WAC football notebook: Utah State QB Borel is a multidimensional playmaker

The Boise State football coaches compare Utah State quarterback Diondre Borel to a basketball point guard.

He's fast, he changes directions in a blink, he distributes the football with sound judgment and he can turn the best-planned defense to mush with his legs.

"He can start and stop and make you miss and then accelerate," Boise State coach Chris Petersen said. "He changes directions on a dime."

Borel, a junior, has used those skills to lead the WAC in total offense and transform what once was an anemic offense into one of the league's most productive.

Borel averages 231.5 passing yards and 43.3 rushing yards per game - giving him more total yards than Nevada's Colin Kaepernick or Boise State's Kellen Moore.

He also is the only quarterback in the nation with a lower interception percentage than Moore going into Friday's game against Boise State in Logan, Utah (7:30 p.m., ESPN2). Borel has 13 touchdown passes and three interceptions.

"When we came here, our evaluation of Diondre was he was an athlete playing quarterback," first-year Utah State coach Gary Andersen said. "Now he's a quarterback who's an athlete. ... I'm extremely proud of his progression."

Utah State has lost four games by a touchdown or less, turning what could have been a breakthrough season into a frustrating 3-7 campaign. Borel and sophomore tailback Robert Turbin (112.2 ypg), however, have provided hope for the future.

"I've seen their best shot on tape," Petersen said, "and it's pretty good."

For the Aggies to challenge Boise State, they're going to need a much better performance from Borel than they got last year.

Borel (6-foot, 187 pounds), who was moved from wide receiver to quarterback in 2008, looked lost when the Aggies visited Bronco Stadium. He was benched after four possessions - then-coach Brent Guy said Borel "wasn't seeing things" - and finished with 47 yards of offense and two turnovers, including a fumble returned for a touchdown.

"I knew I needed to work on my pocket presence and going through reads," Borel said. "I didn't play quarterback for a whole year. ... You've got to learn everything - what the defense is doing, who's blocking who. I don't think I was ready for all that."

The Broncos say Borel is more developed this year. He also plays in an offense that keeps defenses on their toes with an unpredictable variety of schemes that has included the wishbone, wing-T, triple-I (three backs stacked behind the quarterback) and five receivers on one side of the field.

The goal: Outnumber the defense so Borel and Turbin can get into the open field. The scheme is similar to the wildcat formations that many teams use in small doses.

"It's wildcat every play," Boise State defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox said. "And he can throw it."

And scariest to Wilcox and the Broncos, Borel can scramble for a big play when the defense does everything right. Quarterbacks like that, Wilcox said, give coordinators "an uneasy feeling."

Even when defenses assign a player to spy Borel, as the Broncos likely will, they don't always stop him. They have to catch him first.

"I've never seen anything like it," Turbin said. "... The way that he makes people miss and the way he moves, it's different."

And, just like a point guard, Borel is the offensive catalyst.

"They play off the quarterback," Boise State senior cornerback Kyle Wilson said. "When he gets rolling and scrambling and making plays for other guys, too, they seem to be hitting on all cylinders."