BOISE, Idaho — Wednesday Weekly: July 12, 2023
It’s kind of obvious that Boise State is going into the great unknown this year on the defensive line, a position that is already sack-challenged. Here’s where the Broncos have been the past three full seasons in the sacks department: 30 last year, 28 in 2021 and 40 in 2019. Of the 30 sacks last year, players responsible for 18 of them are gone. And getting pressure on Michael Penix Jr. at Washington in the opener seems to be Boise State’s only hope. The Broncos need EDGE Demitri Washington to take the torch and run with it. Washington had 4.5 sacks as a redshirt freshman in 2019 and appeared to be Curtis Weaver’s heir-apparent. Then injuries derailed him. Washington bounced back with another 4.5 sacks last year and is now the one experienced graybeard as a super senior.
FOR ONE FAVORITE SON, IT AIN’T OVER YET
B.J. Rains, that fountain of Bronco Nation News information, tweeted yesterday that he hears former Borah High star Austin Bolt will be ready for Boise State fall camp. Coming out of August last year, teammates called Bolt the fastest player on the squad. Then Corvallis happened. You can still hear the “Oh no, that’s Austin Bolt” groan from Boise State faithful in the stands. In the opener at Oregon State, on the second half kickoff, Bolt went down with a leg injury and was carried off the field. He has not been seen publicly around the team since. But nobody said the wide receiver was gone for good. Bolt came close to stretch-the-field catches at Hawaii in 2020 and on the Blue versus New Mexico in 2021. But amazingly, he’s still looking for his first reception. Nothing would make local fans happier that seeing Austin Bolt succeed.
THE SNEAKY INFLUENCE OF ANALYSTS
Those Boise State staff additions coach Andy Avalos announced last Friday included a couple of intriguing nuggets. It’s not as big a coup as getting Dirk Koetter to be an offensive analyst, but Avalos’ addition of Lance Anderson as “offensive senior analyst” is a good get. Anderson has been in college coaching for 25 years and spent the last 16 seasons at Stanford. He was the Cardinals’ interim head coach when David Shaw resigned last fall. And the addition of Tyler Rausa as a special teams assistant goes without saying. Rausa will be able to work with Jonah Dalmas, who broke his Boise State single-season field goals record two years ago. Rausa quoted Coach Pete in a tweet: "The number one responsibility of a position coach is to develop confidence." Dalmas with even more confidence? Look out.
CSU HOPES IT’S NOT A MIRAGE
Colorado State football always get a bad rap around the Mountain West, and in Boise it’s no exception. CSU has that shiny new stadium and talks a lot about its Power 5 worthiness, but the results on the field don’t stand up. Year after year. Now the Rams and coach Jay Norvell have one of the school’s highest-ranked commits ever, four-star wide receiver Jordan Ross of Downey, CA. “I say the same thing every time: ‘I felt like home. Those dudes give me love, loyalty,’” Ross said in The Athletic. “That’s all I need from a college.” So it appears Boise State doesn’t have a corner on the Love Boat market. According to 247 Sports, Ross also had offers from Arizona, Auburn, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Utah and Washington, among others. So inquiring minds want to know: is this the breakthrough that finally launches the Rams?
POWER 5 IN THE OL’ PAVILION?
The aforementioned Rains reported Monday that the contract is signed between Boise State men’s hoops and Clemson. The Broncos will visit the Tigers on November 19 ahead of the ESPN Events Invitational in Orlando. That Boise State would play an early-season game on the road at a Power 5 school is not news. That the Broncos will get a home game in return is. Clemson will play in Boise late in 2024. The last Power 5 team to face the Broncos at what is now ExtraMile Arena was Oregon eight years ago (a 74-72 Boise State win). Believe it or not, Clemson will be only the third ACC team Boise State has ever played. The Broncos fell at North Carolina State in 2014 and to Georgia Tech on a neutral court in 2019. (Louisville wasn’t in the ACC either time Boise State played the Cardinals in the NCAA Tournament.)
