Boise State WR Cobbs sticks with family tradition in what he plans to be a breakout year
Boise State wide receiver Stefan Cobbs is getting back to his roots this spring with a new jersey number that has served his family well.
Cobbs switched from 82 to 5, which is the number he wore while racking up 24 touchdowns as a senior at Fossil Ridge High School in Texas.
It’s also the number his father wore during his high school career in Dallas, and Cobbs’ younger brother, Daniel, wears it now. He’s also a wide receiver and a junior at Fossil Ridge.
“It’s an old family number that I always rocked with, and I had to work for it,” Cobbs told reporters on Friday.
The 6-foot, 182-pound redshirt junior has been waiting for the number to become available. It was shared by former tight end Garrett Collingham and safety Evan Tyler during Cobbs’ first two years with the program. Tyler, alone, wore it last season, but it opened up when he didn’t join the eight seniors who returned for the extra year of eligibility the NCAA offered because of COVID-19.
Cobbs said his teammates knew he wanted it, so he didn’t have any competition. Everyone involved will be ecstatic if going back to No. 5 means a repeat of his senior season at Fossil Ridge when he earned 6A all-state honors with 67 catches for 1,332 yards and those 24 TDs.
“When you have your opportunity, make your play,” he said. “If you don’t have that mindset, then you’re not going to prepare as hard. Everybody in the wide receivers room has that mindset, which is why everybody is out there making plays in practice.”
Cobbs has been biding his time since joining the Broncos as a three-star recruit in 2018. With fellow wide receivers CT Thomas and Octavius Evans expected to graduate, this was supposed to be his year to join fellow 2018 recruit Khalil Shakir at the top of the depth chart.
That isn’t likely to be the case with Evans and Thomas both returning for their super senior seasons, but Cobbs said he welcomes another year to learn from the veterans.
“We all learn from each other, and we’re all trying to make each other better,” he said. “Those are my brothers, and them being back is a blessing.”
Cobbs redshirted in 2018, and focused on learning as much as he could from former Boise State wide receivers Akilian Butler, John Hightower and Sean Modster.
When he got on the field the following season against Portland State, Cobbs made the most of the opportunity. His first career reception was on a screen pass, which he took 44 yards for the first touchdown of his college career.
He played in all seven of the Broncos’ games last season and only caught four passes, but the native of Keller, Texas, showed off his big-play ability again after hauling in a 43-yard pass at Hawaii.
He apparently isn’t the only member of the wide receivers corps with speed to burn, either.
When asked last week if anything surprised him since spring practice began on March 12, Boise State football coach Andy Avalos mentioned the Broncos’ team speed, particularly at wide receiver.
That bodes well for new offensive coordinator Tim Plough’s plan to not even look at the scoreboard this fall until the Broncos have scored 50 points.
“We see ball, we go get it,” Cobbs said. “When the ball is in the air, that’s our opportunity to shine.”
Who is next in line?
Last week wasn’t the first time Avalos has heaped praise onto the wide receivers this spring. Before practice even began, he felt so confident in the depth at the position he said the Broncos could rotate as many as six receivers into games this fall.
It’s not hard to glean the top three from past results.
Shakir, a senior, led the team last season with 52 catches for 719 yards and six touchdowns. The year before, he scored 10 total touchdowns: six receiving, three rushing and one passing.
Thomas has appeared in 47 games since 2017 and heads into his final season with 117 career receptions for 1,525 yards and 10 touchdowns.
Evans hasn’t been on the field nearly as much. He played in just two games last season before briefly leaving the team to deal with personal issues. But like fellow Texas natives Cobbs and Thomas, he’s explosive enough to stretch defenses vertically, and it sounds like that will be a focus in Plough’s new scheme.
The question is who is next in line?
Here are five wide receivers who are competing this spring in hopes of seeing their roles in the offense expand when the 2021 season kicks off Sept. 4 at UCF.
Davis Koetter, R-Jr, 6-2, 198 — Koetter is the son of former Boise State head coach Dirk Koetter. He joined the Broncos this spring after transferring from Portland State, where he caught 10 touchdowns the past two seasons, including a team-high eight in 2019. Portland State didn’t play in 2020 because of COVID-19.
Stefan Cobbs, R-Jr., 6-0, 182 — Cobbs has appeared in 13 games the past two seasons, including all seven last fall. He heads into the season with just seven career receptions, but he showed his big-play ability after scoring his first collegiate touchdown on a screen pass against Portland State in 2019.
Billy Bowens, R-Jr., 6-1, 208 — Bowens appeared in six of the Broncos’ seven games last season, finishing with five catches for 39 yards. The former three-star recruit caught his first career pass in the Broncos’ win at Hawaii.
Shea Whiting, R-So., 6-2, 190 — Whiting appeared in three games in 2019 and two last season, but he has yet to record a catch. The former three-star recruit caught 74 passes for 1,124 yards and 12 touchdowns during his final two seasons at Alief Taylor High School in Texas.
LaTrell Caples, R-Fr., 6-1, 189 — One of the highlights of Boise State’s 2020 recruiting class, Caples didn’t see the field last season, but he earned a reputation as a big-play threat in high school. He caught 59 passes for 1,021 yards and 12 touchdowns as a senior at Lancaster High in Texas, which is the same program CT Thomas came out of.
This story was originally published March 29, 2021 at 4:00 AM.
