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Wednesday Weekly…April 23, 2025.
At Boise State’s Spring Game, you often see an unfamiliar name rack up some stats—and then wonder if you’ll ever hear from him again. That’s the case with redshirt sophomore AJ Maes, who led the Broncos in receiving last Saturday with three catches for 55 yards. The wide receivers room is incomplete right now, and we don’t know if Maes is seen as a guy who can contribute, but two of his three receptions were dandies. One was a leaping high-point catch, and another a difficult-to-corral one in heavy traffic. Maes would be a great story if he sees the field. He was a quarterback in high school in California and was granted a tryout session two years ago with then-offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan. Maes earned a spot as a preferred walk-on, and then switched to wideout. I, for one, am going to file his name away.
MEANWHILE, ON THE EVE OF THE DRAFT
Before we get back to the Spring Game, we need to go through our Ashton Jeanty progressions. Mock drafts are providing plenty of drama going into Thursday’s big night in Green Bay. Could the Boise State great go higher than No. 6? One of the most respected of draft gurus, The Athletic’s Dane Brugler, thinks so. Brugler now slots Jeanty in at No. 5 overall, going to the Jacksonville Jaguars. I mean, the Jags need a running back for Trevor Lawrence, right?
There are crazy headlines everywhere, like: “Denver actively exploring trade-up for Ashton Jeanty,” and “Raiders need contingency plan if Jeanty is off the board,” and “Insider picks Jacksonville to get Jeanty.” What does Ashton think? In an interview with Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, he saw No. 6 to the Raiders as the top end—and felt he’d go no later than No. 12 to the Cowboys. The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman talked to a number of NFL assistant coaches anonymously about Jeanty in his “NFL Draft Confidential”. One of them identified as “OC No. 2” said, “I like his seriousness about the game, his loyalty to his team, to stay there. Everybody knew they were gonna hand him the ball and he still really produced.” The only criticism he seems to get is his pass protection, but I’m not too worried about that.
RESIDUAL EFFECT FOR BOISE STATE
Unless you’re invested in a particular school (or conference), you tend to forget what school an NFL player attended as time goes on. I don’t think that’s going to be the case with Jeanty. He’ll forever be associated with Boise State because of the sheer number of highlights Joe and Joanna Fan saw the past year (or three). But the publicity he’s getting right now on a daily basis is about the best thing that’s ever happened to the Broncos’ national brand. Virtually every photo of him in game action shows the “Boise State” plastered across the front of his jersey. Meanwhile, I can’t wait to see what he wears Thursday night in Green Bay.
SPRING GAME CHECKLIST
One of the many question marks going into Boise State’s Spring Game: do the Broncos have a No. 2 quarterback behind Maddux Madsen? While coach Spencer Danielson isn’t ready to declare an answer, redshirt freshman Kaleb Annett made his case Saturday on the blue turf. Annett went 6-for-10 for 77 yards and a touchdown. The important thing was the way he did it. Annett often went through his options and found secondary receivers, and he completed throws into tight windows. He didn’t get to throw a pass last season, but that will likely change in four-plus months.
It’s weird to say the Boise State running game will be fine this year without Jeanty, but the committee to replace him was on full display Saturday at the Spring Game. First of all, just so you know, the injured Sire Gaines was there and wearing his jersey, so make note of that. But Fresno State transfer Malik Sherrod, as he has all spring, stole the show with a 65-yard touchdown run to open the scoring. It was fairly dazzling, as it was at a time when plays were whistled dead on contact. Sherrod avoided every grab and turned it on the final 40 yards. Dylan Riley and Breezy Dubar looked fine as well. Riley showed off his speed on a 47-yard TD run that was called back, and Dubar was workmanlike on his nine carries for 41 yards. We’re assuming coach Spencer Danielson can keep the running backs room together now.
