Boise State seniors prep for ‘one last ride’ in LA Bowl. But there’s a twist
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Boise State ends 2025 season in LA Bowl at SoFi; many seniors finish.
- Chase Penry emerged as key receiver, posting 323 yards over six games.
- Pending lawsuit could grant a fifth year, leaving Braxton Fely’s status undecided.
Boise State football will be home for the holidays, wrapping up its 2025 season on Saturday night with a trip to Southern California for the LA Bowl against Washington.
That also means the end of the road for the football careers of plenty of seniors. It could be the last competitive game of football for many Broncos.
“One last ride as a team,” said redshirt senior receiver Chase Penry, who’s one of those players getting ready for his final game.
“We were blessed to get another opportunity out here. And so we’ve really just been like, we can’t lose for our seniors.”
Some of the key starters and players who are definitely playing in their final game for Boise State are wide receivers Penry and Latrell Caples, running back Malik Sherrod, offensive linemen Mason Randolph and Zach Holmes, linebacker Marco Notarainni and safety Zion Washington.
Penry is one of the guys who likely will not play football again after Saturday, but he’s quite happy with what he’s accomplished this season and in recent weeks.
Penry transferred to Boise State from Colorado in 2023, but failed to force his way into legitimate conversations about playing time and starting. However, injuries and suspensions helped to get his number called — to the point that the offense is now happy to call his number.
In the past six games of the season, Penry has recorded at least three catches in every game, with 323 receiving yards and a touchdown in that span.
He made a huge 46-yard play on 3rd-and-17 in the Broncos’ 38-21 Mountain West championship victory over UNLV, catching a contested ball on a dig route short of the first-down marker before battling free for an extra 20 yards.
“It’s definitely more responsibility now, and you have to go out there and do it every snap,” Penry said. “So I love the responsibility that it comes with, and I’m excited to play and put on display again on Saturday night.”
Could some seniors get an extra year?
You might have noticed a couple of key seniors left off the list above.
Under normal circumstances, seniors Braxton Fely and Jeremiah Earby would be readying to say their goodbyes. However, a lawsuit filed by two Vanderbilt student-athletes in September could get a whole lot of players an extra year of eligibility, Fely and Earby among them.
The lawsuit aims to grant all athletes five years of eligibility, regardless of whether they have redshirted. Attorney Ryan Downton told ESPN in September that the lawsuit doesn’t challenge the five-year limit on student-athletes, but he questioned why a player must redshirt for one year and “sit on the bench” to be eligible for a fifth year.
Fely said Wednesday that he should find out next week whether he’s allowed a fifth year, but he hasn’t made a decision on returning regardless. Fely entered the transfer portal last spring to head elsewhere, but returned to the team.
Fely said he’s focused on the Huskies and the LA Bowl. Boise State is 1-3 in its past four bowl games.
“It’s scary going through the process. You try to be where your feet are at all the time,” Fely said Wednesday. “You’ve always got to think about the future, and I’m trying to say here where my feet are.”
Trying to stay in the present has been especially important for Fely, who at one point looked as if he’d be gone. When Fely entered the portal in April, coach Spencer Danielson said he did not think it was the “best decision” for Fely’s life.
Fely changed course less than a month later, and Danielson said he’d need to earn the trust back from his teammates. He’s managed that and more, leading the team with 5.5 sacks and leading in the locker room.
“(This year) has exceeded (expectations), for sure. Your last year’s always different from the others,” Fely said. “Grateful that I had an opportunity to come back, and it’s been fun, created a lot of memories that I could never get anywhere else.”
LA Bowl: Boise State vs. Washington
- When: 6 p.m. Mountain time Saturday
- Where: SoFi Stadium (70,240, turf), Inglewood, California
- TV: ABC (Dave Pasch, Dusty Dvoracek)
- Radio: KBOI 670 AM / 93.1 FM (Bob Behler, Pete Cavender)
- Records: Boise State 9-4, 6-2 Mountain West; Washington 8-4, 5-4 Big Ten
- Series: Washington leads the series 4-2
- Betting line: Washington by 8.5
- Weather: 68 degrees, low clouds and fog, 6% chance of rain
