After offseason surgery, will Boise State QB Bachmeier be on field for spring practice?
Preparations for former Boise State linebacker Andy Avalos’ second season as head football coach at his alma mater will begin in earnest when the Broncos open spring practice on Friday.
Boise State went 7-5 last season and didn’t play in the Mountain West championship game for the first time in four years. The Broncos were poised to play in the Arizona Bowl but were forced to pull out a few days before the game because of a spike in COVID-19 cases in the program.
Like most college football programs around the country, the Broncos have some questions to answer this time of year. Here is a look at the most pressing issues facing the offense this spring, and some players to watch.
Will Hank Bachmeier be ready for spring practice?
Question No. 1 for the Broncos is who will be on the field at quarterback.
Hank Bachmeier — a three-year starter who ranks No. 10 in Boise State history with 35 career touchdown passes — confirmed in December that he played through a knee injury last season, and it required surgery.
Bachmeier hasn’t spoken to the media since December, and there has been no word on whether he’ll be available when the Broncos open spring practice. If not, redshirt freshman Taylen Green and Oregon State transfer Sam Vidlak are the most likely candidates to split reps with the starters.
Redshirt freshmen Colt Fulton and Colton Fitzgerald, and former Timberline quarterback Andy Peters are also on the roster, but Green and Vidlak are going to battle it out for the No. 2 spot on the depth chart in a race that isn’t likely to be decided until fall camp. If Bachmeier can’t practice, the competition might start this month.
After enrolling early and joining the program last January, Green — a 6-foot-6, 215-pounder — repeatedly earned praise from coaches last year as one of the fastest players on the team. He appeared in two games last fall but didn’t attempt a pass.
Vidlak, also a redshirt freshman, joined the Broncos in January after he spent his true freshman season at Oregon State. The 6-foot-1, 187-pound native of Applegate, Oregon, was named Offensive State Player of the Year as a junior at Hidden Valley High in 2019. He appeared in one game for the Beavers last season, completing two passes during mop-up duty in a lopsided win over Idaho.
Can the Broncos fix the problems that have plagued the running game the past two seasons?
Running back George Holani’s 1,014 rushing yards in 2019 marked the 11th straight season that Boise State produced a 1,000-yard rusher. The Broncos haven’t achieved that feat the past two years. Instead, they’ve produced one of the worst rushing attacks in the Mountain West.
The offense gets a pass for the 2020 season after it was shortened to seven games because of COVID-19. The numbers weren’t much better last fall, though. After ranking last in the conference and No. 120 in the country with 84.4 rushing yards a game early in the season, Boise State finished No. 10 in the 12-team Mountain West at 120.4 yards a game.
Holani has struggled to stay on the field. He played just one full game in 2020 because of a knee injury, and missed three games last fall because of a hamstring injury — an injury that limited him in several other games. Keeping him healthy is job No. 1 for new run-game coordinator Nate Potter, and the team has to find quality depth behind him.
There has been some turnover in the backfield. Cyrus Habibi-Likio declared for the NFL Draft after one season at Boise State, and 240-pound power back Andrew Van Buren announced in December that he was transferring.
That makes every practice rep a big one for true freshman Ashton Jeanty this spring. The three-star recruit enrolled early and has been on campus since January. He rushed for 1,843 yards and 31 touchdowns, and added 42 receptions for 803 yards and 10 more touchdowns, as a senior at Lone Star High in Frisco, Texas.
Former walk-on Tyler Crowe, who was put on scholarship last fall, could see his role increase. The same is true for former junior college transfer Taequan Tyler, who missed the 2020 season with an Achilles tendon injury and appeared in three games last fall.
Is this the year of the tight end?
Tight ends haven’t played a large role in the Broncos’ passing game in recent years, but if there was ever a season for that to change, this is it.
Wide receivers Khalil Shakir, Octavius Evans and CT Thomas all declared for the NFL, so the Broncos don’t have an overwhelming amount of experience at the position. The opposite is true at tight end, where redshirt seniors Riley Smith and Tyneil Hopper top the depth chart with sixth-year senior Kurt Rafdal.
Smith, a former quarterback, and Hopper have shown they can make an impact in the passing game. Smith posted a career-high five catches against BYU in 2020 and hauled in four catches for 58 yards, including a 40-yard reception, in the Mountain West championship game against San Jose State that season. He posted career highs in receptions (15) and receiving yards (155) in 2020, but finished with just eight catches for 86 yards last season.
A photo that emerged on social media Monday of Smith with his left arm in a sling doesn’t bode well for him to be ready for spring practice. Boise State has not announced that he’s injured.
Hopper caught a pass in five straight games last season, including a 51-yard touchdown in a win at Colorado State. He finished the season with just seven catches for 132 yards and two touchdowns.
Rafdal, one of 11 super seniors on the roster this year, also got in on the action late last season, catching the first touchdown pass of his college career in the Broncos’ regular-season finale at San Diego State. He finished the season with eight catches for 95 yards.
Austin Bolt, a redshirt sophomore who was named Idaho Gatorade Player of the Year following his senior season at Borah High, is also listed as a tight end on the Broncos’ latest roster, which was released in January. He was listed as a tight end for most of last season, but he had a brief stint as a defensive end and ended the season at wide receiver. He had the chance to make the first catch of his college career on a deep pass at San Diego State but couldn’t bring it in.
Players to watch
C Kekaniokoa Holomalia-Gonzalez, R-Sr., 6-2, 300 — The native of Santa Ana, California, missed all of last season with an undisclosed injury. If he’s back to full health and able to return to the form that won him the starting job last year, it will be huge for an offensive line that is returning five players with starting experience. It would give the Broncos valuable depth on the interior, where Texas Tech transfer Will Farrar can play center and either guard spot — a position that already includes returning starters Garrett Curran and Ben Dooley, and Washington State transfer Cade Beresford.
OL Ben Dooley, R-Jr., 6-5, 305 — Dooley seems poised to be the next star offensive lineman at Boise State, in large part because of his versatility. He opened last season as the starter at right tackle and bumped inside to guard a few games into the season. He could move back to right tackle after Uzo Osuji exhausted his eligibility. That seems like the logical move with so much depth at guard, but if another tackle emerges, Dooley could easily take over on either side of the center.
WR Latrell Caples, R-So., 6-1, 190 — Caples hauled in 59 passes for 1,021 yards and 12 touchdowns as a senior at Lancaster High in Texas, and also returned three punts for touchdowns. He appeared in six games last season at Boise State and seemed to settle into his role in the offense late in the season. That role could expand as the Broncos try to replace Shakir. Caples will have a chance to land a role as a punt or kick returner as well.
LS Mason Hutton, R-Fr., 6-6, 217 — Boise State is in search of a new long snapper after four-year starter Daniel Cantrell declared for the draft in January. Cantrell told the Statesman in January that he believes it will be Hutton, who joined the Broncos as a walk-on last year but didn’t appear in any games.
This story was originally published March 1, 2022 at 11:26 AM.