WAY-TOO-EARLY MW TITLE ODDS
We looked at the Boise State Spring Game under the lens of 2025 Mountain West championship possibilities. Did the Broncos look ghe part? DraftKings thinks they do, as they’ve released their MW title odds for this year. Boise State is a huge favorite at minus-130. UNLV, the runner-up the past two seasons, is a distant second at plus-380. And who’s third? San Jose State. Then you have Fresno State, Colorado State, Air Force, Hawaii, Wyoming and San Diego State (how the mighty have fallen). Bringing up the rear are Utah State, New Mexico and Nevada.
THE RECRUITING CAROUSEL NEVER STOPS
Catching up on Boise State football recruiting—the Spring Game aura was brightened by a commitment from quarterback Bryson Beaver from Vista Murietta in California (Khalil Shakir’s high school). Then Tuesday the Broncos picked up a verbal from two-way player Rocky Dunn out of Melissa High in Texas. Also Tuesday, Eastern Washington defensive back Derek Ganter Jr., an FCS Freshman All-American, signed with the Broncos. Ganter led the Eagles with 95 total tackles last season, including 55 solo stops. No other player on the roster had more than 60 total tackles or 25 solos.
CFP FORMAT JOCKEYING
This week the 10 FBS conference commissioners—from the Power 4 and Group of 6—are meeting in Dallas to talk about potential changes to the College Football Playoff. Chris Vannini of The Athletic is reporting the commissioners have largely agreed that if a 2025 seeding change happens (and the byes go to seeds Nos. 1-4, unlike last year), the four highest-ranked conference champions would receive an additional bonus of around $4 million—the money they’d otherwise receive for the first-round bye. So in 2024, straight seeding would’ve given first-round byes to the four Big Ten and SEC championship game participants—Oregon, Georgia, Texas and Penn State—but the additional payouts would have gone to Oregon, Georgia, Boise State and Arizona State. A fair solution, if you ask me.
ROOTING FOR THE FRESHMEN
Count me among those who hope signing high school stars still means something in college sports. Take Boise State hoops, for example. With the Broncos’ hole in the post right now, the spotlight has been on Lehigh transfer Dominic Parolin, coming off a redshirt year, and former Rocky Mountain standout Drew Fielder, who comes in from Georgetown. Here’s hoping Boise State’s new commit, Canadian Spencer Ahrens, isn’t lost in the shuffle. The 6-9 Ahrens, who gave his verbal late last week, is a four-star recruit and an ESPN top 30 forward nationally (both countries combined, I guess). He also had offers from Illinois, Georgetown, Colorado State and Harvard, according to 247 Sports.
LANDING SPOTS OUT OF THE PORTAL
Two of Boise State’s transfer portal entries have found new homes. The surprise departure, forward Emmanuel Ugbo, has ended up at a surprise destination: Washington State. It would seem like a lateral move for a guy who could have started for the Broncos next season, especially with the Cougars rebuilding. But maybe that’s the point. Wazzu really wanted Ugbo. The junior-to-be from The Netherlands averaged 3.1 points and 2.3 rebounds this past season, but those numbers are deceiving.
Former Boise State guard Chris Lockett Jr. has come out of the portal to commit to Jacksonville. Sounds like a good landing spot for Lockett—closer to home for the 2023 Louisiana Gatorade Player of the Year. Lockett averaged 3.1 points and 12.5 minutes in 24 games for the Broncos this past season. He had been getting 17 minutes per game before coach Leon Rice shortened his bench following the loss at Colorado State in late January. And Dylan Anderson, who spent one year at Boise State after transferring from Arizona, has settled on Murray State as his next destination.
This Day In Sports…brought to you by BBSI BOISE…payroll, process and prosperity for your business.
April 23, 1954: Hank Aaron of the Milwaukee Braves hits his first major league home run off Vic Raschi of the St. Louis Cardinals. Aaron, of course, would go on to break Babe Ruth’s all-time record with his 715th homer in 1974 and amassed 755 in his career, which lasted through 1976. The drama now is: will Aaron’s record endure if Barry Bonds’ 756th home run ball sits in Cooperstown with an asterisk on it? Bonds has kind of held the record since 2007, when he finished with 762 homers.
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra and anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK. He also served as color commentator on KTVB’s telecasts of Boise State football for 14 seasons.)
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