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Wednesday Weekly…August 6, 2025.
The preseason rankings that get the eyeballs are the AP Poll and the USA Today Coaches Poll, of course—and the Coaches Poll is out. Boise State is No. 25, the only Group of 5 team on the list. The Broncos finished 9th last year in the Coaches Poll, but this is the first time they’ve been ranked in the preseason in seven years. And remember that Boise State didn’t even appear in the Coaches Poll until Week 7 last season. That makes this year’s number interesting—what kind of a head start is it? It’s amazing that the Broncos fought their way from unranked into the top 10 in 2024. Also in the new poll, Notre Dame comes in at No. 5. The Broncos and Fighting Irish, of course, clash in South Bend on October 4. If Boise State is still ranked at that point, a close game against the Irish will not hurt the Broncos’ cause at all.
MARSHALL IS SHOWING UP
If you’re looking for the most intriguing player of Boise State fall camp, you can start and stop with wide receiver Chris Marshall. The former five-star recruit had unfortunate experiences at Texas A&M and Ole Miss—and came to Boise State as kind of a “last chance” guy. Then he made only three catches for 13 yards in four games last year and missed most of the season with an injury. Now, Marshall’s head appears to be in the right place, and by all accounts he has been a beast in practice, showing those five-star skills. Could Marshall be a go-to along with Latrell Caples? How huge would that be for the Broncos offense? The depth chart currently is Caples—and then everyone else: Marshall, Cameron Bates, Chase Penry, Ben Ford, JC transfer Demetric Whitlock, and three true freshmen.
ATTENTION DRIFTS TO THE KICKERS
Offense and defense. Defense and offense. The natural focal points of Boise State fall camp. But the Broncos lost their all-time leading scorer, kicker Jonah Dalmas, and folk-hero punter James Ferguson-Reynolds off last year’s team. Those are a couple of crucial spots. Boise State picked up UCF kicker Colton Boomer out of the transfer portal and already had Jarrett Reeser from San Diego State last season. Boomer, who beat the Broncos with a walk-off field goal two years ago, was held out of practice recently. Reeser has taken advantage of those extra reps. And at punter, Boise State took Weber State’s Oscar Doyle, an FCS Punter of the Year semifinalist last season, out of the portal. Good omen for Doyle is that—just like JFR—he’s Australian. Doyle averaged 44.4 yards per boot in 2024.
SOUTH FLORIDA IS NOT FACELESS
Bruce Feldman of The Athletic has come up with his “Freaks Lists 2025,” the strongest, fastest and most physical players in college football. And with Boise State’s opener at South Florida just over three weeks away, we’ve got to take note of this one. It’s rare that a quarterback makes the list, but USF’s Byrum Brown is No. 42. Brown missed eight games last season but had a record-setting 2023. That year, Brown and Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels were the only QBs in the nation to post 3,000-plus passing yards and 800-plus rushing yards in the regular season. This offseason, the 6-3 1/2, 232-pound senior hit 22.5 miles per hour on the GPS, squatted 600 pounds and benched 300. A quarterback, mind you.
JEANTY NEEDS SOME TOUCHES
Can’t stay away from Ashton Jeanty around here. Last weekend, the Boise State great was the highlight of a Raiders intrasquad scrimmage at Allegiant Stadium, breaking tackles and throwing T-shirts into the stands. Reports say that coach Pete Carroll plans to play his starters Thursday night against, ironically, the Seahawks in Seattle (although some of them may have been trying to connect too many dots). But that means we may get to see Jeanty in real silver and black for the first time, at least for a few snaps off the bat. I would think Carroll would want to see some carries from Jeanty even though his spot in the backfield is secure. The fact remains: Ashton has never taken the field against NFL competition, and he shouldn’t wait until the week after Labor Day to do so.
