PROVO, Utah — Todd Mortensen likes to play. He was brought up that way.
He loves to play football because of the influence of his father. He loves to play piano because of the influence of his mother.
He continues striving to excel as a scholar/athlete/musician at BYU.
But it isn't all play and no work for the young man who will graduate this summer and then go straight into graduate school while he continues his football eligibility.
He is locked in a fierce Cougar fight for the starting quarterback position on the football team. And indications are that he is not the front-runner. Matt Berry — who ended 2002 as the starter — and Lance Pendleton got more playing time than he did last season. He hasn't backed away from a challenge before, and doesn't intend to now. He's willing to work as hard as it takes.
"It's an interesting sport because you can work as hard as you can and there's still some things that are outside your control," Mortensen said. "I'm learning to understand that more and more the further I go in my career. I just understand that I have to be ready and do the best I can to prepare myself and then when I get the opportunity, make the most of it."
Mortensen is aware that it is hard to be distinguished because the candidates are all so much alike — talented, intelligent, determined returned missionaries.
He had a demeanor of dignity and refined confidence during a Church News interview on the BYU campus, but was unassuming, well-mannered and cheerful. He came across as easy to like and a person who would be a good, reliable friend.
The 6-4, 221-pounder attends BYU on a Gordon B. Hinckley Scholarship and composes and performs music on the piano as a sideline.
He comes by his talent honestly. His father, Fred, was a star quarterback at Arizona State University in the 1970s and played in the NFL and USFL. His mother, Shauna, studied music in college while working toward a degree in Spanish. She is still teaching piano lessons in her home.
Embracing his mother's love for music, Mortensen took piano lessons from her beginning at age 7. He continued until about the 8th grade when his interest began to wane, she said during a Church News telephone interview. Also during a telephone interview, Todd's father pointed out, "Shauna was really creative to keep him interested in his music without being an overbearing parent."
First, she gave Todd a programmable keyboard on which he could record music, including his own creations. When his skills exceeded the keyboard's capabilities his mother got him computer software for composing music. As he mastered it, "he was hired by the software company to be a demonstration specialist [the summer between 8th and 9th grades]," his father said, adding that he was also paid to write some original songs for the company.
Around that time, Todd got involved in school music. He played trumpet in the school band, and piano for his high school jazz band. "He had outstanding music teachers in junior high school and high school," his father said. His freshman year, his father continued, he gave the band teacher a shoe box filled with 50 pages of his original music which was performed in the band's last concert of the year under the title "Fanfare to Tempe High."
Todd's love for music and football merged dramatically his final two years of high school, his father said. As a junior, he quarterbacked Tempe High School to the state quarterfinals, losing in overtime. Early the next morning, Todd auditioned for the state jazz band and won the piano competition. His senior year, he quarterbacked his high school team to the state championship, throwing the game-winning touchdown pass in overtime. The next morning, he again auditioned for the state jazz band and finished second.
Prior to his mission, he recorded many of his original piano compositions in a recording studio with the support of his parents.
"The weekend before I left on my mission I spent 10 hours in the studio Friday and 12 hours Saturday, had my farewell Sunday and then Tuesday left for the MTC," Todd said.
All those tracks sat for two years while he served in Venezuela. When he returned home, he had the music edited and produced a CD. "It was fun because I had to relearn songs that I'd actually written but hadn't had the opportunity to play while I was in Venezuela. I was rediscovering my own compositions," he said.
While on his mission, he taught a 17-year-old young man who was baptized. Todd's mother said he made a commitment to that young man that if he went on a mission, he would do what he could to support him so that lack of finances wouldn't stand in the way. When the young man applied to serve a mission, Todd kept his word and dedicated a portion of the money raised from his CD to help pay for the mission. "Todd was creative," Sister Mortensen said. "It was his idea and he put it into motion. It's been quite humbling to watch the donations come in."
But in spite of his many talents and abilities, he and his father emphasized that he has a serious love for football. "He is a good and competitive football player," his father said, and they agree that he will do anything he can to help the BYU football team be successful.
E-mail: ghill@desnews.com
