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Scrimmage leaves room to grow
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Fumbles, dropped balls, penalties, interceptions and sluggish play on offense plagued the Boise State Broncos during last Friday night’s second scrimmage at Bronco Stadium.
Despite the less than polished offensive performance there were some bright spots that could help Bronco fans get excited for the 2007 season opener, which is less than two weeks away.
First of all, what about the quarterbacks? If Friday night’s performance is any indication senior Taylor Tharp should now be considered the favorite to start against Weber State.
At this point it appears that the job is Tharp’s to loose. Tharp was solid and looked poised. Once again, however, he was not glamorous but did finish the night 6-for-10 for 52 yards.
“I felt good out there,” Tharp said after the scrimmage. “There are some things I can do to get better and I’ll work on those. As far as where I’m at I feel good and hope to keep playing well.”
Ask Coach Chris Petersen who’s his guy and he’ll do what he’s done since spring camp: leave the race wide open.
“At this point we’ll need to go back and look at the tape and go from there,” Petersen said. “This is a competitive race and the guys are working hard, but I liked some of the things I saw.”
Junior quarterback Bush Hamdan took his first scrimmage snaps this fall and helped lead the Broncos to the first two touchdowns on the evening. Hamdan led the offense on his first drive 46 yards in 7 plays after which Kyle Brotzman converted on an impressive 51 yard field goal.
Despite being beset by a pair of fumbles Hamdan later led the offense on a 10 play, 70 yard drive that resulted in a 6-yard touchdown pass to Tanyon Bissell. Hamdan finished 5-for-11 for 37 yards and a touchdown.
Unfortunately for Hamdan, however, it appeared he was out of sync with the offense and even a little rusty.
“There’s no question I was frustrated out there,” Hamdan said. “I wanted to go out and do some nice things but it just didn’t work out that way.”
Meanwhile, BSU can be encouraged by the progress of wide receiver Jeremy Childs and tight end Tyler Shoemaker. Childs finished the night with five catches for 75 yards, while Shoemaker brought in two catches for 74 yards including a 51-yard long ball from Mike Coughlin.
“Our receivers are doing some good things,” Petersen said. “They are working hard out there, but we can still improve before we’re ready to play for real.”
Bronco fans were given a closer look at back-up tailbacks Jeremy Avery and D.J. Harper. Avery stole the show after racking up 88 all-purpose yards including two touchdowns.
It took the freshman tailback a few snaps to shake off the nerves, but on his fifth carry Avery took the hand-off from Coughlin and bounced outside untouched for 67-yards straight into the end zone.
“Avery looked good out there tonight and made a statement,” Tharp said. “He wanted people to notice what he could do and he certainly accomplished that tonight.”
Avery also caught a 16-yard reception from true freshman red shirt QB Kellen Moore.
Harper was also impressive finishing with a team high 11 carries for 43 yards. All Bronco tailbacks combined to run for 166 yards and three touchdowns. Starter Ian Johnson sat out the scrimmage.
BSU’s defense finished Friday night’s scrimmage quietly effective. The defense forced multiple fumbles, interceptions, sacks and penalties. Quarterbacks Bush Hamdan and Mike Coughlin were harassed on nearly every snap, given little time to be productive with the football.
“I thought our defense was definitely better,” Petersen said. “It’s good to see those guys play much better and much improved.”
The Broncos still need work on cleaning up some defensive mistakes, however.
“I thought our receivers were too open at times and made too many big plays on us,” Petersen said. “But, those are things we’ll work on and be better at the next time around.”
BSU will play one final scrimmage next weekend in preparation for their season opener against Weber State on Aug. 30 at home. The scrimmage will be closed to the public.
“What we’re trying to do is get better every day and make the corrections we need to make,” Petersen said. “The tapes will tell us a lot of what we need to know and we’ll make the adjustments."
Tate Castleton
