well-coached.”

The Deseret News’ Jay Drew wrote that Leipold “brought out that old, well-worn claim that BYU’s players are older and more mature than most of their college football counterparts.”

On X (the former Twitter), Drew added that Leipold’s assertion that BYU’s average age is 22 years old was “not accurate.”

Technically, Drew is right. KSL Sports reported that “entering the 2023 season, the average age of BYU football players is 21.7 years old. That’s a dip from the 2022 roster, which had an average age of 21.78. The average age of BYU’s 2021 roster was 21.4.”

So, yeah, 21.7 years old is not quite 22, but that splitting of hairs over age has generated quite a conversation on social media. Some BYU fans bristled at the talk of the age of Cougars players, because many players take mission trips.

This is from the football program’s website: “Missionary service has been a staple within the BYU football program since its inception. Nearly half of all current BYU football players have served missions for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”

That was just part of the conversation about age ahead of Saturday’s KU-BYU game. Here is what others on both sides were saying about Leipold’s comment.