From Clemson to Boise, Broncos’ newest assistant brings youthful energy to defense
As his third practice as a Boise State assistant coach began Friday, Zac Alley was excited — like, really, really excited.
Before drills begin, Alley, the Broncos’ new inside linebackers coach, likes to get his group pumped up, fittingly ending with a group shout of the word “energy.”
But Alley kind of forgot, starting to run off yelling about hitting the sled hard and such before the traditional way to break it down.
“(Sometimes) he gets too excited, but that’s great for us — he’s one of the youngest coaches in college football, and that can be an advantage for us to feed off of it, leading to having a great practice,” sophomore linebacker Zeke Noa said.
That sort of joy and excitement is part of why coach Bryan Harsin wanted to hire the 25-year-old Alley. And that’s part of why Alley wanted to come to Boise State.
“I want them to have fun for whatever we’re doing in practice that day,” Alley said. “It should be fun, it’s a game, and we should have a blast when we’re on the field.”
Alley’s energy is infectious, as it should be for a guy in his first full-time, on-field coaching role. He spent eight seasons at Clemson as a student assistant, then graduate assistant. He was hired as nickels coach at Charlotte and spent about three weeks there, but took the Boise State position just before the 49ers opened spring practices.
“It has been crazy ... I feel like I’m running all the time, trying to learn everything, do everything, know my guys better, learn and love on them, finding my place here, what I’m responsible for,” Alley said. “Learning my third defense in five weeks, but I’ve really enjoyed it. What an awesome place, awesome city.”
As someone who had spent his entire life in the Southeast, coming to Boise was a big change for Alley. But he said the extremely high standards he experienced at Clemson are also at Boise State, and that “the expectation is exciting.” He has fond memories of watching the first Boise State Fiesta Bowl win when he was 13.
“That’s my vision of Boise, they work harder, they try more, they give everything they’ve got in order to win,” Alley said. “That’s been the perception all over the country. If you’re a major FBS school talking about teams you don’t want to play, Boise’s at the top of the list.”
There is a bit of irony in Alley remembering that win over Oklahoma, whose defensive coordinator at the time was Brent Venables. For the last seven years at Clemson, Alley worked under Venables, who had the energetic young coach try his hand at all different spots, focusing one year on defensive line, then safeties, then linebackers.
“Boise State just got better,” Venables said in a statement. “Zac’s a winner. He’s mature beyond his years and wise beyond his years. ... He’ll make the Boise State coaching staff and players and their fans, he’ll make them proud. Zac will add to the value of their culture and their brand, which is as good as there is in college football.”
Noa said Alley has “brought in stuff already to feed off that,” showing players he knows what it takes to win a national title, having won two with the Tigers and finishing the last three seasons in the top 10 in scoring defense. He also hopes to bring a personal touch. Alley and Noa sat one-on-one Thursday to get to know one another, with Alley coming away eager to hear Noa’s excellent singing voice.
On a defensive staff that includes two other new assistants in coordinator/outside linebackers coach Jeff Schmedding and cornerbacks coach Jalil Brown, Alley said “there’s a great rapport.” He noted that Schmedding is focused on doing what works best, be it what former coordinator/inside linebackers coach Andy Avalos did, what Schmedding did at Eastern Washington or what Clemson did.
And Alley is also eager to have his own group, which includes the likes of Noa (29 tackles in the last four games of 2018), junior Riley Whimpey (the team’s leading tackler before tearing his ACL on Nov. 3) and a competition to find a new starter in the middle.
“I’ve got an awesome group ... they care, it matters to them so much, every little detail,” Alley said. “I have such an appreciation for that hard work.”