SETTING THE PERSONAL BAR HIGH
You may not have heard Boise State’s Tyson Degenhart say this out loud, but he said it in an interview with Mountain West Wire recently. “My personal goal is to be Mountain West Player of the Year,” Degenhart told the Wire. “I was first-team last year and we still have a lot of great players in the league like Isaiah Stevens coming back, Lamont Butler, and Jaelen House. As long as I take care of business and help our team win, that could definitely be on the table.” Degenhart, of course, began his career as Mountain West Freshman of the Year before becoming an all-conference first-teamer in Year 2. So it’s a natural progression, right? His points-per-game went from 9.9 to 14.1 and his assists from 30 to 61. But because he had to play the post on defense last season, his steals went from 27 to 12. That will change.
GOOD FOR GATES
One of Boise’s favorite coaching sons (I suppose Anchorage would claim him, too) has landed on his feet in the NBA, as we all knew he would. Bryan Gates, a Boise State grad who never played basketball there, began his career as a volunteer coach under Bobby Dye with the Idaho Stampede and later led the Stampede to the 2008 D League championship. Gates has now joined Jason Kidd’s staff with the Dallas Mavericks. He spent the last two seasons with Monty Williams and the Phoenix Suns. Williams was fired after the NBA Playoffs, along with his staff. The upcoming season will be Gates’ 15th as an assistant in the NBA. Since leaving the Stampede in 2009 with a 100-50 record, Gates has coached for the Kings (twice), the Pelicans, the Timberwolves (twice) and the Suns. Would love to see him as a head coach someday.
A WORTHY ROAD TRIP FOR STEELIES FANS
There’s going to be a new regional rival for the Idaho Steelheads. About 15 years ago it was rumored to be Reno, but that fizzled out over time. The new team is going to be at Lake Tahoe, and it’s going to be owned by former Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow. It’ll play at the new Tahoe Blue Events Center. The club doesn’t have a name yet, but the “Tahoe Blues” sounds like a natural. This will be the ECHL’s 29th franchise—set to begin play in the fall of 2024. Tahoe be the second-closest team to the Steelheads, next to the Utah Grizzlies. There was a time when the Steelies had regional foes left and right in places like Bakersfield, Stockton, Victoria, B.C., Las Vegas and Ontario, CA. Now it’s the likes of Allen, Rapid City and Wichita. It’ll be nice to see more mountains in the ECHL’s Mountain Division.
DETOUR TO EDINBURGH
A funny thing happened to Troy Merritt on his way to Nicholasville, KY. As Merritt tweeted yesterday, “Golf is a strange game, and you have to be willing to adjust your schedule on the fly. As I was traveling to the Barbasol Championship, I received word that I got into the field for the Scottish Open. I made the tough decision to change my itinerary, and will be headed East.” That’s way East in a short period of time, as the tournament started this morning. And Merritt is passing on the Barbasol, one of his two PGA Tour victories five years ago. But the Scottish Open is a better opportunity, as the top three qualify for the Open Championship (British Open). And Merritt finally has momentum following two straight top 20 finishes after tying for 17th last week at the John Deere Classic and pocketing just under $113,000.
HAWKS & THE ‘FIRST HALF’
There are four games left in the first half of the Pioneer League season—that’s four games left for the Boise Hawks to catch the Ogden Raptors for the first half title in the South Division. After last night’s 7-6 win over Billings, though, the Hawks still trail Ogden by 3½ games. At least Boise is within shouting distance—last season the Hawks finished 17-31 in the first half. Currently, the Hawks have won five of their last six games and are 25-19 going into tonight’s contest against Billings.
THIS DAY IN SPORTS…July 12, 2015:
Martin Piller breaks the Albertsons Boise Open scoring record by winning the tournament at 28-under par at Hillcrest Country Club. Piller led wire-to-wire after carding a 10-under 61 in the first round. He was one stroke short of the Web.com Tour record of 29-under. Piller’s fourth career Web.com victory moved him to No. 4 on the money list, ensuring him of a PGA Tour card for the 2015-16 season. It was the last of a three-year run in July for the Boise Open, which would become part of the Web.com (now Korn Ferry) Tour Finals and move back to September the following season.
(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.)
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