Boise State offers QB with NFL ties; Las Vegas Bowl TV rating drops; all-star invites
Boise State’s search for a quarterback to add to its 2020 football recruiting class continues into the new year, and the Broncos recently extended a new offer.
On Friday, Junipero Serra High quarterback Daylin McLemore announced on Twitter that the Broncos became the 11th Division I program to offer him a scholarship. The 6-foot-3, 195-pound San Mateo, California, native is a three-star recruit and the No. 24 dual-threat quarterback in the nation, according to 247Sports.
McLemore, the son of former San Francisco 49ers cornerback Dana McLemore, also has offers from Fresno State, Nevada, Fordham, San Diego, UNLV, Massachusetts, Lehigh and Idaho State. His high school game film is limited, though.
After watching starter Luke Bottari lead the Padres to a state championship in 2017 while he was on the sideline with a broken leg, McLemore spent the 2018 season as Bottari’s backup. He finally got the chance to start as a senior and threw eight touchdown passes as Junipero Serra opened the season 7-0, but on Oct. 26 he suffered a broken collarbone on his non-throwing shoulder, which cost him the rest of the season.
This offseason, the Broncos have to replace former junior college transfer Jaylon Henderson, who stepped in with Hank Bachmeier and Chase Cord injured and led the team to three wins to end the regular season and a 31-10 win over Hawaii in the Mountain West championship game.
Bachmeier, a true freshman, and Cord, a redshirt sophomore, are both expected back, but the Broncos need to add at least one scholarship quarterback to their class. They’ve missed on a couple recently. California native Carl Richardson signed with Northwestern, and Chandler Morris — a dual-threat quarterback from Texas — picked Oklahoma.
Boise State can sign the second wave of its 2020 recruiting class on Feb. 5.
Vegas Bowl audience takes a dip
Boise State ended its season with an emotional loss to Washington in the Las Vegas Bowl, and the audience tuning into the game took a dip.
The Broncos’ 38-7 loss drew 2.64 million viewers, which was a 21 percent decrease from Fresno State’s 31-20 win over Arizona State in the 2018 Las Vegas Bowl. The latest rendition of the game earned a 1.6 rating, according to sportsmediawatch.com, which was a 29 percent decrease from the previous year.
The Las Vegas Bowl was among the top-rated games featuring Mountain West teams. Air Force’s upset of Washington State in the Cheez-It Bowl also earned a 1.6 rating and attracted 2.62 million viewers. The Hawaii Bowl between the Rainbow Warriors and BYU drew 2.43 million viewers and a 1.4 rating. The rating for the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl hasn’t been released yet.
Boise State’s top competition from the Group of Five ranks, Memphis, took on Penn State in the Cotton Bowl, which drew a 3.8 rating and 6.2 million viewers — a 34 percent decline from the previous year. Cincinnati, the American Athletic Conference runner-up, faced Boston College in the Birmingham Bowl, and the Bearcats’ 38-6 win attracted just 1.52 million viewers, which was the game’s smallest audience ever, according to sportsmediawatch. A 90-minute weather delay, which left the conclusion of the game to be televised on ESPNews, may have been a factor.
All-star season
The sting of the Las Vegas Bowl loss still lingers for Boise State, but a few of the Broncos’ veterans have yet to play their final college game.
Senior defensive tackle David Moa has been invited to play in the Hula Bowl on Jan. 26 at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu. Moa has not confirmed that he’ll play in the game, and its official rosters have yet to be released. If he does make the trip, Moa will play for either former Buffalo Bills and New York Jets coach Rex Ryan or former Atlanta Falcons coach Mike Smith.
Moa, a sixth-year senior, finished his final season with 37 tackles and 6.5 tackles for loss. His only sack of the year came on a critical third down late in the Broncos’ regular-season finale at Colorado State.
He is one of four starting defensive linemen Boise State has to replace this offseason, including Mountain West sacks leader Curtis Weaver, who declared for the NFL Draft on Dec. 28. The Broncos also have to replace four starters on the offensive line after left tackle Ezra Cleveland announced on Christmas Eve that he will skip his senior year and enter the draft.
Henderson is in Fort Worth, Texas, for the College Gridiron Showcase. He also plans to compete in the Tropical Bowl on Jan. 12 in Daytona Beach, Florida. Henderson accounted for 13 touchdowns in Boise State’s final five games of the season and led the Broncos’ only scoring drive in the Las Vegas Bowl, capping it with a touchdown pass to running back George Holani.
Henderson and Moa will hit the all-star game circuit with wide receiver John Hightower, who will compete in the East-West Shrine Bowl on Jan. 18 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.