SO FAR, SO GOOD FOR HASSANEIN
Former Boise State star Ahmed Hassanein did indeed become the first Egyptian to suit up in an NFL game last Thursday. Now let’s hope Hassanein gets to repeat the feat in the regular season. The Detroit Lions sixth-round draft pick logged four tackles, two of them solo, at the Hall of Fame Game in Canton, OH. And we got to see a patented Hassanein celebration. On the other side of the field for the victorious Chargers was former Bronco Scott Matlock, who had what has become a typical box score line for him as a fullback-slash-defensive end: one carry for two yards, plus one tackle.
THOSE DARN HIGH ANKLE SPRAINS
It’ll be touch-and-go for Khalil Shakir in the Buffalo Bills’ opener on September 7, as the former Boise State star suffered a high ankle sprain in practice last Friday. Bills head coach Sean McDermott says Shakir will be week-to-week, and the way high ankle sprains go, his recovery could last a while. It’s a bummer not only for Shakir, who signed a four-year contract extension about six months ago, but also for Buffalo. He was the Bills leader in both catches and yards last season and had exactly one dropped pass. Shakir was also nails in the NFL Playoffs, making 20 catches on the way to the AFC Championship Game.
ALLEN’S ULTIMATE SACK DANCE
The best player in Idaho State Bengals history is now enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, OH. Jared Allen played at ISU from 2000 to 2003, when he became the first Big Sky player ever to win the Buck Buchanan Award as the best defensive player in the FCS. Allen gave his ISU coach, Larry Lewis, a shout-out at the induction ceremony Saturday for converting him from outside linebacker to defensive end, setting the table for what was to come. And he went viral when he split his pants while mimicking his old sack dance. Allen wasn’t taken until the fourth round of the 2004 NFL Draft, but he soon overachieved that pick, recording nine sacks as a rookie with Kansas City. He produced 43 sacks for the Chiefs and 85 more for the Minnesota Vikings. Allen also played for Chicago and Carolina.
THE VANDALS HAVE THEIR QB
Fall camp is crankin’ at Idaho, too, and the focus for new coach Thomas Ford has been at quarterback. Former coach Jason Eck took last year’s starter, Jack Layne, with him to New Mexico, so the Vandals went into the transfer portal and grabbed Joshua Wood from Fresno State. And a post from Idaho Football on X on Sunday simply called him “QB1.” Wood started for the Bulldogs in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl last December after Mikey Keene entered the portal. Wood went 16-of-23 for 180 yards and a touchdown in the Bulldogs’ 28-20 double-overtime loss to Northern Illinois on the blue turf.
THOSE LONG AUGUST TRAVELS AWAIT THE HAWKS
The Boise Hawks are into their last homestand before their annual Western Idaho Fair roadtrip. And they have to make it count against Grand Junction, as next week they have 12 games in California versus two teams above them in the Pioneer League standings, the Yuba-Sutter High Wheelers and the first-place Oakland Ballers. The Hawks were coming off a road sweep at the hands of Idaho Falls when they returned to Memorial Stadium Tuesday night, and the Jackalopes handed them a 14-7 loss. Boise is 36-31 and in sixth place in the 12-team Pioneer League.
MERIDIAN’S NATIONAL CHAMP
Mountain View High alum Lexy Halladay-Lowry is a national champion after winning the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Eugene on Saturday. Halladay-Lowry, the recent BYU grad, made her first big mark as a pro by legging it out over the final two laps to take the race by nearly two seconds. The victory qualifies her for the World Championships in Tokyo next month. Former Boise State great Allie Ostrander, a three-time NCAA champion in the event, scratched from the final due to mental and physical fatigue. And former Bronco Kristie Schoffield did not qualify in the 800 meters.
This Day In Sports…brought to you by BACON BOISE…shipping bacon across the nation!
August 6, 2010, 15 years ago today: Boise State lands its highest preseason ranking ever in the USA Today Coaches Poll, coming in at No. 5 behind Alabama, Ohio State, Florida and Texas. It was also the highest preseason spot in history for a non-BCS school. The Broncos had finished the previous season with their highest ranking of any kind: No. 4 after going undefeated and beating TCU in the Fiesta Bowl. But, as any coach will tell you, “It’s not where you start, it’s where you finish.” Boise State ended the season at No. 7 the following January.
(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.)
