Birthday surprise: Boise State tight end’s brother, who plays at UNC, comes to The Blue
Boise State tight end Tyneil Hopper had a special guest in the stands at Albertsons Stadium for the Broncos’ game against Wyoming on Nov. 12.
Hopper’s older brother, Tyrone, traveled across the country to see him play for the first time in his college career. Tyrone was actually in Boise for a couple of days, and it was quite the surprise.
“I was super happy to see him because I haven’t seen him since January,” Tyrone told the Idaho Statesman. “Getting out here and getting to see him play makes my heart happy.”
Tyrone’s visit was in the works for a couple of months. It was the brainchild of Tyneil Hopper’s girlfriend, Jasmyn Harris, and the timing was perfect. Hopper didn’t know his brother was in town until he was about to order dinner at Chili’s a couple of nights before the Broncos’ 23-13 win over the Cowboys. He looked up from the menu and there was Tyrone, grinning and waiting for a hug.
It was the perfect birthday present for Hopper, who turned 22 a couple of days after the Wyoming game.
“He is one of my best friends, and we try to talk whenever we can,” Boise State’s Hopper said. “He’s always giving me advice about football and about life.”
“Growing up, the longest we were ever apart was a couple days,” Tyrone said. “We try to stay in touch on FaceTime whenever we can, but it’s not the same.”
Hopper’s parents were in on the plan, and the family went to great lengths to keep it hush-hush — even resorting to communicating about it only on Snapchat, so the messages would disappear. His parents didn’t make the trip from Roswell, Georgia, to Boise for the surprise visit, but Hopper’s father — Tyrone Sr. — was on FaceTime so he could see Tyneil’s reaction live.
“That look he had on his face, I’ve never seen it before,” Hopper’s father said. “He wasn’t just happy. He was shocked. That’s his brother and they love each other, but they’re competitive.”
College football factory
The Hopper house was full of future Division I athletes.
Tyrone is a fifth-year senior linebacker at North Carolina. He’s out for the season after suffering a shoulder injury in the second game of the year, which is why he had time to surprise his brother.
The Hoppers’ cousin, Ty’Ron — a redshirt sophomore linebacker at Florida — lived with the Hoppers. And there’s yet another Division I recruit in the family. Tyneil’s younger brother, Tyjai, is a defensive back who will graduate in 2024 and already has a scholarship offer from Akron.
It was a crazy backyard at the Hopper house in Georgia.
“It got physical,” said Tyneil Hopper, a redshirt junior. “We’d always be play-fighting until somebody took it more serious.”
“It was an everyday thing,” his brother Tyrone added. “We’d knock each other around and try to dunk on each other. We were making each other better.”
With so many athletes in the family, it’s no surprise that Tyneil was courted so heavily by so many Power Five programs after his career ended at Roswell High in Georgia in 2017. He was high on West Virginia early in the recruiting process and then Wake Forest caught his eye, but he soured on both after being pressured to commit early, his father said.
Tyneil then turned his attention to Auburn, but the Tigers decided late in the process that they weren’t going to add a tight end to their 2018 class, so Hopper was left to search for another school.
The Broncos come calling
Hopper got a message from former Boise State recruiting coordinator Darren Uscher just a few days before signing day in 2018. A couple of days later, tight ends coach Kent Riddle and former offensive coordinator Zak Hill were sitting in Tyrone Sr.’s barber shop, telling Hopper how the Broncos have historically made tight ends a central figure in the offense, and even using former Bronco Jake Roh as an example.
Roh was a two-time All-Mountain West pick at Boise State from 2014 to 2017, and he finished his career with 117 catches for 1,288 yards and 12 touchdowns.
“He wanted to go to a team that actually uses the tight end,” Tyrone Sr. said. “A lot of coaches say they use the tight end, but there aren’t a lot that find ways to make them a real part of the offense.”
Boise State offered Hopper a scholarship that day, and he and his family flew across the country to visit the campus that weekend. That was all it took to convince him to leave home.
“He went out there and he fell in love,” Hopper’s father said. “I was surprised. He had never even been on that side of the country, but he said he wants to be there and he really enjoys it.”
Hopper came into this season with just two career receptions, but he has carved out a role for himself in the passing game in the latter half of the year. He caught a pass in five straight games and has set career highs in receptions (7) and receiving yards (132) this season. He had a 51-yard touchdown catch in Boise State’s win at Colorado State — the longest TD reception by a Boise State tight end since Jeb Putzier scored on an 80-yard pass in 2001.
“It was more of a feel play,” Hopper said. “I felt two guys on me, so I wasn’t sure if the ball was coming to me, but I was ready when (quarterback) Hank (Bachmeier) launched it.”
Showing growth for Boise State
That was Hopper’s second touchdown catch of the season. He also hauled in a 23-yard touchdown in the Broncos’ home opener against UTEP, and he has developed into a downfield option in the passing game — averaging 18.9 yards per catch. Redshirt junior Riley Smith — a former quarterback — leads Boise State’s tight ends with eight catches this season, but he has only 86 yards and one touchdown.
“You’re hoping a tight end can develop an alpha-dog physical mentality on the edge blocking. That’s where Tyneil has shown the most growth,” Boise State offensive coordinator Tim Plough said. “Does he win every time? No, but he has improved there a lot, and what that allows is people have to respect that part of his game, and now people are getting to see him for what he can do in the passing game.”
Hopper’s parents were not only at the Colorado State game, but were sitting behind the end zone where he scored after hauling in the over-the-shoulder pass from Bachmeier.
“We were happy, but we weren’t surprised,” Tyrone Sr. said. “A lot of people wouldn’t know unless they really followed him in high school, but he wasn’t a four-star (recruit) because of blocking.”
Hopper earned that four-star rating from Rivals and got three stars from 247Sports and ESPN, which also ranked him No. 11 nationally at his position.
The 6-foot-2, 242-pounder lined up on the line and split out wide in high school. He earned all-state and Atlanta Journal-Constitution All-Region honors after catching 22 passes for 350 yards and a touchdown as a senior. He hauled in three touchdown passes as a junior.
“I’ve hardly ever seen him drop a pass, whether it’s in the backyard or in a game,” said Hopper’s brother Tyrone. “He’s a better athlete than people give him credit for.”
Tyneil has shown he can be a deep threat, but he also understands that he’s not always going to have the ball in his hands. And he’s OK with that.
“If the ball doesn’t come my way, I’m blocking and doing whatever I can to help my team,” Hopper said. “We all want to be top dog, but it’s honestly not hard to do my job if I’m helping my teammates.”
BOISE STATE AT NO. 22 SAN DIEGO STATE
When: 10 a.m. Friday
Where: Dignity Health Sports Park, Carson, California
TV: CBS (Rich Waltz, Aaron Taylor, Sherree Burruss). That’s channel 2 on Sparklight and DirecTV and channel 2 or 5251 on Dish Network.
Radio: KBOI 670 AM/KTIK 93.1 FM (Bob Behler, Pete Cavender)
Records: Boise State 7-4, 5-2 MW; San Diego 10-1, 6-1 MW
Series: Boise State is 3-3 against San Diego State. The Aztecs won the most recent meeting 19-13 at Albertsons Stadium in 2018.
Vegas line: Boise State by 2.5
Weather: High of 78 degrees, 0% chance of rain, 8 mph winds
