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Wide receiver jumps into spotlight
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Listen to the exclusive post game press conference with Drisan James, Wide Receiver for the Boise State Broncos. Interview
Drisan James has seen enough of the good and bad times at Boise State to understand his role on this year’s football team. Prior to the Bronco season opener against Sacramento State, however, everyone else had yet to figure out exactly what his role was going to be. After two 50 plus yard receptions Thursday night, the picture is getting much clearer now.
One of the biggest question marks for Bronco fans during the off-season was who would step into the deep threat role from the BSU receiving corps.
In recent years, Boise State quarterbacks have had the luxury of having at least one marquee wide receiver to provide quick strike passing opportunities. Following a year in 2005 that gave no consistent downfield threat, coach Petersen was looking for someone to step into that role this year. After game one of the ‘06 season, it appears he may have found his guy.
James burned the Hornet secondary twice Thursday night; once on a 56-yard play that led to a Bronco touchdown, and once on a 52-yard touchdown pass from Jared Zabransky on the first BSU drive of the second half. James finished with only three receptions for the game, but totaled 125 yards and one touchdown. James recognized after the game that he’s just doing his job to help his team win.
“It gets the whole team started off like that,” James said. “I mean, all the receivers actually see one receiver getting a 100-yard game, you know that’s motivation factor for them to get another 100-yard game. It’s gonna be an all-around performance, it’s gonna push everybody. I was fortunate to have guys to help me out.”I’m fortunate to have a good receiver inside, as well as a bunch of backups that are also good to run the inside route and bring the safety down to give me a one-on-one match up,” James said.
The Sacramento State game proved to be a valuable learning experience for the entire team and staff.
Although no one claims they have been looking ahead to their match-up with Oregon State on September 7, James admits their first win is a step in the right direction to preparing for the Beavers.
“Obviously last year things didn’t turn out too good in Georgia,” James said. “It kind of put us down a little bit. This year, we know that things are gonna happen, that not everything is gonna be pretty. Even though we did beat them (Sacramento State) by 45, we also feel we got to take it a game at a time. That’s what we didn’t do last year; instead we took the season as a whole. Since we lost the first game our whole team went down into the slumps. This year we’ve just got to take things a game at a time.”
While James appears to be willing to step into the spotlight this season, he also seems to be staying grounded. James accepts the credit, but isn’t losing site of the Bronco team concept.
The (offensive) line, hands down, was the best performance by far. If it wasn’t for the line, I wouldn’t be sitting here right now getting the post game interview.”
As far accolades are concerned, for James, the warm reception by the BSU fans is all the reward he needs. The Boise State faithful prides itself in being one of the best home crowds in the country; according to James, that’s not far from the truth.
“We love the crowd,” James said.
“Whenever we hear that Boise State chant that gets everybody fired up. It gets the hairs on the back just sticking straight up. We love the fans. I wish that every time we score we could interact with the fans, but you know the refs are gonna throw a big hissy fit about it.”
James’ next challenge comes against a much more experienced OSU secondary, in a game that should give the entire BSU offense a chance to show their early season success isn’t a fluke.
Jake Garcin
