Upon returning from two years of missionary service in Chile for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Stanford football player Dallas Lloyd began to wonder if his mission was a setback for his football career. A quarterback, Lloyd watched from the sidelines during the 2012 season and struggled in limited playing time during his sophomore season.

“It was really frustrating,” Lloyd, a Pleasant Grove native, said in an article published by The Stanford Daily. “I was upset at myself and I let these thoughts of doubt come into my mind, like, ‘If I (hadn’t) gone on a mission, then I would have been able to come straight to Stanford.’ … I realized they were all just excuses. They were justifying the fact that I wasn’t getting it done.

“It’s really sad that those two years, the best two years of my life, became an excuse for why I was so frustrated. Looking back, it had nothing to do with those two years. I was a better person and football player because of those two years.”

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