Ryan Finley needs work.

And that’s a good thing.

Imagine if Finley were lighting up Boise State scrimmages with good stats. If Finley had thrown 34-60 for 361 yards, 2 touchdowns and 1 interception over the 2 scrimmages like Rypien did we may have a controversy on our hands.

And a transfer threat.

Instead, Boise State has a starting capable quarterback who will push Rypien and provide the team a confidence building back up if Rypien is injured.

Over the 2 scrimmages, Finley was 16-24 for 109 yards and 0 touchdowns. He mostly threw short passes and didn’t go deep into his reads. His timing seemed off with some of the receivers. He really hasn’t had as much work as you would think for a red shirt junior. He arrived hurt, had shoulder surgery, worked the scout team, blew out his ankle 2 games into his sophomore season and just finished spring ball.

That’s it.

I think that is the biggest reason Finley was convinced he needed to stay at Boise State. He needs the work. He can always get his degree and transfer for a season. He is smart, mobile and competitive. He has good size and if he can gain 15-20 pounds of muscle and get some quality reps before he enters the NFL draft, some team will want a closer look at a 6’4 215 pound QB who can move.

When a quarter back doesn’t play much in games or scrimmages, he needs work at reading coverages and seeing what a defense is trying to do to him. He needs to work on dropping back and looking for safeties and blitzing defensive players.

Spring Game dot dot dot

I counted 11 players not suited up for the scrimmage. Most were without casts and crutches so I assume they will be back for the Fall…without Thomas Sperbeck and Chaz Anderson available, Sean Modster and Cedrick Wilson took a lot of reps and played well… I thought A.J. Richardson also stood out.  Richardson had academic and knee trouble out of high school in 2013. He grey shirted at Boise State that fall. He was a Cal commit at one time but changed his mind late and went with Coach Pete. He is only a red shirt sophomore…I watched Auburn transfer Will Adams on the o-line and thought he did a great job for the most part. While the defense ended up with 5 sacks, I thought the pass protection was good for the bigger part of the scrimmage… Darreon Jackson, a red shirt freshman safety from Kansas, also made some great plays on defense. Jackson could have gone to Kansas or Kansas State and once committed to Texas Tech but choose Boise State. He came here looking to play as a freshman or, at the least, start for 4 years. Could be a player to watch…another offensive plus was Devan Demas. He made defenders miss on his 7 carries for 42 yards and fantastic 21 yard TD run as well. What a plus he would be to the run game if he could consistently provide 7-10 runs per game with the occasional explosive play…

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