Former BYU Player Booted For Premarital Sex Speaks Out

March 4, 2011 — -- In the wake of Brigham Young University's star basketball player, Brandon Davies, dismissal from the team for having premarital sex, a former athlete at the school who faced the same fate is speaking out.

Reno Mahe, a star football player at BYU 13 years ago, said he didn't take the Mormon school's strict honor code seriously.

"A girl I was dating at the time, my girlfriend at the time, was pregnant," Mahe said.

He was kicked off the football team for having pre-marital sex.

The BYU honor code stipulates that students must "be honest, live a chaste and virtuous life…use clean language" and abstain from alcohol, tobacco, tea, coffee and drugs. It also bars gambling, use of pornography and homosexual behavior, though "feelings or attraction" are allowed.

After his dismissal from the school, Mahe went to play football for a junior college for a year and reapplied to BYU, this time with full reverence for the rules. He was readmitted and drafted to the NFL before he could finish his degree. He played five seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles.

Mahe married another BYU student and he is now a father of five with a sixth child on the way. Last year, he signed the BYU honor code for a third time to finish his degree.

"I am grateful for a school that hasn't lowered its standards," Mahe said.

Similar to Mahe, basketball player Davies has apologized to his teammates for his transgressions.

The university and his teammates are rallying around the sophomore despite his suspension from the red-hot Cougars.

In the team's first game since his departure, the third-ranked Cougars lost to unranked New Mexico, a crushing blow for a team many thought was headed for a national title.

"It's just a really bad break for our team and for our individual student athlete who we all love," BYU Athletic Director Tom Holmoe said.

The team hopes that Davies returns next season.

"The first thing we did was put our arms around him. Our number one thing is to look out for his best interests. To be able to help him along the process to getting him back to be with the team. I'm going to do everything I can to help bring him back on track to where he was rolling," Holmoe told ABC Affiliate KTVX.

BYU Suspends Brandon Davies for Having Pre-Marital Sex

The tough action by the school is in stark contrast to the anything-goes attitude among much of top-ranked college athletics as well as the social attitudes on most college campuses.

"People won't understand," Holmoe told KTVX. "For us, we live this. This is who we are. We understand that people across the country might think this is foreign to them. They're shocked and surprised."

Davies' teammates said that they don't resent Davies for getting axed from the team just before March Madness.

"I don't know why people would think we would have any resentment towards him," forward Charles Abouo told KTVX. "We love him and everyone makes mistakes. He didn't let anyone down."

Davies, a sophomore who is a Mormon and a Utah native, started 26 of 29 games this season and averaged 11.1 points.

"At a time when college football has shown an incredibly leniency toward players and towards misbehavior, here comes BYU with this story that...speaks very much to honor and dignity and playing by the rules, even if the rules are entirely different from the rules from other schools," ABC News consultant Christine Brennan said.

A year ago, the star running back for BYU's football team, Harvey Unga, had to withdraw from the school along with his girlfriend, a basketball player for the college's women's team, because they were having sex. The couple had been dating for three years and they later married.

ABC News' Ellen Tumposky contributed to this report.