Boise State safety Skinner to debut new number; Schmedding has history with Aggies’ OC
Sophomore safety JL Skinner will make history Saturday in Boise State’s season opener against Utah State (5:10 p.m., FS1).
When he trots on to the blue turf in Albertsons Stadium, Skinner will be the first player in Boise State history to wear jersey No. 0 in a game.
“I wanted something different. I wanted to set a legacy with a number nobody has worn before,” Skinner said. “I kind of want to put my stamp on it and leave a great legacy in that number where the next person to wear it has to hold up to the standard.”
In April, the NCAA voted to make No. 0 a legal jersey number to limit the number of teammates wearing duplicate numbers. Teams are limited to two players wearing the same number as long as they play different positions and aren’t on the field at the same time.
Skinner said he spent a couple of weeks debating making the switch or sticking with No. 33, and he didn’t really make a decision until Boise State football coach Bryan Harsin approached him about it.
It’s fitting that the 6-foot-4, 214-pound defensive back from San Diego, California, switched to such a unique number in a season where he’s expected to step into a prominent role in the Broncos’ secondary.
Last season, he appeared in all 14 games and made his first career start in a 31-24 win at Colorado State in the regular-season finale. He finished the year with 14 tackles and three pass breakups.
This fall, he and redshirt junior Tyreque Jones are listed as the starting safeties on Boise State’s first depth chart of the season, which was released on Monday.
Skinner’s physical presence alone may have propelled him into a starting role, but with Kekoa Nawahine graduating and safeties Jordan Happle (Oregon) and D’Andre Pierce (Arizona State) transferring, he was thrust into the spotlight.
He feels prepared, though, in part because of what he learned from the aforementioned veterans.
“One thing I appreciated last year was instead of getting thrown into college football, I got guided into it by leaders,” Skinner said. “I love those guys. They’re the reason I’m here today.”
Boise State defensive coordinator Jeff Schmedding wants to see Skinner grow as a leader this fall, and he wants to see him impose his will.
“The obvious thing is you look at him and see that God blessed him with some size,” Schmedding told reporters on Tuesday. “I’d like to see him use that size to his advantage and to our advantage.”
The coaching tree
Utah State has undergone so much turnover on its coaching staff and roster since last season, it’s difficult for Boise State to base a game plan on previous performances. But one of the Broncos’ coaches has some historical perspective on what the Aggies may do on offense.
Schmedding and Utah State’s new offensive coordinator, Bodie Reeder, were on Eastern Washington’s coaching staff together in 2017 and 2018. Schmedding was the defensive coordinator and Reeder ran the offense.
“Anytime you face somebody you’re friends with or spent a lot of time with, it’s a unique situation,” Schmedding said. “I have a lot of respect for coach Reeder and we’re going to be friends afterwards, but this week it’s business.”
In 2018, Eastern Washington set a program record with 623 points and averaged 528.2 yards a game on the way to winning a Big Sky championship and earning a spot in the FCS title game, which it lost to North Dakota State.
Reeder spent last season as the offensive coordinator at North Texas, where he helped the Mean Green average 30.3 points a game.
Schmedding expects to see some similarities when Reeder makes his Utah State debut on Saturday, but he also warned that it’s been a couple of years since the two of them matched wits, and both sides are sure to throw a few new wrinkles into the game plan.
“He has multiple tempos and all those different things, but we’re a year removed,” Schmedding said. “There’s going to be things we’re not going to be able to predict, and there’s going to be things he’s not going to be able to predict.”
No Table Rock
Boise State usually ends fall camp with a team hike up Table Rock, but not this year. Given a limited window to prepare for the season opener and COVID-19 protocols, which limit large gatherings, the Broncos scrapped that annual tradition — but continued another.
On Sunday, many of the team’s seniors took turns addressing their teammates, including nickel Kekaula Kaniho, who Harsin said reminded the team to wake up every morning with a grateful heart.
Those words rang especially true for Harsin, who told reporters on Monday that when COVID-19 canceled spring practice in March, he thought his team would be back to business as usual in no more than a month. When that didn’t happen and the season was suspended in August, he wondered whether there would be football in 2020.
Now the Broncos have an opponent coming to town and they can get back to business as usual behind a senior class that Harsin can’t stop glowing about.
“That attitude of gratitude has been part of this program for a while,” Harsin said. “Our group of seniors, I think they’re really good football players and they’ve done special things here .... They’re fantastic people, and the messages they left with our team were outstanding.”
Broncos to stream warmups
Boise State isn’t allowing fans inside Albertsons Stadium for Saturday’s season opener, but the university will live-stream pregame warmups on its Broncos Football page on Facebook.
The stream is scheduled to begin at 4:30 p.m. and will run through the team’s pregame run-out prior to kickoff. It will also include live audio from the Broncos’ pregame radio show.
Boise State also announced Friday that it has extended its television broadcasting agreement with KTVB through 2025. KTVB will continue as the exclusive local television station partner for Broncos football and men’s basketball.
UTAH STATE AT BOISE STATE
When: 5:10 p.m. Saturday
Where: Albertsons Stadium
TV: Fox Sports 1 (Kevin Fitzgerald, Robert Smith). That’s channel 146 on Sparklight, 219 on DirecTV and 150 on Dish Network.
Radio: KBOI 670 AM/KTIK 93.1 FM (Bob Behler, Pete Cavender)
Records: Boise State 0-0; Utah State 0-0
Series: Boise State leads 19-5 (last meeting: Boise State won 56-21 in 2019 in Logan, Utah)
Vegas line: Boise State by 17
Weather: 52 degrees at kickoff, clear skies, 20 mph winds out of the northwest
Tickets: Fans aren’t allowed because of COVID-19.
This story was originally published October 23, 2020 at 2:14 PM.
