Harvey Unga Will Return for BYU's 2010 Season: What does it mean for BYU?

Harvey Unga's father told the Deseret News Tuesday that Unga will return for his senior season and forgo entering the NFL draft early. Unga and the university have yet to make any official announcement.

BYU fans were ready for anything after unexpectedly losing Austin Collie a year early to the NFL last year.

I believe Unga has made the right decision, especially considering the deep and talented class of running backs in this year's NFL draft. Unless he ran a surprisingly fast 40, he might have been a very late pick or an undrafted free agent.

With a breakout and, most importantly, injury-free senior campaign, Unga could drastically improve his draft stock.

What It Means for BYU:

First of all, the transition will be much easier for whoever ends up winning the starting QB position. With both starting wideouts, four of five offensive linemen, and arguably one of the best RBs in the entire country all returning, BYU's offense looks likely to not miss much of a beat despite losing Max Hall, the winningest QB in BYU history.

It's unlikely that BYU will dramatically alter its offensive system, but they might become more of a running team, especially if Riley Nelson (22 rushes for 160 yards) wins the starting QB competition. Regardless, BYU should have one of the best rushing attacks in all of college football now that Unga is returning.

With Unga returning, BYU remains a threat for a conference title. The schedule doesn't seem to favor BYU, as they travel to TCU, Utah, and Air Force next year, but they won a conference title playing such a road schedule in 2006. Utah and TCU should also be better next year than they were this year.

BYU has yet to truly break through and get to a BCS bowl under Bronco Mendenhall, but they have been good for 11-2, 11-2, 10-3, and 11-2 records the past four seasons.

Can he do that every year? Probably not—eventually, BYU will come back down to the earth. And most seem to think this is the year.

But if BYU can manage to post yet another 10-plus-win season, it might be a very long time before we see BYU out of the top 25 at the end of the season again.

BYU has put a top 15 recruiting class together this season; many consider it to be potentially the best and most talented recruiting class in school history. The future is very bright for the BYU.

Most prognosticators are predicting a "rebuilding" year for BYU. In a very early look at the MWC 2010 football season, the Las Vegas Sun recently chose the team to finish fourth in the conference, behind Air Force.

Despite four consecutive finishes in the final top 25, and a 12th place finish this year, BYU has not appeared in any of the very early preseason top 25 polls for the 2010 season.

With a dominating win 44-20 over Oregon State, and the MWC 4-1 record in bowls this year, that is a slap in the face.

But now that Unga is reportedly returning, BYU may have the last laugh.