‘Opportunity is everything’: This Boise State cornerback took a long road to The Blue
From halftime adjustments to choosing a starting quarterback, Donald Davis has made decisions that have resulted in plenty of wins over a 20-year career as a high school football coach. But there’s one he can’t forgive himself for.
Boise State cornerback Caleb Biggers spent three years at Calvert Hall — a private, all-male high school in Towson, Maryland — but he played only two full seasons of varsity football. Davis called Biggers up to the varsity team for the last two games of the season his sophomore year.
He said the biggest mistake of his coaching career was not doing that with Biggers as soon as he stepped on campus.
“The day I brought him up, I was like, ‘What was I thinking?’ ” Davis said. “He’s fearless. He plays a million miles an hour, and I just wasn’t aware that he was as ready, physically and mentally, as he was.”
Biggers, then a safety, went on to start every game during the final two seasons of his high school career. He also started 19 games during a three-year stint at Bowling Green in Ohio before transferring to Boise State last summer.
Half a decade removed from being a high school sophomore, Biggers has had to prove himself all over again since moving across the country to join the Broncos. Coming out of fall camp, he found himself behind cornerbacks Markel Reed and Tyric LeBeauf on the depth chart.
Reed and LeBeauf both missed Boise State’s win at BYU on Saturday, and Reed is going to miss the rest of the season with an undisclosed injury, Broncos football coach Andy Avalos confirmed on Monday.
That has opened the door for Biggers, who made his first start last week, and he’s listed as a starter on the depth chart, opposite LeBeauf, again this week as the Broncos prepare to host Air Force on Saturday (7 p.m., FS1).
Biggers said earlier this fall that all he was looking for was an opportunity to compete for a starting job when he transferred.
“Opportunity is everything,” Biggers said. “I’m glad to be here. I’m glad the coaches called my number to start at BYU. I felt like myself again.”
The 5-foot-11, 196-pound senior led Boise State with nine tackles at BYU, and he broke up a pass with a big hit early in the game.
Biggers racked up 100 tackles in three years at Bowling Green, and he has never been shy about getting physical with a ball carrier, Davis said.
“He had that the day I met him, so it’s definitely not something I can take credit for,” said Davis, who now coaches at Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C. “He has a great knack for finding the football, and he hits people.”
Biggers is from Macon, Georgia, which he described as a football-crazy town. He credits his physicality to daily battles with his older brother, David, who outweighed him by several pounds and played defensive line at Calvert Hall.
“All we did was play football down there and go against each other one-on-one to see who was the strongest,” Biggers said. “I’m physical inside and out. I come downhill, and I’m a physical tackler.”
Biggers’ father, whose name is also David, is a pastor. He led a church with about 500 members in Georgia, but decided to move his family to Baltimore to take over at Transforming Life Church of God around the time Caleb Biggers was set to begin high school.
Moving from a small town in Georgia to the city was a big adjustment for Biggers, but the scenery wasn’t the only thing he had to get used to.
Biggers faced some talented high school football players in Georgia’s public school system, but at Calvert Hall, he took the field against nationally ranked teams in the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association, such as the Gilman School in Baltimore. He also competed against a long list of Division I-bound players, including Dallas Cowboys cornerback and former Alabama star Trevon Diggs, who played at The Avalon School in Wheaton, Maryland.
“It’s a training ground for Division I recruits,” Davis said. “You’re going against top-end dudes every day in practice and every week in a game.”
Biggers is one of at least 19 defensive backs who have gone on to play for Division I college programs after suiting up for Davis, the coach said, and they all have similar traits.
“A quality that all those guys share is suddenness and the ability to change direction quickly,” Davis said. “They’re all tough and they have the willingness to run with people. Matching up with someone one-on-one isn’t something everybody wants to do. That’s a mentality. They all have a short memory, too.”
Biggers has never been one to let a bad play keep him down, Davis said. As a junior at Calvert Hall, he gave up a long touchdown after blowing an assignment early in the second game of the season, but bounced back to seal a win for the Cardinals with a late interception, according to Davis.
That resilience showed up again during the Broncos’ win at BYU. Biggers missed a tackle on running back Tyler Allgeier early in the game, allowing the Cougars to keep a scoring drive alive with a first down. But he had perfect coverage on wide receiver Neil Pau’u to deny BYU a touchdown on fourth-and-goal from Boise State’s 5-yard line early in the fourth quarter.
“That just goes back to who he is as a person and his upbringing,” Davis said. “When you can lean on great work ethic and great character, you usually find a way to succeed.”
Another thing that hasn’t change about Biggers over the years is the effort he gives on special teams. He earned the Broncos’ SWAT Player of the Day award early in fall camp, and Avalos said Monday that he is consistently one of the first players down the field on kickoffs this season.
Biggers beat everyone down the field on a kick on the first play of his varsity career at Calvert Hall. That was the moment Davis realized his mistake.
“A lot of guys try to find a way off special teams the day they become a starter,” Davis said. “He was the same guy he was as a hungry sophomore when he got called up to varsity. He played with the same intensity and enthusiasm, and you can’t manufacture that.”
AIR FORCE AT BOISE STATE
When: 7 p.m. Saturday
Where: Albertsons Stadium
TV: FS1 (Corey Provus, Mark Helfrich). 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 3-3; Air Force 5-1
Series: Boise State is 6-3 all-time against Air Force, and the Broncos have won four in a row.
Vegas line: Boise State by 5
Weather: High of 64 degrees, 6% chance of rain, 11 mph winds
