Boise State Broncos' senior class is smallest in country

The Boise State football team signed 17 new recruits on Feb. 2, 2005.

Only two of them are still here.

That's why the Broncos will enter this season with - by far - the smallest senior class in college football, according to research conducted by South Carolina. Boise State has four seniors; South Carolina and Duke are second with nine.

"There was a lot of potential with my class," senior tight end Richie Brockel said. "Everybody was kind of always thinking, 'These guys are going to be awesome.' You look around and you're like, 'Where did everybody go?' We were trying to figure that out the other day."

Brockel and cornerback Kyle Wilson are the two 2005 signees still on the roster. The other two seniors are wide receiver Michael Choate and cornerback Garcia Day, who transferred from other schools. A fifth senior, former walk-on Andy Silsby, is serving as a student coach because of a knee injury.

How did the Broncos end up here?

This class was undersized from the start because of heavy attrition in the 2004 senior class, which reduced the number of scholarships available. Plus, four of the 2005 recruits were college transfers - including defensive tackle Dennis Ellis, wide receiver Jerard Rabb and center Jadon Dailey, three integral pieces of the Fiesta Bowl team in 2006.

Of the 13 freshman signees, three never arrived, five washed out of the program and one suffered a career-ending injury - a collection of players that includes quarterbacks Nick Lomax and Kyle Seevers, kicker Jameson Davis, offensive lineman Cameron Filkins, wide receiver Aiona Key and cornerback Tristan Patin.

And two of the four remaining freshmen left early to turn pro - cornerback Orlando Scandrick (a fifth-round NFL draft pick in 2008) and wide receiver Jeremy Childs (undrafted in 2009).

That leaves just Wilson and Brockel - the only senior starters on the team and its unquestioned leaders.

"I look at Richie and (Wilson) as the leaders of the leaders," said Choate, who walked on in 2007. "They have been here the longest. When stuff starts to go the wrong way, they're really the guys that I see trying to pick people up."

The small senior class has encouraged younger players to step into leadership roles. The offensive and defensive lines, for example, don't have a senior between them. The Broncos don't have a senior quarterback, either - and that's the guy who usually organizes summer practices.

Junior defensive end Ryan Winterswyk, sophomore center Thomas Byrd, sophomore starting quarterback Kellen Moore, junior wide receiver Austin Pettis and junior safety Jeron Johnson are among the players who have filled the void.

"We have a lot of guys who have a lot of game experience and can fill in leadership roles," Brockel said. "We've always had a lot of young leaders on this team."

That's the way coach Chris Petersen wants it. He didn't name full-time captains last season because he wants leadership spread throughout the team.

He named Wilson and Brockel captains this year because they were universally considered the team leaders - capable of making this a small but influential senior class.

"You've got two strong leader-type guys who just do so many things correctly from academics to how they practice, how they treat guys," Petersen said. "They really understand the culture and how things go around here. É One of the mistakes so many people and teams can make is just assuming that your best players are your leaders. Those are mutually exclusive entities. When your best players are strong leaders, you've got something special."

Petersen hopes to avoid such a small class in 2014. He could do that by adding junior-college players who fit into that class, playing some true freshmen from the 2011 recruiting class and giving scholarships to some 2010 walk-ons.

The Broncos only have four scholarship freshmen slated to join the program next year.

"You need more balance (in classes) than we have right now," Petersen said.

The upside is that the Broncos expect to return 22 of 24 starters next year - another number that likely would lead the nation.

"It's never that easy," Petersen said.

Just look at that 2005 recruiting class.