New WR coach brings pro-style offense, wealth of NFL knowledge to Boise State
For the first time in a couple of years, the Boise State football wide receiver room is somewhat of an unknown quantity.
The past couple of seasons have seen some disappointing receiver numbers and games, but there were still known quantities within the team, such as Latrell Caples, Cam Camper and Chase Penry.
That’s not the case in 2026. There will be just three returning upperclassmen: junior Cam Bates, redshirt junior AJ Maes and sixth-year player Ben Ford. Bates established himself as a guy with big-play capability last season, but Maes hasn’t recorded a single catch in college.
Ford, meanwhile, will be working his way back from a second torn ACL.
So it’s perhaps fitting that the Broncos will head into 2026 with a new wide receivers coach. The program announced last month the hiring of Alvis Whitted to fill that role and also be the passing game coordinator. Whitted is likely a familiar name to football fans, because he brings almost a decade of NFL playing experience with the Jacksonville Jaguars and Oakland Raiders.
Whitted, who was hired away from his alma mater, N.C. State, replaces Matt Miller, who left Boise State in December to become the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Washington State.
“They’re very young, extremely talented, they’re moldable, and they’re going to get better,” Whitted told the media on Tuesday when speaking about his position group.
Whitted said he has primarily coached a pro-style offense, including his time as the wide receivers coach with the Green Bay Packers in 2019, and that’s what he’ll be looking to run at Boise State.
He said he likes receivers who are 6-foot-2 or taller, guys who can play the X position with power and separation, and players who can get physical at the top of their routes to make contested catches.
Those parameters bode well for guys like sophomore Qumonte Williams Jr., who stands at 6-foot-5 and showed the ability to win at the top of his route in 2025. A pair of incoming transfers — senior Akeem Wright and redshirt senior Darren Morris — could stand to benefit from Whitted’s approach.
The 51-year-old assistant coach, who was senior offensive analyst at N.C. State in 2025, also highlighted Bates as a quickly emerging leader in the room.
“Darren is a guy who played a lot of football at Southern (University); really loved the way he played the game of football,” Whitted said. “Same thing with Akeem. He’s a guy with the ball in his hands, he’s different. The light turns on, and I say he tries to hit his head on the goalpost every time he has the ball.”
Whitted will get the opportunity to coach incoming freshman Terrious Favors, a four-star recruit from Atlanta. At 5–foot-9 and 163 pounds, Favors boasts elite speed and is projected to play as a slot receiver in college.
“We’ve got some kids that can run,” Whitted said. “It’s just up to us now to put those guys in the right positions to have success.”
