Five questions the Boise State football team must answer as spring practice begins

The Boise State football team will start spring practice Monday with Spencer Danielson as head coach, Dirk Koetter as offensive coordinator and some key questions to answer.

It’s the beginning of what could be an exciting year for the Broncos — one they hope will culminate in an appearance in the expanded College Football Playoff. The field grows from four to 12 teams this year, and the five highest-ranked conference champions get automatic berths. The Mountain West and American Athletic champs figure to vie for the fifth spot outside of the Big Ten, ACC, SEC and Big 12 winners.

Former NFL and college head coach Koetter — who once led the Boise State program — is back as offensive coordinator. He has the pieces in place to have a special unit, including returning Mountain West Offensive Player of the Year Ashton Jeanty, and two former five-star recruits. The Broncos also return the bulk of last season’s starters on defense.

Like every program this time of year, the Broncos have plenty of questions to answer as they try to set the stage for fall practice, which will precede the Aug. 31 season opener at Georgia Southern. Here’s a look at Boise State’s five most pressing concerns.

Who emerges as leader in quarterback race?

The question on everyone’s minds this spring is who will head into fall camp with a leg up in the race to replace former starting quarterback Taylen Green, who transferred to Arkansas.

The logical answer is former USC quarterback Malachi Nelson, who transferred to Boise State in January with four years of eligibility left. He was a five-star recruit coming out of high school, and he was the No. 1 recruit in the 2022 class, according to ESPN. He was named Gatorade California Player of the Year in 2021 and 2022, and finished his career at Los Alamitos High with 7,984 passing yards and 110 total touchdowns (105 passing).

Logic doesn’t always dictate what happens in position battles like this, though. Nobody expected undersized redshirt freshman Maddux Madsen to push Green for playing time last year, but the Utah native played in nine games and made his first career start against New Mexico. He suffered a season-ending knee injury in that game and will be extremely limited this spring as he continues to recover.

Koetter said Thursday that he’s excited about the talent the Broncos have at quarterback, but he’s seen only two of them throw the ball in a game: Madsen and redshirt freshman CJ Tiller, who started the Broncos’ loss to UCLA in the LA Bowl last December. He’s seen Nelson throw on film.

Koetter got a good look at Madsen last season and in 2022, when he took over as interim offensive coordinator after Tim Plough was fired four games into the season. It’s safe to say he was impressed.

“Maddux showed that he can do it out there last year on The Blue,” Koetter said. “Maddux has won games on The Blue. He’s the only quarterback here who’s done that.”

Nelson and Tiller will get most of the reps with Madsen out this spring, but this race is shaping up to be between Nelson and Madsen when fall camp opens in August.

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Is Marshall ready for the spotlight?

The Broncos added what could be an explosive piece to the offense this year in wide receiver Chris Marshall. He was a five-star recruit coming out of high school, and the former standout at Kilgore (Texas) College was the No. 1 JUCO recruit in the country this year, according to 247Sports.

Marshall has the athleticism to stretch defenses and a potentially bright future in the NFL, according to former Boise State offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan. He also comes to town with a history of disciplinary issues.

Marshall was suspended twice during his freshman season at Texas A&M and transferred at the end of the year. He landed at Ole Miss, but he wasn’t there long before he was dismissed from the team in May 2023 because of what the program called a violation of team rules.

Danielson said he and his staff went into Marshall’s recruitment with their eyes wide open, and they did their due diligence. He said in February that his staff and Boise State administrators interviewed everyone in Marshall’s life, from his past coaches to his parents. Danielson said he’s confident Boise State is the right place for Marshall to thrive.

“We are very protective of our locker room and very protective of this place,” Danielson said. “We believe this is a place where he can come and develop, and we know we have the structures in place to where he can be very focused.”

Danielson said those structures will include everything from how much time Marshall spends on his schoolwork to where he lives, whether or not he has a car and what he’s doing most weekends. He also made it clear that Marshall understands this may be his last chance.

“He knows he needs this place,” Danielson said.

