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Monday, August 24, 2015
Ryan Finley has entered the building. It was more than 35 minutes late following the Boise State team hike to Table Rock, but Finley sat down next to coach Bryan Harsin and offensive coordinator Eli Drinkwitz Sunday morning and was named the Broncos’ new starting quarterback. Finley only read a brief statement, but you can tell from listening to Harsin and Drinkwitz there’s still a lot the outside world doesn’t know about the 6-4 sophomore from Phoenix. We’re about to learn much more about Finley—a week from this Friday on the field against Washington and in subsequent sessions when he’s allowed to open up to the media. What kind of quarterback does Drinkwitz expect him to be? “I expect him to be Ryan Finley, to play to his strengths,” said Drinkwitz.
Finley did nothing in Friday night’s scrimmage to lose his place in the pecking order. He was 13-of-17 for 111 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions. Take away Finley’s 45-yard completion to Chaz Anderson, and he passed for just 66 yards on 16 attempts. On the other hand, there weren’t that many yards to be had considering all the situational work the Broncos did in the red zone. Finley has been the leader in the clubhouse for a long time in this competition. with Brett Rypien, Tommy Stuart and Alex Ogle still on the course, so to speak. Drinkwitz says it was “in scrimmage No. 1” of fall camp that Finley really separated himself. Drinkwitz listed the five requirements he has for quarterbacks at Boise State and said Finley had the upper hand in all five: toughness, preparation, decision-making, accuracy and leadership.
Boise State’s running game statistics Friday night (26 carries for 57 yards) were similarly affected by the emphasis on red zone work—and because Kelsey Young didn’t have a carry. Young has an undisclosed injury but did return kicks in the scrimmage and is expected to be ready for Washington. Those 26 rushing attempts contrasted with the 60 passes thrown by the offense, with starting tailback Jeremy McNichols logging 22 yards on six carries. Maybe, just maybe, the Broncos didn’t want to give any inkling as to what they have planned for the ground game in the opener.
A couple of Boise State true freshmen established themselves as ready to play out of the gate this season. Cornerback Tyler Horton lived up to his hype Friday, looking older than his years in corralling one of the defense’s three interceptions. And wide receiver Akilian Butler had two catches for 13 yards—rather pedestrian unless you saw his magnificent one-handed grab of a pass thrown behind him. Butler could be joining redshirt freshman Sean Modster in the Broncos’ “second wave” in the wide receiver corps. Modster had four receptions for 44 yards and a touchdown in the scrimmage.
Some respect for Boise State, some incentive for Washington and Coach Pete (and a UW staff so heavily-laden with former Bronco assistants). The AP preseason poll was released yesterday, and the Broncos are No. 23, one spot higher than their ranking in the Coaches Poll. The only other Group of 5 schools receiving votes were Cincinnati with eight, BYU and Northern Illinois with two, and Western Kentucky with one. Come to think of it, that’s incentive for BYU, too.
The Sam Ukwuachu story blew up over the weekend, with Baylor coach Art Briles taking heat for accepting Ukwuachu into his program considering the defensive end’s dismissal from Boise State. Briles’ claims that he wasn’t informed of Ukwauchu’s violent past obviously struck a nerve with former Bronco coach Chris Petersen, who normally wouldn’t get involved in the affairs of other programs. Petersen issued a strongly-worded statement saying he initiated a call to Briles to inform him of the circumstances surrounding Ukwuachu’s exit. I like what sports author Paul Finebaum said on ESPN. “His (Brile’s) story just doesn’t pass the smell test,” Finebaum said. “If you’re going to put Art Briles on a screen with Chris Petersen and ask people which one you would believe in a case like this, I think most would take Chris Petersen. I know I would.”
Idaho’s season opener is just 10 days away now versus Ohio in the Kibbie Dome. The Vandals are finished with fall camp and are into game prep mode. One goal on offense is to cash in when the team gets in the red zone, something it didn’t do last year. Idaho was 114th in the nation in red zone percentage last season, converting only 72 percent of their trips into points. Furthermore, only 54 percent of the Vandals’ red zone visits produced touchdowns. Placekicker Austin Rekhow is a formidable weapon, but Idaho prefers him to be booting extra points and not field goals.
Noteworthy among former Broncos is the NFL over the weekend: Jay Ajayi did not play Miami’s 31-30 loss at Carolina due to a reaggravation of his hamstring injury. Jamar Taylor returned an interception 27 yards for the Dolphins, though. Kyle Wilson logged four tackles and two pass breakups in New Orleans’ 26-24 loss to New England as he seeks to resurrect his NFL career. Blake Renaud did something he never did as a linebacker at Boise State, scoring a touchdown as a Minnesota fullback in a 20-12 win over Oakland. Renaud had two carries for three yards overall. And Austin Pettis made four catches for 30 yards in San Diego’s 22-19 win at Arizona as he tries to catch on with the Chargers.
Destiny Slocum has settled on a future on the other side of the country. The Mountain View High senior-to-be, the nation’s No. 4 overall women’s basketball recruit in the class of 2016 according to multiple services, has committed to Maryland after reneging on her verbal to Washington in April. Slocum was the 2015 Idaho Gatorade Player of the Year after leading the Mavericks to the 5A state championship. She was a late callup to Team USA in the FIBA U19 World Championships in Russia last month and helped the Americans to the gold medal.
The Boise Hawks are into Phase II of their annual Western Idaho Fair road trip, starting a five-game series at Vancouver last night with a 7-2 loss to the Canadians. The Hawks were done in by three-run innings in the fifth and sixth, offsetting a 3-for-4 night from Terry McClure that included his fourth home run of the season. On Saturday night the Hawks wrapped up their first series sweep of the season and their first road sweep in two years when they topped the Hillsboro Hops, 6-4. McClure homered in that one, too.
The two first-round draft picks who tore it up for the Hawks the past two summers, Kris Bryant and Kyle Schwarber, were key figures in the Cubs’ 9-3 win over the Atlanta yesterday, one that completed the Cubbies’ first four-game sweep of the Braves in 47 years. Bryant socked his 18th and 19th home runs of the season in the romp. Schwarber hit his 11th homer, but it was a ball off his bat an inning earlier that cast a pall over the game. Schwarber ripped a foul down the first base line that struck a woman, sending her to the hospital on a stretcher. It was the latest in a series of fan injury incidents this season.
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August 24, 2012: The grand opening of Dona Larsen Park, the new football home for Boise city high schools, as well as Boise State track and field and Boise State softball. The Boise Braves christened the facility at the location of the old East Junior High School with a 38-24 win over the rival Borah Lions. Boise, Borah, Capital and Timberline were finally able to depart the increasingly cavernous Bronco Stadium after more than 40 years for the cozier confines of Dona Larsen. The site was also the home of the old Public School Field, where the city high schools and Boise Junior College played their games until the early 1950’s.
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment Sunday nights at 10:30PM on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra and anchors five sports segments each weekday on 93.1 The Ticket. He also served as color commentator on KTVB’s telecasts of Boise State football for 14 seasons.)
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