Boise State QB suffers another injury setback; observations from first fall scrimmage
There’s been another hiccup in the race to name Boise State’s starting quarterback.
Quarterback Jack Sears reaggravated a lower-leg injury that kept him out of practice last weekend, Boise State head coach Andy Avalos said Sunday. Sears did not play in the Broncos’ first fall scrimmage on Saturday, but Avalos said the hope is that he’ll be back on the field by the middle of this week at the latest.
Sears — who joined the team last year after transferring from USC — and Hank Bachmeier are competing for the starting job again this year. Avalos said on Sunday that they were neck and neck in terms of completion percentage and touchdown-to-interception ratio before Sears’ injury, but now the competition is on hold until he’s able to get back on the field.
“The positive is we feel very confident we can win with both of these guys,” Avalos told reporters. “The improvement in the overall operation of the offense is night and day for both of those guys. The operation has obviously increased throughout the whole offense because of that.”
Bachmeier is competing to win the starting job for the third year in a row. He’s 11-2 as the starter the past two seasons, but he missed games because of injury in 2019 and after contracting COVID-19 last season.
Sears was impressive in his only start last season — racking up 280 passing yards and four total touchdowns against Air Force — but he suffered an apparent head injury the following week against BYU and missed the rest of the season.
Avalos said Sunday that the race to name a starter remains too close to call, but just like when he said Bachmeier had a slight edge heading into the spring game, it appears that the junior from Murrieta Vally, California, may be pulling away.
Bachmeier was especially impressive in Saturday’s scrimmage, according to Avalos, who said the quarterback earned his highest grade of fall camp.
“He made a lot of really good throws because his timing and his progression are on point, and he’s improved that a ton,” Avalos said. “He has reduced the number of times that he holds onto the ball too long and puts himself in a situation where he’s going to create a negative-yardage play.”
Bachmeier even found one of his favorite targets, wide receiver Khalil Shakir, a couple of times to move the chains on third-and-long.
“Hank made some really, really good throws in some unfavorable situations on third and long,” Avalos said.
It certainly sounds like Bachmeier is the favorite at this point, although Avalos isn’t counting Sears out. He said the former Trojan had some really productive practices last week before reaggravating the injury, and Sears isn’t out of the race by any means.
“They have both grown in terms of being able to work through a full progression on pass plays and their timing in the pocket,” Avalos said. “The real deal is going to come down to final decision making. Who is going to be able to make that final decision more consistently? Who is going to be more accurate with their passes?”
If Sears is going to win the job, he’s going to have to do it soon, because Avalos said he expects the starters to separate themselves from the backups this week. Next week, the team shifts its focus to preparing for the season opener on Sept. 2 at UCF.
“This is a separator week,” he said. “They’re going to show us by how they show up every day and how consistent they are with their approach to the game.”
Scrimmage observations
Boise State held its first scrimmage of fall camp on Saturday. The media wasn’t allowed to attend, but here are some highlights from Avalos:
▪ The scrimmage was moved indoors because of heavy smoke from wildfires.
▪ The offense’s longest drive of the day lasted 10 plays, and Avalos said the passing game produced six explosive plays during the scrimmage.
▪ The defensive line won the line of scrimmage, but Avalos praised the offensive line for playing with lower pad levels and being more physical at the point of attack.
▪ If there’s a plus side to Sears being out, it’s that freshman quarterback Taylen Green has seen his snaps increase and his understanding of the offense is growing along with it.
“I hate to say it, but in spring ball we couldn’t even run more than about four or five plays (with Green at QB),” Avalos said. “Taylen is now being able to operate and run the majority of the playbook.”
▪ Former Oregon running back Cyrus Habibi-Likio carried the ball six times on Saturday, and he looked explosive.
▪ Avalos said the running backs room, as a whole, played well on Saturday, but he singled out Andrew Van Buren, who he said showed off the physical, downhill running style the coaches are looking for late in the scrimmage.
This story was originally published August 15, 2021 at 1:45 PM.
