Presented by POOL SCOUTS.
Wednesday Weekly…May 28, 2025.
The holiday weekend was nothing if not interesting for the Boise State wide receivers room. First came word that Kobe Young, the former Broncos basketball player, was returning to the school—but as a wideout in football. Young had played hoops for Cal State Fullerton last season and entered the transfer portal, and he came out a different door. Then there was the news Sunday that Austin Bolt and the Boise State football team have parted ways—and that he had already been removed from the roster at BroncoSports.com.
Bolt joined the program back in 2020 as one of the state’s most decorated athletes out of Borah High, but he was plugged in at tight end as a true freshman and even practiced briefly as a defensive end. Didn’t seem like a fit, did it? Bolt also had the devastating broken leg in the 2022 opener at Oregon State. With Cam Camper and Prince Stachan gone, I had been looking forward to his sixth and final year.
We may never know what happened to spur Bolt’s departure. But after the former Lions two-sport dynamo persevered through those position changes, depth chart disadvantages and injuries, we thought we saw a door open for him when Eric McAlister hopped in the transfer portal after the Fresno State game in 2023. Bolt had just made his first career catch in the loss to the Bulldogs. It was for 33 yards, and it was almost a touchdown, nine games into his fourth season as a Bronco. He almost made a catch in 2020, and he almost had a catch in 2021. Bolt never had a chance in 2022. After all that, he finishes with 22 career receptions for 371 yards and six touchdowns.
BEST-OF-THE-CENTURY LISTS
The Athletic spent last week looking back on the first 25 years of college football in the 21st century, and Boise State appeared on three of the five “best of” lists. The Broncos actually had two of the top 25 games. No. 2 remains the 2007 Fiesta Bowl, behind the Texas-USC classic in the 2006 Rose Bowl. No. 15 is, ahem, the gut-wrenching, Rose Bowl-busting loss at Nevada in 2010. Among coaches, Chris Petersen is No. 10 for his work at Boise State and Washington: “Two undefeated seasons, seven conference championships, nine top 15 finishes, two BCS wins, four BCS/New Year’s 6 appearances, one CFP appearance, ten double-digit-win seasons in 14 years.” Whew. Then there’s best program of the 21st century. Through their big ups and a few downs, the Broncos are tabbed No. 20.
JVM IS STILL ONLY A JUNIOR
The college football offseason means lots of lists, and here’s another from ESPN.com: the 25 best non-quarterback players for 2025. And I’ll be darned if there isn’t a Boise State Bronco on it. No. 25 is Jayden Virgin-Morgan, the junior EDGE. Adam Rittenberg notes that “Ashton Jeanty rightfully commanded most of the attention around Boise State, but the Broncos had other stars, including on a defense that finished second nationally in sacks and fifth in tackles-for-loss. Virgin-Morgan shined during his first full season as a starter. He earned first-team All-Mountain West honors, leading the team in sacks and hurries. Virgin-Morgan had a dominant midseason stretch in league play, recording eight sacks, including 2.5 against Hawai’i, over five games. He will get more attention this fall but is up for the challenge.”
GO AHEAD, CALL HIM A ‘GAME MANAGER’
ESPN.com’s David Hale has divided all 136 FBS quarterback situations into 20 tiers, and Boise State and Maddux Madsen fall into Tier 7: “Consistently consistent.” Here’s how Hale puts it: “The term ‘game manager’ gets thrown around a lot, and it’s often used in place of the term ‘average.’ That’s an unfair descriptor for these players, who are game managers more in a sense of doing all the little things it takes to give their teams a chance to win.” This is his comparison: QB A: 74.9 rating, 62 percent completions, 7.1 yards per dropback, 20 TD passes and 6 interceptions. QB B: 74.7 rating, 62 percent completions, 7.4 yards per dropback, 19 TD passes and 6 picks. Pretty close, right? QB A is Madsen. QB B is former Louisville QB Tyler Shough, the third quarterback selected in the NFL draft.
