BOISE, Idaho — Wednesday Weekly…July 17, 2024.
The Basketball Tournament (TBT) has its own beat writer of sorts, Ariel Puterman, and he’s done his homework on Boise State’s alumni entry, Once A Bronco. If the former Broncos are to advance, something they didn’t do the first time two years ago, Puterman thinks Marcus Shaver Jr. will be the MVP. “Shaver (had) a great season in the Czech Republic, averaging 17 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.6 assists. He shoots it well and is a smart player. If Once a Bronco wants their first win, he’ll have to be great, and he is more than capable of doing so.” But do not discount the leadership of Abu Kigab, who led Boise State to its lone Mountain West Tournament championship in 2022.
Boise State’s entry in the $1 million winner-take-all event also includes Derrick Marks, Justinian Jessup, Max Rice, Naje Smith and Thomas Bropleh, among others. The coaching staff is led by James Reid and includes Kenny Buckner, Montigo Alford and Reggie Larry. They’ll hold a prelim event, the Bronco Legends Classic, at Borah High tonight at 6 p.m. before heading to Houston for the first round. Once A Bronco, seeded sixth, takes on “Enchantment,” a team featuring former New Mexico Lobos, on Friday afternoon. Puterman likes the squad’s makeup: “A lot of alumni teams in TBT have a large amount of non-alumni on the team, so seeing this Boise State team be nearly 100% represented (by former Broncos) is great to see. Hopefully, that chemistry will translate on the court.”
JEANTY AND THE DRAFT
Dane Brugler, the respected NFL Draft analyst for The Athletic, has done his summer scouting for next year’s draft. And who’s Brugler’s top-rated running back in what he calls “one of the stronger positions among the early rounds?” That would be Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty. “If football were two-hand touch, Jeanty wouldn’t be No. 1 on this list” writes Brugler. “What separates him is how difficult it is for defenders to finish him to the ground. And Jeanty does it in different ways. Built low to the ground, he is short, but not small, with natural balance and body strength to keep his feet through contact. The burst in his movements, laterally and downhill, jumps off the screen and leaves defenders in awkward positions.” Brugler feels the Oregon game in Week 2 is key—Jeanty needs to show out against top competition.
THE 2,000-YARD GOAL
One of the biggest takeaways from Jeanty holding court at Mountain West Media Days in Las Vegas: he says his goal is to rush for 2,000 yards this season. Jeanty has a bet with offensive guard Mason Randolph, and if he does it, he’ll cut off his dreads. So let’s look at what has to happen. First, he has to beat Jay Ajayi’s school record of 1,823 yards set 10 years ago. Ajayi had a Mountain West championship game and Fiesta Bowl added in to give him 14 games. If Jeanty were to get in 14 games this season, he’d have to average 143 yards per outing. The biggest issue might be the carries he’d need to do it. If we grant Jeanty 6.1 yards per carry (last year’s number), he’d need 23.4 carries per game—328 for the season. That’s a lot, but not as many as Ajayi’s school record of 347 in 2014.
MORE MOUNTAIN WEST WRAP
One was no doubt, the other wasn’t a given. Jeanty, last season’s Mountain West Offensive Player of the Year, repeated as the Preseason pick at MW Media Days. But what about the Broncos’ Ahmed Hassanein? He was first-team all-conference last season, but five years ago he was just learning to play football after moving to the U.S. from his native Egypt. Did he have enough notoriety yet? Well, as the league’s leading returner in sacks (12.5 last year), Hassanein is a recognized individual. He and UNLV linebacker Jackson Woodard shared Preseason Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year honors last week. Hassanein had a grand total of five tackles as a freshman and 13 tackles and registered his first two sacks as a sophomore before his big breakout year in 2023.
LEADERSHIP IN THE SECONDARY
In football, they don’t name “alternate captains” the way they do in hockey. But let’s take a look at the Boise State defense. If we assume Ahmed Hassanein is going to be the captain of that unit, who’d be “alternate” captain? I’m going to nominate A’Marion McCoy, the senior cornerback who arrived last year as a junior college transfer and gained steam as the season progressed. McCoy was named Preseason First-Team All-Mountain West last week. His dad may have been noticed in the stands before A’Marion was on the field, with his arm-waving cheerleading. But soon the focus was on McCoy and his swagger. He made his first interception in October—in crunch time in the fourth quarter against San Jose State. And his third pick, tops on the team, came in the Mountain West championship game at UNLV.
JONAH HAS ONE FROM ‘60’
A marvelously fun sidebar at Mountain West Media Days: Jonah Dalmas, who had already been named Preseason First-Team All-Mountain West, met the challenge, kicking a 60-yard field goal over the massive pool—and the lounge chairs and the scantily-clad “swimmers”—at Circa Stadium Swim in Las Vegas. B.J. Rains of Bronco Nation News takes credit for the idea. Dalmas nailed it on his second try. Truth be told, 60 yards is one of Dalmas’ goals going into his fifth and final season with the Broncos. And you know another: to become the all-time leading field goal kicker in college football history.
A SMALL SCHOOL SWISS ARMY KNIFE
Catching up on Boise State recruiting: commit no. 12 is 6-5, 230-pound tight end Carter Kuchenbuch of Okanogan, WA, a small mountain community in the north-central part of the state. Kuchenbuch chose Boise State over Washington State and UCF, among others. He did everything at Okanogan, including starting at quarterback. 247 Sports analyst Brandon Huffman pointed out to KTIK’s John Patrick that at small schools, that’s what a team’s best player does (kind of like Leighton Vander Esch at Salmon River High in Riggins). Kuchenbuch is a three-star recruit, according to 247.
OTHER COUGS BACK ON THE CALENDAR
One footnote out of Mountain West Media Days, noted by KTVB’s Jay Tust, is dripping in irony. Whatever happens with the Houston athletic director’s job, we know that Boise State AD Jeramiah Dickey has a good relationship with the university that might be courting him. The Broncos-Cougars home-and-home series is set to be rescheduled, according to Dickey, with the games likely coming in 2029 and 2030. “It’s a game I want and it’s a game they said they want,” Dickey told KTVB, adding that the contract is in its final stages. Meanwhile, Joseph Duarte of the Houston Chronicle thinks UH is looking for “an experienced, sitting athletic director,” and that Dickey’s name is still in play. Duarte mentioned three other names, too. He thinks something will happen on the Houston AD front by the end of this week.
HATS OFF TO TEDFORD
He just attended Mountain West Media Days, but it turns out Fresno State’s Jeff Tedford did not get a clean bill of health from his doctors and has had to step down as head coach. It’s too bad, because Tedford is a heckuva coach and was a real asset to the Mountain West, winning two championships. He was 45-22 in two stints at Fresno State, and he’s the winningest coach in Cal history. That’s the most impressive thing of all. Tedford stepped down after a health scare following the 2019 season, when Kalen DeBoer stepped in. Tedford then returned in 2022 after DeBoer took the Washington job. Linebackers coach Tim Skipper will lead the Bulldogs in the interim. With Tedford’s resignation, there are now a whopping eight head coaches in the Mountain West who weren’t in their current positions a year ago.
STING RAY RECOVERS
Thankfully, Payette auto racer Sting Ray Robb is okay. Robb was released from Mercy One Des Moines Medical Center Sunday evening after his horrific crash at Iowa Speedway. That would seem to be nothing short of a miracle after Robb’s car went airborne and flipped twice before landing upside down in the final lap of the Indy Car Series Hy-Vee One-Step 250. It happened when Robb went over the back of Alexander Rossi’s car after Rossi abruptly slowed when he ran out of fuel. Now comes word that Robb has been medically cleared to drive in this week’s Honda Indy Toronto.
MERRITT & THE ‘MODIFIED STABLEFORD’
While the heaviest hitters are across the pond, the Barracuda Championship fills the PGA Tour bill this week at Old Greenwood in Truckee, CA. The Barracuda uses the Modified Stableford scoring format and is the only PGA Tour stop to do so. Players are allocated points based on the number of strokes taken at each hole with the goal of achieving the highest overall score. It may be confusing, but it has worked in the past for Merritt. The former Boise State star has two runnerup finishes at the tournament, in 2019 and 2020.
THE HAWKS’ SECOND HALF FOCUS
The Boise Hawks will indeed have to depend on the second half of the season to get them into the Pioneer League Playoffs in September. After splitting six games with the Glacier Range Riders, the Hawks finished the first half in a tie for fifth place, four games out of second (and a guaranteed playoff spot). Pitcher Mike Peterson probably had the most solid first half among Boise players, tied for the league lead with six wins, 6-3 overall, and fourth in ERA at 4.42. The second half began last night with the beginning of a six-game series in Great Falls, with the Hawks riding five home runs, two by Troy Viola, to win 10-6.
THIS DAY IN SPORTS…July 17, 2011:
Rallying twice to tie the match when it was on the ropes, Japan hands the United States a crushing 3-2 defeat in the finals of Women’s World Cup soccer in Frankfurt, Germany. The Americans seemed destined to win the Cup after rallying from the brink itself in the quarterfinals against Brazil. But it was the Japanese who scored with less than three minutes to go in extra time, sending the match into penalty kicks. Japan made quick work of it from there, winning the shootout 3-1 to set off a wild celebration in a country devastated just four months earlier by one of the most destructive earthquakes and tsunamis in world history.
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra and anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK. He also served as color commentator on KTVB’s telecasts of Boise State football for 14 seasons.)
