This didn't hurt.

Must be the shoes...

After Ian Johnson turned heads and calmed nerves at the NFL Scouting Combine last month many just hoped he would sit back and ride out the wave of goodwill till Draft day. Ian wasn't hearing any of that. On St. Patrick's Day, IJ took to the FieldTurf again to show the scouts what he's got, and once again, impressed those in attendance. Johnson, who wisely chose to stand on his Combine 40-time of 4.4, ran agility drills for about 12 NFL scouts at the Caven-Williams Complex on Tuesday afternoon and garnered high praise from the reigning BMOC, Coach Pete:

“He’s as big as he’s ever been and moving as well as he’s ever moved,” Boise State coach Chris Petersen said. “… He looked fast and he looked powerful.”

Chrissy, must be slipping some whey protein into the Hamburger Helper.

Also showing off for the scouts were Vinny Perretta and Jeremy Childs. Perretta may have piqued some interest from scouts with his blazing 40 times of 4.48 and 4.43 as well as some solid numbers in the agility tests, and Childs had to have improved his stock as he was able to make them forget his so-so Combine sprints by finally posting some sub-4.5 marks.

All-in-all...a good day for the newly-minted Bronco alums. Hopefully we'll see all three of the aforementioned sneak onto Kiper's big board.

Ian Johnson looks 'fast, powerful'...[Statesman]
Intriguing prospects work out at Boise State Pro Day [NFL.com]

IJ just made some money

You can get all the yarn you've ever dreamed of

No one has ever questioned Ian Johnson's heart or character, but after IJ's stellar sophomore campaign, his NFL draft stock appeared to be dropping precipitously. Ian suffered some freak injuries throughout his career and had to deal with a retooled offense that no longer gave him the ball as much as he was accustomed...and then there were the questions about his speed. All in all, I don't think things were looking great for IJ, draftwise. But the all-time WAC rushing TD leader has been turning heads at the combine this weekend and quieting some naysayers that thought his sophomore season was a fluke. Ian just finished running his 40-yard dash in Indianapolis and officially has run the second fastest time of the day...just 1/100th of a second behind Virginia's Cedric Peerman at 4.46 seconds. Ian also put up impressive numbers on the bench press, finishing with 26 reps of 225 lbs. Those finishing with more reps than Ian among the running backs were mainly fullbacks. Ian also finished 4th and 5th amongst running backs in the 20-yard and 60-yard shuttle runs, respectively.

With Ian's character speaking for itself, and now being backed up by solid combine numbers and experience on special teams—I think that Ian just made himself (and Chrissy) some cash.

Nice job, Ian.

By the way, Jeremy Childs ran a 4.57 in the 40—not amazing...but not terrible. Hey, nobody ever said JC was a burner, right?

Combine top performers [NFL.com]

Childs' Combine invite was apparently lost in the mail

*Yoink

So about that article a couple of days ago...nevermind. It turns out that Jeremy Childs will be attending the NFL Combine in Indy next month, but nobody knew about it. The Statesman is reporting this morning that Childs is working out at Athletes' Performance in L.A. and prepping for the combine, one of only about 40 receivers on the list. KBCI reported a week or so ago that Childs had not been on the list of attendees and that Ian Johnson would be the lone Bronco participant. Furthermore, ESPN's Graham Watson corroborated the story saying that Childs' name was conspicuously absent among the list of non-BCS participants. Well, they were both wrong or simply jumped the gun, leaving me holding the bag as it were. J Bates, I curse your name.

Scouts will be particularly interested in Childs' 40 time which has been clocked previously as "fast enough"...but will need to increased to "faster than Brian Dawkins" by the time the Combine rolls around.

Childs gets his invite [Statesman]

Childs a no-go for the combine

Be the ball, Jeremy.

Jeremy Childs winding road to the NFL may have just gotten a wee bit more complicated. Whereas last years early departures, Orlando Scandrick and Ryan Clady, had a chance to show their wares at the meat market known as the NFL combine...Childs will have to hope that he draws a big crowd on Pro Day. The official invite list, out today, shows only one Bronco making the trip to Indianapolis, and that Bronco is Ian Johnson. Oddly enough, Johnson may have more to prove to the scouts than Childs...at least physically. The combine runs between February 18th and the 24th.

Story [KBCI]

End of an era for snappy headline puns

A classic headline pun. Drink it in.

With yesterday's announcement that Jeremy Childs will be departing for the NFL—a wave of sadness swept over me. No, I'm not depressed about the void that will be left on the blue turf next season, but rather the void that will be left in newspaper columns and KTVB graphics as the 'Childs Play' pun headline will be forever lost. It is a little known fact that the Statesman employs an entire department for the sole purpose of coming up with headline puns (this blog, by comparison, employs only one) and, well, KTVB has Mark Johnson. These hard working people's jobs are now in danger, and in this economy, the shockwaves may be felt far and wide. Worsening the situation is the departure of Ellis Powers to graduation...'Powers that be' or 'More Powers to you' pun headlines will have to be retired—hence, more jobs lost.

