Boise State depth chart: How much of an impact will a trio of transfer cornerbacks make?
Boise State cornerback Tyric LeBeauf mostly kept to himself during his first two years with the team, but former Bronco Avery Williams helped bring him out of his shell.
Williams — who joined the team as a walk-on in 2016 — was a four-year starter at cornerback and was named the Mountain West Special Teams Player of the Year in 2019 and 2020. He was picked by the Atlanta Falcons in the fifth round of this year’s NFL Draft.
LeBeauf said the main thing he learned from Williams was not to get caught up in trying to fill a specific role. Instead, he taught him to fit in where he could and star in that role.
“He instilled in me to make the best of your opportunities and do everything you can to fit in where you can and make plays wherever,” LeBeauf said.
LeBeauf has taken those words to heart the past two years, whether it was on the Broncos’ kickoff and punt coverage units or the scout team. That dedication has paid off.
This season, he’ll replace Williams at cornerback in the Broncos’ starting lineup.
Boise State football coach Andy Avalos confirmed Friday that LeBeauf and junior Markel Reed will be the starters at cornerback heading into the season opener on Sept. 2 at UCF (5 p.m. MT, ESPN).
“Those guys have been the most consistent at corner,” Avalos said. “We feel good about our two-deep. ... We’ve been able to build some solid depth there.”
Reed and LeBeauf only have one career start between them, but what they lack in game experience, they more than make up for with size and athleticism, cornerbacks coach Jeron Johnson said.
LeBeauf checks in at 6-foot-2 and 185 pounds. Reed is 6-0, 190. With safeties JL Skinner (6-4, 218) and Tyreque Jones (6-2, 205) also roaming on the back end, the Broncos’ secondary has the size to make life difficult on quarterbacks this season.
“That’s good length at the corner position,” Johnson said. “It’s a God-given ability to be a longer and bigger corner and be able to move. My thing is you’ve got to use what God gave you.”
LeBeauf appeared in 12 games as a redshirt freshman in 2019. He played in five games last fall and nabbed his first career interception in the season opener against Utah State. He’s ready for his time in the spotlight.
“You have to be humble and hungry, and I’m hungry for sure,” he said. “You have to forget the good plays and the bad.”
Reed spent the past two seasons as the top backup for Williams and former starting cornerback Jalen Walker, who opted not to join the Broncos’ super seniors in returning this season.
Reed has appeared in 18 games the past two seasons, including seven last fall. He made his first career start in the Broncos’ win at Air Force and posted a career-high six tackles.
“He’s holding himself accountable,” Johnson said. “He tries to focus and lock in on what he needs to do daily. That’s where it starts, and then he can be more vocal with the guys and try to bring them a long with him.”
Dependable depth
As the most experienced members of a very young group of cornerbacks, Reed and LeBeauf were the favorites to start from the beginning. They had to earn the jobs, though.
Boise State brought in a trio of transfer cornerbacks this summer in Caleb Biggers (Bowling Green), Jared Reed (Utah State) and Jalen Neal (San Bernardino Valley College).
“I tried not to think too much into it,” LeBeauf said. “Just keep my head down, control what I can control and work. But the competition, for sure, has been great. These guys have experience. We’ve got to go into every play and do what we can.”
Biggers and former wide receiver Damon Cole will head into the opener as the top backups at corner, Avalos said on Friday.
Biggers announced he was transferring to Boise State in March and joined the team in June. He has a wealth of experience, having started 19 games during three years at Bowling Green, and it shows on the field, according to his teammates.
“He’s an older guy and he’s been there,” Markel Reed said. “He comes with great energy, great leadership and great motivation, not only to the corner room but to the team.”
Johnson said Biggers can play the field or boundary corner position, and he’s athletic and savvy enough to excel in man or zone coverage.
“He’s a great athlete,” Johnson said. “He has good twitch in and out of his breaks, and he’s physical as well.”
Biggers said Johnson — a former safety at Boise State, who played in the NFL and won a Super Bowl with the Seattle Seahawks — played a big role in bringing him to Boise. Johnson was hired as the Broncos’ cornerbacks coach in January.
“He showed me what it was to be a Boise State guy,” Biggers told reporters on Saturday. “He told me about what this school has done for him, and how this school will get me into the league.”
Johnson and Boise State co-defensive coordinator Spencer Danielson were two of several coaches who reached out to Biggers after he entered the transfer portal this spring. He also heard from Mississippi State, Oregon and West Virginia, but he said he chose the Broncos because they provided the best opportunity to get on the field and to the NFL.
“It’s an opportunity to go to a higher level Division I school and to play in the league,” Biggers said. “That is still the dream and still the goal for me, to come in here and actually make an impact.”
Reed and Neal will both add quality depth, Johnson said. Reed has appeared in games at Portland State and Utah State, and he has at most two years of eligibility remaining, depending on if he stays for the extra year the NCAA offered because of COVID-19. That’s going to be a question seniors have to answer at the end of every season for the next three years.
Neal spent last season at San Bernardino Valley College, but he joined the Broncos as a freshman and has all of his eligibility left.
CB depth chart
Starters
Markel Reed, Jr., 6-0, 190 — Reed served as the top backup to former starters Avery Williams and Jalen Walker the past two years and made his first career start last season at Air Force. The native of Temple, Texas, joined the Broncos as a three-star recruit in 2019.
Tyric LeBeauf, R-Jr., 6-2, 185 — The native of Long Beach, California, has appeared in 17 games the past two seasons, mostly on special teams, but he snagged his first career interception last fall in the Broncos’ season opener. He joined the team as a three-star recruit in 2018 after picking off four passes as a senior at Long Beach Poly High, where he was also the team’s leading punt returner.
Backups
Caleb Biggers, Sr., 5-11, 196 — Biggers joined the team in June after transferring from Bowling Green, where he started 19 games in three seasons. He’s still looking for his first career interception, but he finished fourth on the team last fall at Bowling Green with 26 tackles.
Damon Cole, R-Sr., 6-0, 185 — Cole joined the Broncos as a three-star recruit in 2017 and spent the first two years of his college career as a wide receiver. He moved to cornerback in 2019, but didn’t see any action. He appeared in five games last season, tallying just two tackles, but he has been among the leaders on the Broncos’ turnover board this offseason, according to his teammates.
Reserves to watch: R-Sr. Jared Reed; R-Fr. Kaonohi Kaniho; Fr. Isaiah Bradford; Fr. Jalen Neal.
This story was originally published August 21, 2021 at 6:04 PM.
