After selling cars, former Boise State QB has football job again; Broncos adjust road trip
Quarterback Montell Cozart has joined kicker Tyler Rausa as former Boise State players who are suiting up in the newly launched United States Football League.
Cozart has signed with the Birmingham Stallions, the team announced on Friday. Rausa was picked in the league’s supplemental draft by the Tampa Bay Bandits and made his debut on Monday.
Cozart, 26, has been in Birmingham, Alabama, for the past three days and went through his first practice on Thursday.
“It feels good to get back to it and strap on a helmet and pads again,” he told the Idaho Statesman on Friday. “It feels so good getting back into the classroom, talking X’s and O’s, and seeing what defenses are trying to do. I’m doing something I’ve loved to do since I was a little kid.”
Cozart is the third quarterback on the Stallions’ roster, joining Alex McGough (Florida International) and J’Mar Smith (Louisiana Tech). Smith threw a touchdown pass and ran for a score last weekend in a 28-24 win over the New Jersey Generals. McGough also threw a touchdown pass.
Cozart began his college career at Kansas but transferred to Boise State for his final season of eligibility. He appeared in every game for the Broncos in 2017 and finished the season with 10 touchdowns through the air and four on the ground.
He signed with the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League in 2018 and appeared in 21 games as a backup in his first two seasons. He signed a one-year extension that would have kept him in Calgary in 2020, but the season was canceled because of COVID-19. He didn’t re-sign last year.
Cozart hasn’t played in a game in two years. Before catching on with the USFL, he was training young quarterbacks and selling cars in his hometown of Kansas City, Missouri.
“I was staying ready for this opportunity and just trying to make ends meet,” Cozart said. “Selling cars is something I’ve never done before, but I told them if they brought me in, I’d pick it up just as quick as I do a new offense.”
Cozart won’t have to worry about selling cars if his USFL career takes off.
The league made its return last weekend with a slate of games that were broadcast on Fox, NBC, Peacock, USA Network and FS1.
Cozart said he watched the league’s opening weekend and was impressed. He’s also hopeful the USFL will stick around for a while in its fourth attempt to launch.
“I think it’s good for football,” Cozart said. “We have football year round now. That’s exciting for the fans and it means more opportunities for guys like me, who have either been in (the NFL) and want to get back or still dream of getting there.”
The USFL is made up of eight teams: Tampa Bay, Houston, New Orleans, Detroit, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, New Jersey and Birmingham.
All eight teams are calling Birmingham home, however. They are playing games at UAB’s new Protective Stadium, which seats a little more than 47,000 fans, or historic Legion Field, a 71,000-seat stadium that hosted UAB football games until last year and was home to the Iron Bowl game between Alabama and Auburn for four decades.
Cozart said stuffing eight professional teams — each of which carries 38 players — into one town has created an energy he described as electric. It has also come with some nostalgia after Cozart ran into his former head coach at Kansas, Dave Beaty, who is the co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach for the Houston Gamblers.
“It’s cool being down here mingling with so many guys and being able to pick their brains,” Cozart said. “I’m playing for the Birmingham team, so we’re getting some of that hometown love, too.”
Broncos lose two QBs
Two Boise State quarterbacks announced they were transferring in the past week: redshirt sophomore Andy Peters and redshirt freshman Colton Fitzgerald.
Peters, a former standout at Timberline High in Boise, joined the Broncos as a walk-on in 2020. He appeared in one game as a true freshman — a 51-17 loss to BYU — but didn’t appear in any games last season.
Fitzgerald joined the Broncos last summer. He was verbally committed to Toledo before earning a scholarship from Boise State. He didn’t appear in any games last season and still has four years of eligibility remaining. He announced Thursday that he has a scholarship offer from Illinois State.
Broncos adjust road trip
Boise State’s road game at UTEP this season has been moved up one day, to Friday, Sept. 23, the university announced on Friday.
The Broncos and Miners played for the first time since 2004 last season. Boise State improved to 6-0 in the series with a 54-13 win at Albertsons Stadium.
Boise State is scheduled to open the season Sept. 3 at Oregon State.
