It’s not the football lessons George Iloka will remember from his career at Boise State.

The senior free safety arrived here as a 17-year-old from Houston, a “greenshirt” who graduated from high school a semester early at the last minute and joined the program in January.

Now he’s a 21-year-old NFL prospect.

“Before you grow as a football player, you have to grow as a man,” Iloka said. “I consider myself a young man now. I’ve grown here, and all that’s thanks to the coaches … all these guys who have molded me into the man I am today. Growing off the field, life skills, learning how to treat other people, learning how to carry yourself, how to be a good citizen — it’s helped my play.”

From the beginning, it was clear that Iloka had the talent and desire to become a playmaker for the Broncos. He made his first start in 2008 at Oregon — the third game of his true freshman season — and was the Broncos’ free safety for 48 straight games before moving to cornerback last week against Wyoming to patch a hole.

He’s expected to start at corner again for Senior Day on Saturday against New Mexico (4 p.m., The Mtn.).

“George is an amazing athlete, as everyone knows,” junior wide receiver Chris Potter said. “But he’s a hard worker. He just has a passion for the game that you don’t really see in a lot of guys. I always think back to the summertime, when we were doing 7-on-7, we’d always have to tell him to just kind of calm down because he wanted to win so bad.”

What Iloka (6-foot-3, 213 pounds) lacked was the maturity that the Broncos program demands.

“George used to be a guy who would just take care of himself,” defensive backs coach Marcel Yates said. “Now he’s starting to bring other guys along. He is coaching other guys up on and off the football field. … What we’ve been going through (in the secondary) this year, he’s shown a lot — being positive, meeting with guys on their own, getting guys to see stuff through his eyes.”

The other day, Iloka told a Broncos freshman a story about his first year. He left the dorms after one semester and moved in with cornerback Kyle Wilson and safety Jeron Johnson, who are playing in the NFL.

Iloka remembers playing video games one evening while Wilson was in the back yard using “this raggedy bench press” for an extra workout. He also watched Wilson perform extra footwork drills on weekends. Eventually, he joined in.

“I emulated that,” Iloka said. “… Not only did they teach me how to carry myself and how to live on my own … they taught me the things you do off the field that affect what you do on the field.”

Through those relationships, Iloka became a bigger part of the team. The Broncos hold unity competitions every year with teams drafted by the coaches.

Early in his career, nobody wanted Iloka on his team.

“I almost wanted to say, ‘You’re not doing these. You go sit in the corner,’ ” coach Chris Petersen said. “We take that stuff as it’s important to have fun, to compete, to get close as a team. His mindset on that whole thing was not what we’re all about.”

Iloka was tagged as “immature” — a label he decided last year that he would erase.

“I want to change my image a little bit before I leave,” he told the Idaho Statesman in August 2010.

Fifteen months later, there’s no doubt he has — and his maturity shows on the field. He was named to the All-Western Athletic Conference first team last year and looks like a lock for the All-Mountain West first team this year.

“He opened up his heart and mind to the whole (unity) process and figured out that, first of all, it’s fun, and then it’s helpful, being able to get to know different guys on the team,” defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski said.

Said Iloka: “Coaches just talked to me about being consistent. A leader has to be consistent.”

That’s what he’s become, on and off the field. Boise State doesn’t have permanent captains but Petersen considers him one. The latest example of his commitment to the team came last week, when he moved to cornerback as coaches tried to replace injured starters Jerrell Gavins and Jamar Taylor.

Iloka allowed one completion on three attempts — a fantastic catch along the sideline — as the Broncos limited Wyoming to a season-low 191 yards. He only practiced at cornerback for two days.

“I was uncomfortable,” Iloka said. “Coach Pete always talks about playing out of your comfort zone. I took that mentality to playing corner.”

He also kept in mind all those lessons he’d learned during his time in Boise.

“This is all I have — my teammates, my coaches, my family and the fans,” he said. “That’s pretty much all I play for. I wanted to do something for them.”

He will think of how grateful he is when he’s introduced Saturday — for the coaches who gave him a chance, for the parents who moved to America from Nigeria before he was born, for the teammates who have helped him get to this point.

He also will think about where he’s headed.

“George, if he stays healthy, can play a lot of years in the NFL,” Yates said.

Chadd Cripe: 377-6398