Strength; maturity, you get a man rather than a kid. Fewer discipline issues overall less trouble. Gives the school a chance at a kid that they may not of been able to get otherwise. Because of maturity they have already began to fill out.
Weakness; sometimes priorities change, many get married, sometimes they decide football is not for them anymore. Additionally, if they are good enough other schools are watching for when they come home. Also as stated above priorities change, some quit playing after a couple of years.
Most the time you redshirt mission kids, sometimes they have arrived early enough they can get in shape as Dallin Collins did, starting at center his first year. Right now we have three returned mission kids, four until Page retired early. There are at least three who were going to go on missions who didn't. If you are able to get them when they come back and balance your classes accordingly mission kids can be advantages as BYU has shown. They get two years to grow up and depending on the Mission people where they go some are even able to lift while on the mission, happens rarely.
