Donny Osmond visits BYU spring practice, Jake Heaps

The young BYU quarterback has invested a lot of TV time watching Donny and Marie Osmond compete on "Dancing with the Stars" in recent years. Donny heard about that and decided to attend BYU football practice and thank Heaps in person.
The former teen idol spent a little time with Heaps before practice on Tuesday and watched some of the drills before leaving for a flight to Las Vegas, where he'll resume performing with his sister Marie at the Flamingo Hotel.
Tossing the ball back and forth, Osmond teased Heaps, "Come on, let's see what you've got. Quit throwing it like Betty White."
With teammates wondering what in the heck was going on and center Terence Brown yelling out, "Let me throw the ball," Heaps rifled a pass at Osmond, who buckled over, groaned and fell to the ground, but held on to the pigskin.
He took off his coat, threw it about 10 feet and told Heaps he wanted him to get serious and not baby it.
It was the first time Osmond had attended BYU football practice since he was 18 years old. Producers of the original Donny and Marie Show set up a shoot with LaVell Edwards for a segment in the shot. He wore a jersey with double zero and his brother Jay was the quarterback.
Jay told BYU defenders to take it easy on Donny but make it look real. Donny went over to the secondary and told them to disregard Jay and make it very real. "I went out for a pass, Jay threw it and I caught it and got hit. It was the last thing I remember that day."
Osmond offered Heaps advice about being in the public spotlight, something Donny has experienced since grade school when the Osmond brothers started their careers at Disneyland, singing on a patio.
Donny Osmond has sold over 80 million records over five decades and has achieved 33 gold records, 18 of them before the age of 13.
He knows the scrutiny the freshman Heaps can face these days.
So, why did Donny show up Wednesday? It surprised Heaps and his teammates.
I asked him.
"Jake Heaps' mom and dad came to our show in Las Vegas during the Mountain West basketball tournament and told me Jake watched every episode of '"Dancing with the Stars' and that Jake was a big fan of mine, so I wanted to meet him," said Donny.
What advice did he give Heaps?
"Do you mean from my experience of winning the Heisman Trophy, a BCS bowl and national championship?" Osmond asked. "I told him to always be mindful you are representing not only yourself, but also BYU and the LDS Church, and that the adversary knows that, and he will be trying to work on you.