The only hope is that a new wave of starters and recruits will be able to fill this gaping abyss on our headline spreads and segment intros. Obviously, the arrival of Kirby Moore will bring a glut of headlines like 'One more Moore' or 'S'Moore', but Kirby won't arrive until Summer and who knows how many will be unemployed by then?! Well, it's time to get proactive...we need new puns and we need them right NOW! To help stimulate the economy, I humbly submit to beat writers, journalists, video editors, Tom Scott and Mark Johnson the following headline puns to highlight these individuals:

George Iloka—By George! Iloka does it again.
Jeremy Avery—A-very good outing.
Titus Young—Young getting restless.
Doug Martin—My favorite Martin.
Kellen Moore—This one's a freebie.
Hunter White—The Great White Hunter.
Billy Winn—A Winn's a Winn.
Jarrell Root—Root, root, root for our home team.
Nate Potter—Scary Potter.
Ryan Winterswyk—Now is the Winter-swyk of our discontent.
Shea McLellin—Oh Shea can you see?
DJ Harper—The Harper Image.
Kyle Efaw—'Faw he's a jolly good fellow.
Mitch Burroughs—Burroughs before hos. (maybe don't run this one on front page)

Hopefully this list will help get us through these tough pun times—and hopefully will spark and new era in headline pun greatness the likes of which we've never seen.

Childs on graduation promise: "Never mind"

You'll never have it this easy again.

About a month ago, Jeremy Childs said that he would return for his senior season at Boise State. You remember, it went something like this:

...yadda yadda my mom, blah blah blah diploma...

Well, like goings-on in Las Vegas...Childs believes that 'things that happen in December, stay in December' and has promptly spun an athletic 180 and decided to depart for the NFL. Rumors to this effect started swirling last week from J Bates' general direction...but now it appears confirmed—Childs is taking his 10-yard outs to the big show, and Orlando Scandrick's senioritis has infected another big time Bronco player. Sadly, Childs was only 1 yard from jersey retirement.

In other news, Kirby Moore will start next year.

Semi-full story [Statesman]

Your guess=as good as mine

Photo by Joe Jaszewski

Ok...so I took the wife and kid down to Bronco Stadium for the ridiculously early scrimmage today. They know that most people are working at 3 PM on a Monday, right? Anyhoo...I showed up a bit late—around 4 and tried to see what I could see. The "big" play (Kellen Moore to Vinny Perretta for a 51 yard TD) had already happened, but thankfully Buck from Statueleft got me up to speed. Here's what I thought I saw:

Kellen Moore looks very poised and makes decisions very quickly (and usually wisely). He didn't have a "wow" type of day, but still led all QBs in yardage with 137 yards and a score. Moore did not play error free ball, but he did not turn the ball over (other than a ball that was stripped by a blitzing Derrell Acrey). Moore's receivers had a few drops, he threw a few a bit wide, but also wisely threw them away when nothing was opening up. Moore was only 9 of 22 on the day...but didn't kill drives and still got over the 100 yard mark. Moore may have just pulled slightly ahead with today's performance.

Bush Hamdan, though dead even throughout the Spring and Summer with Moore—may have ceded a bit of an edge today to Moore. Hamdan had no turnovers to speak of, but often threw into tight coverage and was lucky not to be picked off. Hamdan looked fairly agile in the pocket, but did not tuck and run when it may have been beneficial. The defense put pretty good pressure on him, but Bush wasn't making terribly quick reads. He finished the day 5 of 15 for 48 yards and no scores. Some remarked that the running game seemed to look better with Hamdan at the helm, but this may be chalked up to a) sheer coincidence or b) the fact that the RBs are more accustomed to a right-handed exchange. Hamdan didn't kill the offense, but he didn't spark them much either. It is the first scrimmage, so I won't read too much in. Hamdan, I think is #2 for now.

Nick Lomax had the best passer rating of the outing. He was 7 of 9 and completed 77% of his throws. It must be stated, however, that Lomax's stats were accumulated against mainly 2nd or 3rd teamers and were high percentage, short passes that only netted him 68 yards through the air. Lomax always seems to get up for the scrimmages and doesn't make many boneheaded mistakes...but he is clearly a step behind Moore and Hamdan and has not really impressed a lot in actual game situations. Lomax is hangin' in there, but I don't think he'll push Moore or Hamdan for much PT.

Michael Coughlin did not see much action on Monday. He was a respectable 5 of 8 for 35 yards and clearly possesses the best legs of the group. He also has a rocket arm, but routinely seems to overthrow receivers and rushes his passes. Coughlin saw some action last year in games and performed decently...but he and Lomax, "the tall ones" don't seem to have grasped the offense as well as the redshirt and the 5th year. I still have hope that Coughlin will make a charge and we'll see him some this year, but a starting gig looks like a longshot.

The defense played well and Derrell Acrey and Jeron Johnson stood out. Acrey adds a larger, more physical presence at midfield and Johnson just seems to be everywhere. Jeron hits like a Mack truck and leveled the much larger Julian Hawkins with a hit that echoed off the bleachers. Hunter White also caught my eye as he really flies around out there. The defensive line got good pushes into the backfield which hopefully is because of a combination of skill and the fact that the O-line is missing several cogs.

