In 1847, at the age of 46, Brigham Young led 148 of his Latter-day Saints from Nebraska to an oasis in Utah’s Great Salt Lake valley. There he founded the home of the Mormon Church. He ruled his followers for 30 years more and along the way married 27 times and begat 56 children. Today, of some 5.2 million Mormons, there are at least 5,000 direct descendants of Brigham Young. One of them, Steve Young, 21, has a special place in the flock: He is quarterback of the Brigham Young University football team.

Moreover, as of last week Steve, a 6’2″ junior, was No. 1 in the nation in total offense, with 2,362 yards passing and running and an average of 337.4 yards per game. His finest afternoon so far in BYU’s 5-2 season was a 51-3 rout of the University of Texas at El Paso, in which Young passed for 399 yards (completing 24 of 32) and ran for another 97—but played little more than half the game. Meanwhile, he has a 3.3 average as an international relations and finance major.

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