Boise State football coach Andy Avalos did not openly declare a winner from Saturday’s first scrimmage of fall camp.
The event, which was closed to the public and media, kicked off at 10 a.m at Albertsons Stadium after the Broncos had already put in about 45 minutes of practice time.
What Avalos did say, though, should be encouraging to fans who are looking ahead to the Broncos’ season opener at 1:30 p.m. Sept. 2 at the University of Washington (ABC).
“The thing about this is you want to see it go back and forth, right? Whether it’s in practice or in a scrimmage,” Avalos said. “You want to see one side of the ball create some explosives and then how’s the other side respond? That’s the biggest part, but you want to see both sides doing it. If it’s one-sided, that’s not a good situation.
“Today, the offense did some really good things. Our offense pushed the tempo. They moved the ball down the field. We had some long drives, and now it’s playing some situational offense to be able to finish those drives off. The defense, we told the whole team this, when we watch film, we’re gonna see that the defense gave up some yards today, but they really locked in and honed in when the ball got down in the red zone.”
Avalos estimated the team got between 55 to 60 reps, plus practice on some situational moments — like two-minute drills and special teams. Most players got a chance to get on the field, with the Broncos going into their third team at times. The projected first-team offense faced off against the first-team defense and the second and third teams did the same.
Starting quarterback Taylen Green completed 18-of-33 passes for 209 yards and one touchdown with one interception, according to stats provided by Boise State. His longest throw went for 30 yards. Meanwhile, kicker Jonah Dalmas was 2-for-2 on field-goal attempts.
“It has been awesome,” Avalos said. “This has been one of the funnest camps that I’ve been involved in in a long time, and it’s because of the competitiveness and how the guys are working.”
Below are some additional highlights Avalos shared with the media after Saturday’s first scrimmage:
▪ TAKEAWAYS: The defense got its hands on a pair of interceptions. Junior nickel Seyi Oladipo had an interception in the red zone, and junior safety Milo Lopez, a transfer from Cerritos College, had one as well.
▪ LINEBACKERS: Avalos complimented the play of probable starting linebackers DJ Schramm and Andrew Simpson. “I really liked the way the linebackers communicated today. DJ and Drew did a really nice job with the first team in making sure that we were lined up and we were situated,” Avalos said. “It’s good to see them attack the line of scrimmage in the run game. I felt like the defensive front, and really the defense all together, did a really good job in the run game today working to create pressure on the quarterback.”
▪ TACKLING: Live tackling is restricted during fall camp to certain controlled environments, like Saturday’s scrimmage, in order to avoid unnecessary injuries, Avalos said. Despite limited time to practice tackling in live situations, Avalos was pleased with what he saw. “I’ll be honest with you, tackling today, for the first scrimmage, it was probably ... one of the better first scrimmages of tackling.”
▪ QB2 BATTLE: The job of backing up starting quarterback Taylen Green remains up in the air between freshman CJ Tiller and redshirt freshman Maddux Madsen. Avalos said both have had their moments so far in fall camp. “CJ has produced some explosive plays,” Avalos said. “Mad Dog’s been very consistent with his accuracy and working his way through the progressions as well as anybody.” Madsen went 6-for-9 passing for 53 yards with an interception, and Tiller was 5-for-9 for 61 yards. Neither backup threw for a TD.
▪ BIG-PLAY STANDOUTS: In addition to the two interceptions, sixth-year senior receiver Billy Bowens “had an explosive play on a pass,” Avalos said. And redshirt senior running back Tyler Crowe, a Skyview High grad, “had a huge conversion out of the backfield on a third-and-long situation that was really cool to see,” Avalos added.
▪ AVALOS ON THE RUN GAME: Redshirt senior George Holani and sophomore Ashton Jeanty got “a lot of carries” on Saturday, but Avalos seemed to give the edge to his defensive line. “The defense altogether did a really good job at the line of scrimmage,” Avalos said. “Taylen ran the ball around a little bit as a quarterback today on some pass plays, and so obviously that adds into the rushing yards, but we definitely can improve on what we did today in the run game in certain situations where obviously that’s gonna wear out the defense even more and allow us to keep the stakes moving.”
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