Boise State football coach Chris Petersen had Scott Huff’s new role all planned out.
Huff never saw it coming.
Huff has added the special teams coordinator duties to his job coaching the tight ends and fullbacks, replacing the departed Jeff Choate.
Petersen announced Huff’s new role Wednesday.
“When the whole thing shook down, I think Coach Pete had in his mind I was the perfect guy to do it,” Huff said. “It’s a great opportunity for me and one I’m ready to jump into.
“It kind of blindsided me a little bit.”
Huff’s promotion will allow the Broncos to maintain the special teams schemes installed by Choate, who made Boise State one of the nation’s most respected special teams programs.
Huff worked closely with Choate the past two seasons, particularly on the punt and kickoff return units.
Choate hinted that he would be replaced internally when he left for the linebackers job at Washington State. He discussed a succession plan with Petersen at the end of the regular season.
“He has a plan in place,” Choate said last month. “It’s going to be seamless.”
Special teams will allow Huff to grow his role and influence within the program. He coached tight ends in 2006 and moved to the offensive line in 2007, where he stayed for three years. He moved back to tight ends in 2010.
He was a center at Boise State from 1998 to 2002.
He’ll use his annual professional development time before and after spring ball to increase his knowledge of special teams so he can give those groups his own twist.
“The beauty of special teams,” he said, “is it’s really offense and defense, so for an offensive guy to be able to learn a little bit of defense is awesome, especially for my career long term. It’s another challenge that hopefully is going to grow me as a coach and make me more valuable.”
PRINCE TAKES REINS
Wide receivers coach and new offensive coordinator Robert Prince becomes the fifth playcaller for the Broncos since the offense was installed by coach Dirk Koetter in 1998.
He follows Koetter (1998-2000), Petersen (2001-05), Bryan Harsin (2006-10) and Brent Pease (2011).
“Every coordinator has maybe his own little twist of something,” Prince said. “I’m not stupid; I’m not going to break something that’s already fixed. We’re always looking for new ideas without trying to do too much.”
LINEBACKERS,NICKELS UNIFIED
Bob Gregory will absorb the nickels into his position group and his title will be simply linebackers coach.
He’ll have three positions within his group — weak-side linebacker (J.C. Percy is the top returner), middle linebacker (Tommy Smith) and nickel linebacker (Jonathan Brown), which will continue to serve as a linebacker/safety hybrid spot.
That allowed Petersen to hire Andy Avalos as defensive line coach and take some strain off defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski, who spent the past six seasons as the line coach and will assist Avalos.
Kwiatkowski’s predecessor, Justin Wilcox, didn’t coach a position group.
QB QUANDARY
Boise State will have four quarterbacks competing for the starting job when spring ball opens March 12 — two-year backup Joe Southwick, a junior and the front-runner; sophomore Grant Hedrick; redshirt freshman Jimmy Laughrea; and true freshman Nick Patti, who graduated early from high school to join the Broncos last month.
The Spring Game is April 14.
In those 34 days, coaches will get 15 practices — only nine in pads, in part because of the NCAA infractions case — to teach and evaluate.
“When you’ve got four guys, the good thing is you’ve got four guys, and the bad things is you’ve got four guys,” Petersen said. “That’s a little bit of an issue, but it’s an issue we’ll work through. It’s going to make those guys have to be very focused and maximize the reps they do get.”
Chadd Cripe: 377-6398
