Boise State football begins organized team activities; Walker on Bednarik watch list
A week after players returned to voluntary workouts following a two-week campus closure due to a string of COVID-19 cases, the Boise State football team began organized team activities Monday morning, a team spokesman confirmed.
The NCAA voted June 17 to allow teams scheduled to begin the regular season on Sept. 5 to conduct up to eight hours a week of weight training, conditioning and film study.
Programs scheduled to open the season Aug. 29 were allowed to begin organized activities July 6. Idaho State is scheduled to be in action that weekend at New Mexico.
Several Mountain West teams were also expecting to play in “week zero,” but the Pac-12’s announcement of a conference-only schedule cost UNLV a home game against Cal and Hawaii a game at Arizona.
Beginning July 24, teams will be allowed to hold up to 20 hours of organized activities a week, including walk-throughs and position-specific meetings. Boise State is scheduled to open fall camp on Aug. 7 and the regular season Sept. 5 at home against Georgia Southern.
Football and soccer players began returning to Boise State during the first week of June. On June 8, the university reported multiple athletes had tested positive for the virus but declined to identify them or specify which sport they played, citing federal privacy laws.
On June 24, the university announced four positive cases in the athletic department. On Thursday, Boise State announced it had tested 533 athletes, coaches and staff members and detected 22 positive cases since the beginning of June.
Walker on Bednarik watch list
Senior cornerback Jalen Walker was named to the Chuck Bednarik Award preseason watch list — given annually to the best defensive player in college football.
Last season, Walker earned second-team All-Mountain West honors after starting all 14 games, leading the team with nine pass breakups and finishing fifth on the roster with 53 tackles. He returned his lone interception of the season for a touchdown in the Broncos’ rout of Utah State, which clinched their third straight Mountain Division title.
Walker is expected to be joined in the secondary again this season by a host of fellow returning starters, including cornerback Avery Williams, nickel Kekaula Kaniho and safeties Jordan Happle, Tyreque Jones and JL Skinner.
Semifinalists for the Bednarik Award will be announced Nov. 3, and the three finalists are scheduled to be revealed Nov. 23. The winner will be announced Dec. 10 as part of the ESPN Home Depot College Football Awards show.
