Ten spot

Boise State has landed their 10th verbal commitment of the 2009 class...and on the last day of July. Justin Jungblut, a Defensive End from Saguaro High (Scottsdale, AZ) has notified Bronco coaches with his decision to accept their scholarship offer. Jungblut is currently 6'6" and weighs 250 lbs. Besides holding an offer from Idaho, Jungblut had scholarships extended from a smattering of Mountain West teams—Air Force, Utah, Wyoming and UNLV. As a junior, Jungblut had 38 tackles and 1 sack. He is graded out as a 70 by ESPN's recruiting website. Here is more of their eval:

Jungblut registers as having one of the more interesting names in the 2009 class. He is also somewhat of an interesting prospect. He is a good sized kid, who should be able to get into a college weight program and add some good bulk. He is a defensive end, but it may serve him best to try and bulk up and slide inside to tackle. He has a good get-off and it is one of the strengths of his game. When he keeps his pads down and shoots his hands he can take on a block and hold his ground. Will flash the ability to get skinny and split a double team. He needs to watch his pad level and more consistently keep his pads down. He does an adequate job of coming across the ball and staying square. He has a good motor and is a solid tackler. Possesses very adequate speed and short-area change-of-direction skills. As a pass rusher he will lead with his hands and does a solid job of being able to shed. He needs to keep working on developing pass rush moves to help him more quickly defeat a blocker. He will flash the ability with his get-off to be able throw a quick swim to beat a blocker. Jungblut is a solid defender. We believe he may be better suited if he can add the size to be a defensive tackle at least in the long haul anyway.

If Jungblut's verbal holds, he will join another Arizona '09 commit, Ebo Makinde. To be honest, though, I'm more concerned about Makinde hanging in.

Statesman sleuths snare slippery ex-Bronco

With rare praise for the Statesman, I gotta hand it to them on this story about former Bronco Defensive Lineman and highest ever (until this weekend) Bronco draftpick Markus Koch. The Statesman writers and staffers put out a Carmen Sandiego-like dragnet and managed to track down Koch, whom teammates and friends had not seen in nearly 15 years. The search for Koch, as of yesterday afternoon, was starting to resemble a Hardy Boys type caper—the Case of the Covert Canuck, perhaps.

Even amateur sleuths were getting in on the act as I corresponded with ISZ's J Bates several times yesterday with possible leads...all of which turned up empty. I think most people thought that Koch was hiding out in the anonymity of Canada's great white north...turns out he was finally tracked down by Statesman staffers in Port Townsend, WA—proving once and for all that finding a 6'5" 270 lb. man can sometimes be more difficult than it sounds.

My google searches for Markus now seem as bumbling as a Tim Conway/Don Knotts picture when you realize the resources that the Statesman employed in searching for the former Redskin. According to their article, they called and interviewed dozens of friends, coaches and ex-teammates; all who had their own theories about Koch's whereabouts. Finally late Thursday, the Statesman had their "Eureka" moment and tracked down Koch at 11 PM. Props again to the Statesman for "going all Sherlock Holmes"...it was the most interesting read I've possibly ever had from their paper.

Link to Statesman article.