Marshall’s big-play ability is undeniable. The 6-3, 208-pound native of Missouri City, Texas, caught 21 passes for 449 yards and five touchdowns at Kilgore College last season. He hauled in 60 passes for 1,475 yards and 29 touchdowns in his final two seasons at Fort Bend High in Texas.

He has a chance to emerge right away as Boise State’s No. 1 wide receiver after last season’s receiving leader, Eric McAlister, transferred to TCU.

Who will emerge as RB2?

Boise State is going to be a run-first offense, Koetter said Thursday. That makes a lot of sense, considering the Broncos return one of the top running backs in the country in Jeanty. He led the Mountain West with 1,347 rushing yards, ranked No. 5 in the country with 19 total touchdowns and led the country in yards after contact at one point last season.

Running behind an offensive line that returns four starters, Jeanty has a chance to put up even more gaudy numbers this season, but the Broncos still need to find a couple of reliable options behind him.

The most likely candidate to take some carries is Jambres “Breezy” Dubar, a 6-foot, 211-pound sophomore who ran for 335 yards last season. Danielson and Koetter both said Boise State plans to be smart with how much work Jeanty gets this spring, so Dubar has a chance to pick up some reps and show what he can do.

Freshman Sire Gaines enrolled early and has been on campus since January. He’s an explosive athlete who has a chance to gain some momentum this spring that could put him in line for some carries this fall.

Gaines committed to Boise State last December after originally committing to Arizona State. He signed with the Broncos on early signing day. The 6-foot, 200-pound native of Perris, California, rushed for 1,677 yards and 27 touchdowns and added 351 receiving yards and three more scores last season at Orange Vista High in California.

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Who will push Hassanein for the sack title?

Last year, edge rusher Ahmed Hassanein put together the best season by a Boise State pass rusher since 2019, when former Bronco Curtis Weaver posted 13.5 sacks. Hassanein finished with 12.5, which ranked No. 2 in the Mountain West, behind only Colorado State’s Mohamed Kamara.

With another year of experience under his belt, Hassanein has a chance to have another impressive season, but for the defense to reach its full potential, the Broncos have to find another consistent pass rusher to pair with him.

Whether it’s linebacker Andrew Simpson, who finished No. 2 on the team last season with 6.5 sacks, or Ball State transfer Tavion Woodard, who has 10.5 career sacks on his resume, Boise State needs to give offenses another pass rusher to worry about. That would give Hassanein a few more one-on-one opportunities, if nothing else.

One guy to keep an eye on is redshirt freshman Jayden Virgin-Morgan, who played in all 14 games last year and posted 24 tackles and 2.5 tackles for loss. He also just barely missed several sacks. He broke into the starting lineup last season, and showed he has the size and athleticism to be disruptive on the edge.

Who emerges as the leader of the defense?

The Broncos have to replace the emotional and vocal leader of their defense for the second year in a row.

Last year, they had to find someone to replace defensive tackle Scott Matlock, picked by the Chargers in the sixth round of the NFL Draft. This season the Broncos have to replace linebacker DJ Schramm — a longtime contributor on special teams who broke into the starting lineup as a fifth-year senior and barely left the field in the games he played the past two years, despite a laundry list of injuries.

Boise State’s coaches will get their first on-field look at this year’s crop of veterans during spring practice. One of their many tasks over the next few weeks will be to pinpoint those vocal leaders, who the rest of the team will follow when the going gets tough.

Simpson has to be a candidate this year. He has emerged as a bona fide playmaker the past two seasons, posting a combined 95 tackles, 21 tackles for loss and 9.5 sacks. He has a knack for rushing the passer, and he showed with a pair of interceptions last season that he has the athleticism to make a play on the ball when it’s in the air. Hey may not be the most talkative player on the team, but the more comfortable he gets on the field, the more vocal he’ll get.

Safety Rodney Robinson has never been shy about speaking up, and fellow safety Alexander Teubner really came out of his shell late last season. He also really showed up on the field, posting a team-high 85 tackles and earning Defensive MVP honors in the Mountain West championship game.