Boise State QB battle will stretch into fall; former Bronco Crawford retires from NFL
Boise State football coach Andy Avalos said going into spring camp that there would be an open competition between quarterbacks Hank Bachmeier and Jack Sears to win the starting job.
On Thursday, Avalos said that competition likely will stretch well into fall camp.
“Once these guys have gotten the opportunity to learn the offense and get comfortable with it in this first cycle, the second cycle is the summertime when they can start to polish,” Avalos told reporters. “Now let’s see who’s operating best in fall camp.”
One reason for the extended timeline is that both quarterbacks are still learning new offensive coordinator Tim Plough’s system, which Avalos described as having a lot of moving parts.
Avalos was careful not to go into the specifics of the new scheme, but it sounds like tempo and using multiple personnel groups will be at its core.
“There’s going to have to be a certain level of simplicity on the defensive side to keep up with all the moving parts,” he said.
Bachmeier and Sears both started games last season and both missed time.
After going 7-1 as the starter his freshman year, Bachmeier went 4-1 last fall, missing two games because of COVID-19.
Sears joined the Broncos last summer after transferring from USC. He threw for 280 yards and scored four total touchdowns in his debut as the starter against Air Force, but was knocked out of a loss to BYU the following week with a potential head injury. He missed the final five games of the regular season and the Mountain West championship against San Jose State.
Both quarterbacks have experience and a similar skill set, Avalos said, so who eventually wins the starting job will come down to their ability to lead in difficult situations and connect with teammates — both on and off the field.
“We can’t lead on the field until we have those relationships off the field,” Avalos said. “You have to be a tough guy who has good relationships.”
Boise State is scheduled to hold its spring game at 3:30 p.m. on April 10. The 2021 season opener is scheduled for Sept. 4 at UCF.
Crawford retires
Former Boise State defensive lineman Tyrone Crawford has decided to retire after nine seasons in the NFL, Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy announced on Thursday.
Dallas picked Crawford in the third round of the 2012 NFL Draft, and he spent the next nine years filling several roles on the Cowboys’ defensive line and appearing in at least 14 games a season seven times. He finished his professional career with with 194 tackles and 25 sacks in 112 appearances and 79 starts.
Crawford, 31, missed most of the 2019 season with a hip injury, but he appeared in all 16 games last season, started three, and finished with 14 tackles and two sacks.
A native of Windsor, Canada, Crawford played at Boise State in 2010 and 2011 after spending two seasons in the junior college ranks at Bakersfield College in California. He was a first-team All-Mountain West pick as a senior in 2011 and finished his Boise State career with 13.5 sacks.
Hutchison joins Wizards
Former Boise State basketball player Chandler Hutchison was traded from the Chicago Bulls to the Washington Wizards on Thursday as part of a package that will send guard Troy Brown to Chicago, according to ESPN.
The Bulls traded Hutchison and post player Daniel Gafford to Washington in exchange for Brown and center Mo Wagner, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who was first to report the deal.
The Bulls then traded Wagner to the Celtics for center Daniel Theis, according to Wojnarowski.
Chicago selected Hutchison No. 22 overall in the 2018 NBA Draft. He averaged 18.8 minutes, 5.8 points and four rebounds a game the past three seasons.
Hutchison played at Boise State from 2014 to 2018. After initially declaring for the draft following the 2017 season, he returned to school for his senior year and earned first-team All-Mountain West honors while averaging 20 points and 7.7 rebounds a game.
Muhlenhaupt named All-American
Boise State gymnast Emily Muhlenhaupt was named first-team All-America for the second season in a row Thursday by the Women’s Collegiate Gymnastics Association.
Muhlenhaupt finished the regular season tied for No. 1 in the country with an average score of 9.950 on bars.
Last season, she became the fifth gymnast in school history to be named a first-team All-American. She’s the first in program history to earn multiple All-America nods since Julie Wagner in 1993 and 1995.
Muhlenhaupt tied her career high this year with seven wins on bars, which is tied for No. 3 in a single season in Boise State history. She was also named Mountain Rim Gymnastics Conference Bar Specialist of the Year for the second straight season.
“I am incredibly proud of what Emily has been able to accomplish in what has certainly been a unique season,” Boise State gymnastics coach Tina Bird said Thursday in a press release. “She is an outstanding gymnast and a phenomenal student, and she is capable of continuing to add to her legacy here at Boise State.”
Boise State, which is ranked No. 17 nationally, will compete in its 13th consecutive NCAA Regional Championships in Salt Lake City, Utah on April 2.
