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Wednesday Weekly: April 8, 2026.
Less than two weeks into Boise State spring football, Rasean Jones appears to be a big hit. The 6-2 true freshman wide receiver out of Rocky Mountain has been getting as many props as anybody on the roster. But when you reflect on Jones’ stats at Rocky last year, it gets you thinking about the “McWeapon.” Jones caught 17 passes for 345 yards and two touchdowns as a senior, but he rushed for 629 yards and 10 TDs and averaged 14.3 yards per carry. Jeremy McNichols was first a wide receiver at Boise State and burned his redshirt year to play that position in 2014. Then he earned the McWeapon nickname and became the ninth-leading career rusher in Broncos history and is now a Washington Commander. Could Rasean Jones be Boise State’s new McWeapon? File that away.
IT’S ‘NEXT MATT UP’ AT TIGHT END
Matt Wagner goes into his junior year as a Bronco with his name in dark pencil in the starting spot at tight end. Wagner’s now the veteran presence at that position, and he has all the attributes of the Matt that preceded him, as the graduated Matt Lauter was the first Boise State tight end since Jake Roh to stretch the field and was an efficient run-blocker. Wagner showed that ability last season, as he made 24 catches last season and averaged 10.5 yards per grab. He was already a force in the run game. Wagner’s playmaking isn’t reflected in one stat line: touchdowns. He didn’t score his first career TD until the final game of the regular season last year—and it was a big one, at Utah State as the Broncos needed every point to get to the Mountain West championship game.
SEARCHING FOR MANY HAPPY RETURNS
Boise State special teams coach Stacy Collins has taken aim this spring on kickoff and punt returns, an area of frustration for the Broncos in 2025. Malik Sherrod was supposed to be the cure last year after transferring from Fresno State, but the guy who infamously burned Boise State with a 95-yard kickoff return for the Bulldogs going into halftime in 2023 couldn’t replicate anything like that last season. Punt returns were confounding, as Sherrod averaged just 5.2 yards on those. The Broncos have not had a punt return longer than 25 yards since Khalil Shakir in 2021. Needless to say, they haven’t run one back for a touchdown since then either. Sophomore wide receiver Quinton Brown is getting a long look as punt returner in spring football. I like that idea—Brown’s a burner.
BULLETIN: NOT LEAVING
I agree with social media posters who note how sad it is that announcements of college players staying put is a thing now. Boise State basketball had two more of those this week: Bhan Buom and Ethan Lathan. The 6-8 Buom averaged just four minutes per game this past season, but they became more significant minutes as the season progressed. The 6-10 Lathan only logged 10 minutes all season—the most we saw of him was in the postgame newcomers scrimmage against Idaho last October. This is where the Broncos’ reputation as a “developmental program” comes into focus. Buom and Lathan are “to-be-developed.”
WHAT IS CAMPBELL CONSIDERING?
I usually don’t spend time on Boise State “maybes” in the transfer portal, but former Owyhee High star Liam Campbell has me wondering. Campbell was a redshirt freshman this season at Saint Mary’s, where he averaged 4.9 points over 33 games and shot 52 percent from three-point range. He’s among the many Gaels to enter the transfer portal since coach Randy Bennett’s departure to Arizona State. Campbell had one of his best games of the season in the NCAA Tournament, scoring 15 points with five rebounds in a 63-50 Saint Mary’s loss to Texas A&M. Now, would he ever consider coming home? We claimed Drew Fielder as a local, when in fact he headed for an academy after playing two seasons at Rocky Mountain. Campbell was a very visible star at Owyhee.
DEGGIE: ONE YEAR LATER
Tyson Degenhart’s first pro season is over, and he was on Idaho SportsTalk yesterday to talk about it. Boise State’s career scoring leader played 52 games for Raptors 905, Toronto’s G League affiliate, including 14 in the league’s Tipoff Tournament. During the regular season, Degenhart averaged 22½ minutes per game and averaged 9.3 points and 3.1 rebounds. “It was just a blessing to live out a childhood dream,” he told Prater & The Ballgame. “I think I really got better on the defensive end, especially with the caliber of players we have in the G League.” Is Degenhart getting closer to the NBA? “Definitely closer than when I started,” he said. Right now Degenhart s getting ready for the NBA Summer League, although he says those plans are still up in the air.
LOOKING TO ADD TO THE FRONT END OF THEIR RECORD
Next up for Athletic Club Boise is a trip to Lancaster, CA, where AV Alta FC is on the docket on Saturday. AC Boise goes into the match at 1-1-1, while Alta is one of four of the 17 teams in USL League One that is winless. ACB has tallied four goals in its first three games. Nobody has scored two yet, as Denys Kostyshyn got the game-winner in the opener at Sarasota, Philip Mayaka and Luan Brito connected at Omaha, and Nick Moon collected the club’s first home goal last Saturday. AC Boise will be back on its home pitch at Expo Idaho next Saturday versus Westchester SC.
LAST TIME AROUND WITH THE GRIZZLIES
Once upon a time, it seemed like every other Idaho Steelheads series was against the Utah Grizzlies. Not so this season, as the teams played Tuesday night for only the seventh time. It was the final time, with the Grizzlies prevailing 3-2. Thing is, it was the final, final time after 248 games, as the Idaho-Utah rivalry is over. The Grizzlies are relocating to Trenton, NJ, next season and will become the Trenton Ironhawks. The all-time series ends with the Steelies leading 148-71-29. The Steelheads finish the regular season with three games in three days at Tulsa this weekend. Then prep begins for the Kelly Cup Playoffs, where they play the Allen Americans in the first round—home ice is still to be determined.
This Day In Sports…brought to you by HARMON TRAVEL…official sponsor of Boise State athletics.
April 8, 2013: Rick Pitino becomes the first head coach ever to win a national championship at two different schools, leading Louisville to an 82-76 victory over Michigan in an entertaining NCAA title game. Pitino had guided Kentucky to the title in 1996. The Cardinals, who were the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament, won their first national crown since 1986 on the same day Pitino was named as an inductee into the Basketball Hall of Fame. The word “shame” came into play when Pitino was implicated in a federal investigation involving bribes to recruits, which resulted in Louisville firing him for cause in October of 2017. He now, of course, coaches at St. John’s.
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)
