Boise State Football Recruiting: Defensive Stoppers Lead Solid Class
The Boise State Broncos may not be filling up the roster with 5-star recruits, but they’re certainly reeling in the 3-star players and have found a pretty solid crop of talent heading into their first year in the Mountain West Conference.
While the school has never been a big-time destination for top high school players, it has done a terrific job of finding players who fit the school’s system and deliver results on the field.
So let’s take a glimpse into the future and look at Boise State’s recruiting philosophy and the commits for the 2011 class. Let’s also discuss how the move to the Mountain West and its wacky TV contract will affect future classes.
Some Thoughts on the Boise State Recruiting Philosophy
1 of 7
Before we break down the names and 40 times, it’s important to take a second to understand Chris Petersen’s recruiting philosophy and the type of player the Broncos seek to acquire.
While every program would love to land a crop full of 5-star blue-chippers, it’s simply impossible. Those players land in the high-profile programs that have more pull due to weather, coaching and under-the-table payoffs. But enough about Auburn—back to Boise State.
Petersen broke down his recruiting philosophy very succinctly in a 2007 interview with College Sports Television, and looking at the results since, it’s worked quite nicely.
“I think probably first and foremost, we've just gotten the right players for us. I think we've done a nice job in recruiting the best players that fit our system, the profile that we're looking for, and [players] who have really bought into our system over here,” Petersen said.
Like a handful of schools in that second tier of collegiate football success, the Broncos seek players who are the right fit.
Petersen continued, “We pick and choose our battles wisely, and we look for the right fit and somebody that has an interest in us and knows a little bit about us. And usually when the kids do have some interest going into the recruiting process, if they haven't been here and they come up and see Boise, Idaho, they love it. It's just so much different than the perception that's probably out there. I was just talking to a kid and saying, 'Hey, if you haven't been here, you probably have this vision of a bunch of potato fields.' Boise, Idaho isn't anything close to that.”
Considering he has to sell the city, conference and program, he’s done a remarkable job.
Without further ado, let’s break down the top commits.
Jimmy Laughrea: Quarterback, Rocklin, California
2 of 7
For a program that has assembled some of the most prolific offenses of this decade, the Broncos are surprisingly thin on offensive commits in 2011.
Sure, part of that is due to the fact that quarterback Kellen Moore and running back Doug Martin will return.
That said, Boise State has verbal commits from a couple players who fans should expect to take over for the aforementioned Moore and Martin in a few years.
First on the list is Jimmy Laughrea, a 6'2", 180-pound quarterback from Rocklin, California, a suburb of Sacramento. What’s interesting about Laughrea is the fact that he’s considered a dual-threat quarterback, as known for his ability to move the ball with his feet as his arm.
As a senior he passed for 22 TDs and just nine INTs, while becoming the league MVP.
Last year the Broncos added Joe Southwick to the roster, who is similar in many ways to Laughrea. It will be interesting to see which of these guys ends up taking the reins post-Moore.
Jay Ajayi: Running Back, Frisco, Texas
3 of 7
Ajayi boasts impressive stats from a senior year in talent-rich Texas football. In fact, the running back prospect twice posted rushing totals close to 300 yards in a game.
The 6'0", 200-pound back will have his work cut out finding carries as a freshman in a backfield returning a 1,000-yard rusher and a stable of underclassmen who saw carries in 2010.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
Defensive Backs
4 of 7
The Broncos lose corner Brandyn Thompson and safety Jeron Johnson, who both made big impacts in the defensive secondary. But beyond that the secondary features a lot of underclassmen.
So it’s kind of a surprise to see the Broncos commit a big batch of corners and safeties. While it’s a little head-scratching, the recruits themselves are an impressive bunch of 3-star players sure to enrich the defensive side of the ball for years to come.
The players come from all over the map, including kids from California, Florida, Idaho, Texas and Canada. The latter player is Taylor Loffler, a startling 6’4” DB from British Columbia. With that kind of height, it’s expected he could have an impact right away, and certainly in a few years as an upperclassman.
Jeff Worthy: Defensive Tackle, La Habra, California
5 of 7
The 6’4”, 275-pound defensive lineman would look good on any roster in the nation, and the Broncos beat out an impressive list of schools to land this defensive tackle.
Worthy was recruited by schools like Nebraska and a handful of Pac-10 programs.
With that kind of size, Worthy is sure to become a major obstacle to opposing rushing attacks in a school that has groomed some very impressive D-linemen of late.
Linebackers
6 of 7
Like the defensive backs, the Broncos have hauled in a solid batch of linebackers to complete their run on defensive players this recruiting cycle.
Each of Boise State’s linebacker commits is a 3-star Rivals recruit with size and speed. Like the DBs, they come from all over the country, including (left to right) Hawaii, California and Texas.
Leading this batch is K.T. Tuumalo, who has verbally committed to the Broncos over Arizona, Oregon State, Colorado and local University of Hawaii. At 6'3" and 210 pounds, he possesses a solid blend of size and speed that’s sure to contain Mountain West offenses in the coming years.
Will the Move to the MWC Hurt BSU Recruiting?
7 of 7
This all begs the question: Will anyone see these guys play? You may or may not know that Commissioner Craig Thompson and the Mountain West Conference inked a TV contract with Comcast which broadcasts games primarily on the conference’s own network, The mtn.
The problem is, that station is carried in a very small number of homes and isn’t even available on Dish Network. On the other TV carriers, it’s buried in the 600 channels with fishing and hunting stations.
Could that TV deal kill the program?
Boise State fans will have to get used to the fact that they’ll no longer be on ESPN (or any highly watched network), no longer be the ESPN darling and no longer receive the exposure that relationship has provided in the past.
The question is, will Boise State’s 2012 class suffer as a result? We shall see...
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
