Kellen Moore, Brett Rypien ... Maddux Madsen? BSU QB has focus on ‘legacy’
Heading into the spring of 2024, Maddux Madsen’s confidence was at an all-time low.
The plucky quarterback was coming off a redshirt freshman season in which he shared time with future Arkansas quarterback Taylen Green and then eventually won the starting QB role from him, ending the 2023 season with the best pass completion percentage on the team.
But the first game he started, he suffered a torn MCL and PCL in his right knee in November. Madsen was still in recovery mode heading into the next spring practice, and to add even more pressure, former five-star recruit Malachi Nelson had arrived from USC to challenge for the starting spot.
“The mental headspace I was in was brutal,” Madsen told members of the media on Tuesday after the conclusion of the Broncos’ third spring practice of 2026.
How could an undersized, underclassman quarterback coming off a serious knee injury fend off a QB who’d received offers from the likes of Oklahoma, Miami and Notre Dame?
“I didn’t have any confidence in my abilities. I lost that completely,” Madsen admitted. “And realistically, I probably shouldn’t have lost that confidence, for the things that I’d done in my redshirt freshman year.”
What happened next has been well-documented. Madsen won the starting job over Nelson, and has since amassed a record of 20-6 as the starter. He has helped lead the Broncos to two of their three straight Mountain West Conference championships, and to an appearance in the 2024 College Football Playoff.
For his final season, Madsen is entering the spring off an injury again. He missed three games down the stretch of last season and missed most of the Broncos’ LA Bowl loss to Washington because of a lingering right ankle and toe injury.
But there are some key differences this time around for a player who is a team captain.
First, he’s fully recovered from those late-season injuries and looks quick on his feet during spring practices. Second, he’s no longer trying to regain his confidence — that hasn’t gone anywhere, and he knows his coaches trust him.
In fact, Madsen is now more focused on the legacy he’ll leave behind, and wants his name mentioned with the Boise State giants.
“You talk about the great tradition of excellence that this place has, especially in the quarterback room of Kellen (Moore), Brett (Rypien), Grant Hedrick, all those guys,” Madsen said. “And I would want to be in consideration of those names.”
Though he already has done a lot of winning, Madsen is trying to get to a lofty space.
Moore, now the head coach of the New Orleans Saints, famously went 50-3 as a starter, brought home the 2009 Fiesta Bowl trophy and was the first Heisman Trophy finalist in program history. Hedrick also won a Fiesta Bowl, in 2014, and was hailed as one of the most accurate passers in the nation. Rypien was a four-year starter who ranks second in program history in passing yards (13,581), passing touchdowns (90) and completions (1,036).
So what does Madsen have to do to put himself in the same breath as those greats?
Another season akin to 2024 would go a long way, and a CFP berth and victory at the end would cement his status in Boise State lore for sure.
But well before that, Madsen sees a big opportunity to put his name in the history books by successfully guiding the Broncos to a smooth and successful transition into the reborn Pac-12. There also will be a big-game opportunity at Oregon to open the season.
“To end in a new conference and kind of open that up, that’s something that I extremely look forward to,” Madsen said.
The Broncos are one of eight teams attempting to revive the “Conference of Champions” back to glory, after the conference fell apart in 2024. Five of those teams came from the Mountain West, joining the Sun Belt’s Texas State and Pac-12 holdovers Oregon State and Washington State.
Boise State will be one of the favorites to win the conference. Considering that the Mountain West has been weakened and the American Athletic Conference saw its best teams shredded at both the coaching and player level, the top Pac-12 team easily could find itself earning the non-power league bid to the CFP next winter.
If Madsen is the QB to guide the Broncos to two CFP appearances in three years, history will look kindly upon the 5-foot-10 QB who’s often faced pushback from fans in his years as the starter.
“I want to leave absolutely no regrets for what I’ve done in this program,” Madsen said. “... There’s no room for complacency. What I’ve done here doesn’t matter. All that matters is what I’m going to do ... that will be the biggest legacy I could leave.”
