Boise State finds its new scholarship kicker, and he has a familiar last name
Boise State had been looking to add a scholarship kicker to its 2019 recruiting class, and the Broncos found him Saturday night.
Gavin Wale, a 6-foot-2, 175-pound kicker/punter from Coronado High in Henderson, Nev., verbally committed to Boise State, where his cousin, Sean, played for the Broncos as a punter from 2012-16. The Broncos lost to graduation kicker Haden Hoggarth, who was 12-of-20 on field goals last season.
Wale also had interest from Air Force and Army. He is expected to first work as a kicker for the Broncos, but also could punt. Wale was named first-team all-state by the Las Vegas Review-Journal, which noted that he hit three field goals of more than 40 yards. Stats are not readily available for Wale, but he averaged 42.4 yards per punt as a junior according to MaxPreps, making 10 of 12 field goals his first two seasons.
“He does an outstanding job as a punter ... He is smooth and accurate on field goals. He gets the ball up well and has great range off the ground,” kicking trainer Chris Sailer wrote about Wale.
Check out Wale’s highlights below.
NEW WAY TO PLAY THE GAME
The Broncos recently started their winter conditioning program, and have named two “Iron Men” each week. The winners thus far have been senior guard John Molchon, senior STUD end Sam Whitney, junior cornerback Avery Williams and senior quarterback Jaylon Henderson.
Another part of the conditioning is mixing it up, and having some fun competitions. Among them is a relay in which the team ran 20-yard sprints with bean bags toward a tic-tac-toe board, placing one before running back to tag another teammate to run, in an attempt to get three in a row. The game went a little viral — it was liked more than 5,000 times and retweeted more than 1,000 times from the strength and conditioning account, and liked more than 25,000 times when it was tweeted by Bleacher Report.
BOISE STATE FOOTBALL 2019 RECRUITING CLASS
Committed, can sign Feb. 6
WR DK Blaylock, 6-5, 180, New Deal (Texas) High
LB Lolani Langi, 6-2, 225, Bingham High (South Jordan, Utah)
K/P Gavin Wale, 6-2, 175, Coronado High (Henderson, Nev.)
Signed in December
*QB Hank Bachmeier, 6-3, 190, Murrieta (Calif.) Valley High
*STUD/LB Casey Kline, 6-5, 215, Brawley (Calif.) Union High
OL Jacob Golden, 6-6, 280, Peoria (Ariz.) High
RB Keegan Duncan, 6-3, 215, Declo High
OL Ben Dooley, 6-5, 279, Fallon (Nev.) Churchill County High
RB George Holani, 6-0, 195, St. John Bosco High (Bellflower, Calif.)
*QB Kaiden Bennett, 6-0, 175, Folsom (Calif.) High
WR Khyheem Waleed, 6-3, 190, Casteel High (Queen Creek, Ariz.)
DE Michael Callahan, 6-4, 245, Yorba Linda (Calif.) High
DE Isaiah Bagnah, 6-5, 245, Lethbridge (Alberta) Collegiate Institute
TE Austin Griffin, 6-7, 240, Mt. San Antonio (Calif.) College
STUD Dylan Hall, 6-5, 230, Antelope Valley High (Lancaster, Calif.)
CB Markel Reed, 6-1, 170, Temple (Texas) High
DB JL Skinner, 6-3, 185, Point Loma High (San Diego, Calif.)
WR Shea Whiting, 6-2, 180, Alief Taylor High (Houston)
* - early enrollees, already on campus
This story was originally published January 27, 2019 at 12:02 PM.
