A guy with 2 scholarship offers became trusted Boise State leader. ‘All he did was work’
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Boise State in the College Football Playoff
The Broncos played Penn State in the College Football Playoff quarterfinal Fiesta Bowl in Arizona on Dec. 31, 2024.
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Boise State’s now well-documented “Please count us out” motto has become a fan favorite ahead of the College Football Playoff.
The Broncos, the No. 3 seed, have been given the lowest odds of any team to win the national championship and enter Tuesday evening’s Fiesta Bowl as double-digit underdogs to No. 6 Penn State.
The motto has been touted by coach Spencer Danielson and adopted by the team, and you don’t have to look far to find players who have lived it.
Starting with redshirt sophomore quarterback Maddux Madsen.
When Boise State touched down in Arizona on Saturday afternoon ahead of the Fiesta Bowl — wearing T-shirts bearing the “Please count us out” slogan — Madsen was quick to say that he’d been “counted out his whole life.”
He repeated it Sunday morning, during Boise State’s media day for the CFP quarterfinal game.
“I feel like I’ve always been counted out,” Madsen said. “So for the team to be in the position that we are, to be counted out by everyone — there’s not very many people there other than Bronco Nation cheering us on — and so it’s cool that our guys embrace it.”
The chip on Madsen’s shoulder goes back to his high school days in American Fork, Utah. The 5-foot-10, 200-pound QB played football and baseball, including a junior season that saw him throw for 4,044 yards and 48 touchdowns, and a senior season in which he racked up more than 3,000 yards passing and 38 touchdowns.
He was a three-star high school recruit who received offers from just two schools: New Mexico and Boise State.
“He had all the stats, but he’s 5-foot-10, and someone said, ‘Oh, he’s not gonna ever be (good),’” Danielson said. “Well, now look at him — one of the most consistent quarterbacks in the entire country.”
Upon arriving at Boise State, he played just a handful of snaps in a late-season game before redshirting his freshman year. He returned for his second season in Boise with the goal of pushing starter Taylen Green for playing time.
Madsen started playing some early in the 2023 season, and then was seeing several series by the fifth game. In the sixth game, a win over San Jose State, he attempted eight more passes than Green and played more downs. He was named the starter for a week 10 game at home against New Mexico.
“Maddux is an elite competitor,” Danielson said. “He’s that guy that if we’re playing dodgeball, he’s gonna try to kill you.”
Madsen then was hit by sports’ cruel reality: He tore the medial collateral and posterior cruciate ligaments in his left knee in the game against New Mexico, sidelining him for the rest of the season and requiring surgery.
“It was devastating,” Madsen said.
“I’m laying on the ground, and that was the first thing I thought about: Why now? I feel like everything I’d worked for was kind of put in front of me, and I was blessed to be in that position, and I literally just thought to myself, ‘Why now?’”
When Boise State announced that five-star recruit Malachi Nelson would transfer from USC, Madsen’s future seemed to be up in the air again. Nelson played well in spring practice while Madsen was still recovering from surgery, but in the fall camp, Madsen won the starting job.
Offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter has been a big fan of Madsen’s since the quarterback arrived in Boise in 2022. Koetter said he liked his “moxie and confidence” even when the QB was a freshman, and he reminded Madsen of that back in August when Madsen had some tough days.
“Take it back nine months, nobody wanted me to be starting quarterback,” Madsen said. “That’s kind of just the position I’ve been in my entire life. And there’s multiple instances that it’s occurred.”
Madsen has put together a stat line of 2,714 passing yards, 22 passing touchdowns, just three interceptions and five rushing touchdowns. His completion percentage is 62%, and his interception total ranks as the best in the nation for any player to have thrown more than 200 passes.
“All he did was work,” Danielson said. “He’s an elite competitor. That’s all he knows, and he’s earned the right to be where he is.”
This story was originally published December 30, 2024 at 4:00 AM.
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