There will be a new look to the Boise State Broncos football team’s sideline this fall. Chris Petersen is out. Bryan Harsin is in.
Petersen left the Smurf Turf to accept the head job at Washington, and he took his .885 winning percentage and two Fiesta Bowl victories with him.
However, all is not blue in the land of the Blue Turf. Last December, Boise State named former Broncos offensive coordinator Bryan Harsin as its new head coach. And Boise fans could not be happier.
Harsin played quarterback for the Broncos from 1995-1999 and returned to work as an assistant coach at Boise State under both Dan Hawkins and Petersen. Under his direction as BSU’s offensive coordinator from 2006-2010, the Broncos finished in the top two in the nation in scoring three times while amassing a gaudy 61-5 record. Harsin left Boise to be the OC at Texas from 2011-2013 and was the head coach at Arkansas State last season, leading the Red Wolves to a Sun Belt Conference championship and a bowl game victory.
Despite his success away from Boise, Harsin jumped at the chance to return to the Treasure Valley and coach his hometown Broncos, where he grew up and played both high school and college football.
“We will always embrace our past, but we will attack the future,” Harsin said at his first BSU press conference last December. “Our past will fuel our success.”
However, despite the sustained success Boise State has experienced, the Broncos will have to move forward with a tough schedule and an offense that was un-Boise-like last season.
Under center will be senior Grant Hedrick, who before taking over for the injured Joe Southwick, was used mainly as a short yardage option runner. Pressed into full-time service, the 6-foot-tall Hedrick struggled to move the ball down the field. In 13 total games (5 as a starter, 7 as the feature signal caller), the redshirt senior threw for over 1800 yards and tallied 16 touchdown passes against 5 interceptions. However, his 140.4 yards per game pailed in comparison to Southwick’s production, and the Broncos put up only 30.2 points in games started by Hedrick.
Despite struggling with the ball in his hands, Hedrick enters this season’s Boise State training camp with an upbeat attitude and confidence from both himself and his teammates.
"I think these have been the most efficient player-run practices that we've had since I've been there," senior wide receiver Matt Miller told KIVI TV. "Grant has done a great job scripting plays and has been very efficient. He has really taken that role as the guy who is going to be starting at that quarterback position."
"I wouldn't say it's pressure," said Hedrick of his position as team leader. "I'd say it's a natural progression in my leadership role. I need to take that role and it's something I've worked on and developed this Summer. I've put in a lot of work for this and I just feel a lot more comfortable with everything and taking that leadership role."
To be sure, playmakers like Miller (88 catches, 1140 yards, 12 touchdowns in 2013) and running back Jay Ajayi (1425 yards and 18 scores) will help ease the pressure on Hedrick to have to carry the offense. The Broncos also have the diminutive Shane Williams-Rhodes, a 5-6 jitter bug in the mode of former Oregon Duck star DeAnthony Thomas. Williams-Rhodes, a junior, totaled over 1200 all-purpose yards as a running back, receiver, and punt and kick returner.
But with all its weapons, the offensive line is a question mark for Boise State entering this season. The Broncos return only two starters from last season, and both of them, Marcus Henry and Rees Odhiambo, will be switching to new positions. The remaining starters will likely all be underclassmen with very little to no collegiate experience. A strong line is a must to make holes for Ajayi and to give Hedrick time to find receivers. Porous protection could mean a long season for the Broncos offense and defense.
Even though Boise State has long been known for its trick plays and video game numbers on offense, the Broncos defense has been very underrated. Traditionally a stout and stingy crew, BSU will try to rebound from a weak showing on D last season where it gave up over 30 points in 6 of its games.
The Broncos do have some defensive talent returning, and so far the crew has looked good in fall camp, according to Harsin.
“They plugged it up - got through (the line) and did a nice job,” Harsin said of his defense’s performance after the team’s first fall scrimmage. “It’s six, seven guys around the ball in a hurry.”
Boise State will rely on freshman safety Dylan Sumner-Gardner and linebackers Blake Renaud, Ben Weaver, and Tanner Vallejo to stop opposing offenses. Demarcus Lawrence and Kamalei Correa, both defensive ends, could each receive All-American consideration.
All told, the Boise State roster has not turned over much from the one that earned a 8-5 mark last year. However, an off-season of growth and maturity, and a new coach, might be enough to spark the Broncos and get them back on top of the Mountain West Conference.
The tests will come early and often for BSU who opens up the season in Atlanta where the team will face Ole Miss in the 2014 Chick-Fil-A Kickoff. Boise State will also travel to East Hartford for a date with Connecticut before welcoming non-conference foe BYU and its toughest MWC opponents Fresno State, San Diego State, and Utah State to the Blue Turf. If BSU can get past Ole Miss, the remaining schedule does line up favorably for the Broncos, who must experience early success in order to keep attitudes high and live up to lofty expectations in a town, indeed the entire state of Idaho, that Bleeds Blue.
“There’s an expectation and a standard that’s been set here,” Harsin said. “I’d much rather come into that than inherit a rebuild, because your players know that. So we will embrace the past, but we can’t rely on that because it’s already happened. What are we going to do about it?”
Boise State fans will find out on soon enough.