‘POLICY’ OR ‘RULE’ – WHATEVER IT IS, IT’S A THING
YES, the “Boise State Rule” is going to take effect. The Broncos had everything fall into place last December, when they were the third-highest seed among FBS conference champions and landed a first-round bye in the College Football Playoff. In actuality, Boise State was No. 9 in the final CFP rankings, and many were rankled. So the CFP finally voted to go to straight seeding for this year’s tournament. The top four in the rankings—champions and non-champions—will get the first-round byes. (The top five champions will still be in the playoffs, though.) What would have happened last year under this format? Penn State would have had a bye, and the Broncos would have played in the first round at No. 8 seed Indiana. With a win (which is plausible), Boise State would have advanced against Oregon.
NNU ON D-II’S BIGGEST STAGE
Congrats to Northwest Nazarene baseball, which swiftly swept Cal State Monterey Bay in the Super Regionals in Nampa and is headed to the Division II College World Series in Cary, NC. The D II CWS is an eight-team, double-elimination tournament that lasts eight days. The Nighthawks earned the No. 5 seed and will begin against No. 4 seed UT Tyler on Saturday. NNU will play again next Monday, win or lose. Presumably staff ace Ernesto Lugo-Canchola, a first-team All-American, will be rested and ready for the opener. Lugo-Canchola went seven innings in the 14-0 win over Cal State Monterey Bay last Thursday, upping his season record to 12-0 and lowering his ERA to 1.96. The Nighthawks then beat the Otters 7-3 last Friday night to win the regional title. They’re now 44-14 on the season.
TROY PERCIVAL’S SUCCESSFUL VISIT
The Boise Hawks’ home-opening series couldn’t have gone much worse, but an old familiar face in the opposing dugout was one of the reasons. Idaho Falls manager Troy Percival guided the Chukars to five straight victories at Memorial Stadium before the Hawks salvaged a win in the finale on Sunday. Percival was converted from a 1990 catcher to a 1991 closer in Boise and was a key piece of the Hawks’ first Northwest League championship in 1991. He went on to a stellar big league career, mostly with the California/Anaheim Angels, where he is still the franchise’s all-time leader in saves. Percival reminisced about Boise in a weekend story with KTVB’s Brady Frederick. Loved his memory of floating the river on off-days. As for the Hawks, they opened a six-game series at Great Falls Tuesday night with a 15-9 win.
IT WAS OUT OF STING RAY’S CONTROL
It was not meant to be Sunday for Sting Ray Robb at the Indianapolis 500. Robb’s No. 77 car was nicked on the 91st lap when Kyle Larson lost control after a restart and hit the wall. “Just a frustrating day,” said the Payette native after the crash. “Not much to do in that scenario. For Kyle—it’s an easy mistake to make.” Larson was trying to pull the “double,” driving the Indy 500 and Coca Cola 600 in the same day. “I hate that I caused that crash and hate that others got collected in it,” said Larson. “I hate it for everybody that put a lot into making this effort possible.”
A WEALTH OF GOOD WISHES FOR ‘WOODY’
Fairly crushing news that former Boise State offensive lineman Andrew Woodruff, now a teacher at Kuna Middle School, suffered a ruptured aorta last week and had to undergo emergency open heart surgery. KTVB’s Maggie O’Mara had a good update on it Tuesday. The surgery at St. Luke’s was successful (and it saved his life), but there’s a long road to recovery for the Broncos’ 2007 Fiesta Bowl offensive guard starter. Former O-line teammate “Mad Tad” Miller has set up a GoFundMe for Woodruff and his family. He’s a great example of a former Bronco who stayed in the valley after graduation…and done good.
This Day In Sports…brought to you by CORSO ITALIAN STEAK…it’s about food, cocktails and vibe.
May 28, 1995, 30 years ago today: The Detroit Tigers and Chicago White Sox set a major league record by combining for 12 home runs in a game, a 14-12 ChiSox win at Tiger Stadium. (If only Detroit could have made that two-point conversion…) Three players hit two homers apiece in the barrage, Chicago’s Ron Karkovice and Detroit’s Chad Curtis and Cecil Fielder. Ironically, the same two teams would tie that record in 2002. But it was broken in 2019 when Arizona and Philadelphia combined for 13 home runs in a 13-8 D-Backs victory.
(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.)
VISIT OUR SCOTT SLANT SPONSOR SITES:
Bacon Boise
Zamzows
BBSI Boise
Commercial Tire
Harmon Travel
Corso Italian Steak
Pool Scouts