Receiving was hard to gauge. Very excited to read the stat line that Chandler Koch led all receivers with 61 yards—equally so about frosh Chris Potter snagging 5 tosses. Our future looks bright at receiver...and so does the present. Perretta, obviously snagged a long TD pass that was 100% effort. Nice to see Vinny back at full strength. Also nice to have Jeremy Childs back...he didn't light it up...but always seems to be open. Our receivers and running backs shouldn't be an issue this year. They're gold.

To sum it up. No QB really distanced himself too much. Hamdan or Moore is anyone's guess. Obviously there are pros and cons to either choice, but I don't get the impression that either would do poorly if given the reins. We'll just have to wait until Saturday's scrimmage to see if another can pull away. Until then...happy prognosticating.

JC has returned!

No, not that JC. IPT has the audio of Jeremy Childs press conference up HERE. We forgive you, #9.

Coach Pete presser

Audio now up on IPT website HERE. Highlights?

• Jeremy Childs is back...but not for the ISU game—Paul J. calls him "Jeremy Avery"
  
• "1 to 2" true freshman starting would be great
• Extremely excited about DJ Harper—"Haven't even seen the best of him yet"
• Richie Brockel is a genius—Graduates in a few weeks; has two years left to play ball
• Vinny Perretta is back in top form
• George Iloka a greenshirt? He's ready to compete for playing time this year
• Billy Winn won't be ready for first game
• Matt Slater is on scholly now
• Coach Pete not a big fan of new clock rules
  

Every time Boise State wins, an angel gets his wings.

Broncocountry's Forseyfan11 made the following vid...a few reasons to get pumped for the '08 season. The scary part?! We have these guys and Austin Pettis back AND add rageaholic Doug Martin to the backfield. WAC defenses and incontinent Vandal coaches just collectively wet themselves.

One for the ages?

I decided not to blog the UNR/BSU game yesterday...as I, like other Bronco faithful was in a bit of a daze. Apart from being worn out physically...my vocal chords weren't feeling too swell. I'm sure that many a Bronco walked around Monday morning in a bit of a haze...wandering aimlessly...muttering "Kaepernick" softly under their breath. Well, today I feel more refreshed and am able to look back on Sunday night's crazy game with a little more insight.

First off, let me say that this was probably the greatest game ever on the blue—eclipsing the 2004 BYU squeaker and the 2005 Idaho game where BSU turned a 21-21 tie into a 70-35 beatdown in what seemed like 5 minutes. It was as exciting and nerve-wracking as they come...watching Boise State survive Nevada's mind-boggling offensive display in 4 OTs as LB Tim Brady sacked freshman QB Colin Kaepernick as the Wolf Pack tried to convert a two-point conversion (which, by rule they had to attempt). The Broncos and the Wolf Pack combined for almost 1300 yards of offense, and put up a final score of 69-67, which resembled a basketball score, and also, incidentally was the most points scored in a NCAA Division 1-A game since they started keeping track sometime in the '30s.

Secondly, let me say that it was the most PATHETIC display of defense by either team that I think I've ever seen. The conundrum here being that as memorable as the game was, I am sure both teams would rather forget it. The Broncos, who prior to this game had the 3rd ranked defense in the country and hadn't allowed a hundred yard rusher all year long—inexplicably gave up nearly 400 yards on the ground. 400!

Now, I won't take anything away from the Wolf Pack...they seemed to have largely outschemed us offensively and our D looked confused, sluggish and worn out all night. Maybe the Broncos were overly confident after last week's demolition of NMSU? Maybe the Broncos were not expecting a fight from the Wolf Pack after 7 straight years of domination? Who knows? All I know is that the Wolf Pack offense came to play this time around—and our defense did not. Fortunately for Bronco Nation...OUR offense decided to play—and the Nevada D took a cue from ours and decided to stay on the bus.

Tharp looked darn good once again throwing 4 TDs and only one pick. Ian continued his all-purpose attack, garnering WAC player of the week honors for his 205 rushing yards and 50+ receiving yards (and 3 TDs), and Jeremy Childs had another outstanding game. We even saw some old-skool Bronco trickeration in the form of a fake fieldgoald TD strike and the Bronco special teams came up with another big block, this time, a Nevada PAT. After the game, we learned that Vinny Perretta is out for the rest of the season with a shoulder injury and Jeron Johson didn't start again because of a nagging hammy injury.

The only real analysis I have is that I HOPE sincerely that this defensive outing was a total anomaly, and that a hard week of practice and some refocusing will cure all ills. If the same defensive effort is put forth in coming weeks...I can honestly see BSU picking up 1 or 2 more losses. That said, as well as our offense is playing right now...any aforementioned losses would be by likely final scores of 50-45 or some such. Get cracking Broncos and look ahead to La Tech...while the rest of Bronco Nation breathes a sigh of relief at Sunday's slugfest.

Oh and by the way, nice game, Nevada. Respect has been regained and I am looking forward to the next few years of the rivalry. And big props to Bronco Nation for getting NOI-ZEE! Loudest I've ever heard Bronco Stadium at the end there.