BOISE, Idaho — Editor's note: The above video introduces USC transfer Jack Sears, who will likely start for the Broncos on Saturday against Ait Force.
Boise State starting quarterback Hank Bachmeier and starting safety JL Skinner will not play in the Air Force game on Saturday.
Bachmeier and Skinner were on a list of 29 players that did not travel to Colorado Springs. Mountain West rules limit travel parties to 74 players, which means not everyone on the roster can travel to road games.
Boise State confirmed that Bachmeier and Skinner are not missing the contest due to disciplinary issues.
Bachmeier led the Broncos to a 42-13 season-opening win over Utah State last Saturday. The sophomore completed 20-of-28 passes for 268 yards and totaled up four touchdowns against the Aggies. It was just the fourth time in the Bryan Harsin Era that Boise State had a player throw for at least three touchdowns while also scoring at least once on the ground in a single game.
Boise State also reported that one individual tested positive for COVID-19 this week. However, they are not revealing the identity of the individual.
So how long could that player be out? That depends on the severity of his symptoms.
The Mountain West is adhering to CDC and NCAA Resocialization Guidelines and the American Medical Society’s cardiac protocols, which recommend asymptomatic individuals not exercise for at least 10 days. Those with mild-to-moderate symptoms could have that window extended up to 14 days or as long as an individual is symptomatic.
According to Boise State, any individual that tests positive is required to isolate for 10 days. That individual would then need to be symptom feed for 24 hours without medication before he can resume team activities.
While only 74 players could actually suit up for the season-opener due to Mountain West guidelines, Boise State reported zero positive COVID-19 tests amongst their players last week, something they deemed a victory in itself.
"That's one of the biggest challenges," Harsin said on Saturday night. "I'm not going to say that we have it figured out but I think we have a solid process."
"It means a lot to us to know that we had everybody going into this week," added senior linebacker Riley Whimpey at the postgame press conference. "Hopefully we can keep that up."
"I challenged everybody in this building," Harsin said. "'Alright, we know that works, how do we recreate that again? How do we do it again next week?' We've all seen teams that have played for a couple of weeks and then the next week everybody's out. I don't know the reason why. I don't know how it happens. We've tried to ask as many questions and tried to gain as much knowledge as we can.
"I feel like from the way that we meet, eat and all the other things that we have to do, we're doing it with the best practices right now that we know of," Harsin continued. "I hate to say you kind of keep your fingers crossed, but that's what we have to do because we don't really know any other ways than what we're doing right now to control this better than what we're doing. I'm sure we're going to learn along the way."
On the field, the learning process on how to win without Bachmeier in 2020 begins.
A year ago, Boise State coaches were about to figure it out. When Bachmeier went down with a shoulder injury in mid-October, then-senior Jaylon Henderson and current junior Chase Cord filled in nicely, leading the Broncos to a 5-1 record in the absence of Bachmeier. Henderson has since graduate and we don't really know what is going on with Cord. (More on him in a moment.)
That means that junior Jack Sears will likely make his first start for the Broncos. The USC grad transfer made his Boise State debut last Saturday. He played a handful of snaps throughout the game and completed 2-of-3 passes for 11 yards and rushed twice for eight yards.
Behind Sears, the Broncos are thin on experience at quarterback. Junior Chase Cord is still on the roster and seems like an obvious option, but Boise State has been vague about his availability for weeks now.
"We're working through some of Chase's things right now, just with him being healthy," Harsin said on Oct. 10
At that press conference, Harsin explained that the rehab process for some players with previous existing injuries was impacted due to the pandemic.
That begs the question: Will Cord miss the entire upcoming season?
"It's always an option. I don't want to go that far right now," Harsin said. "But he's been through a lot with the injuries. I've told you guys this, Chase Cord is as tough of a guy that I've been around. But you've got to be healthy.
"I love Chase," Harsin added. "We've got to make sure that we're far and this is the right thing."
That leaves Boise State with two true freshmen behind Sears on the depth chart. Cade Fennegan had a highly productive prep career, but he is coming off of a two-year mission to Argentina and hasn't played in a game at any level since the fall of 2017. Then there is Timberline High alumnus Andy Peters, a local walk-on that graduated from high school early so he could enroll in January and be with the team during spring camp.
"Andy Peters, I've been really impressed with him," Harsin said in early October. "Cade Fennegan is coming on. I feel good about where he's at. He's a freshman at the quarterback position so he has a lot to learn, but he's one of those guys that could go out there and wing it just enough and make plays and do something things because he can run. It's not necessarily how we want to go into a game, but this guy has got some pretty good feel and guys that have feel can do some stuff out there on the field."
The only positive about all this is that Boise State has been preparing for it. Due to the unpredictability of when a player might test positive, Harsin said there was extra emphasis placed on getting everyone reps during fall camp.
"Which you don't want is all of a sudden now you have to make everything up on a Friday night and start walking through a bunch of stuff until two in the morning because he didn't get enough reps in practice," he said. "I think coach Kiesau has done a good job of balancing that. Jack has got a good amount of reps, some of those young guys have got a good amount of reps."
Will it be enough to go on the road and win against the only team in the Mountain West that Harsin doesn't have a winning record against?
We're about to find out.
Watch more Boise State Football:
See all of our Boise State football coverage in our YouTube playlist: