Boise State enters year two of the Andy Avalos era

BOISE, Idaho — The Boise State Broncos began spring drills today as the team starts to put everything together in year number two of the Andy Avalos era.

"We are in a whole different place than we were last year at this point, a whole different place," said Avalos. "Certain mentors said it would take 18 months which you don’t want to hear, you don’t want it to take that long but we already see the place we are at."

Boise State has a revamped coaching staff, including a new addition with Donald Rich a strength and conditioning coach that focuses on sports performance, health and wellness.

The Broncos also have more depth through recruiting they have 11 new players who will participate in spring drills giving the coaching staff more versatility on what they can do.

"I’ll be honest with you half of spring ball practices last year half of the team was seven on seven due to a lack of depth," said Avalos.

Avalos did list 11 players including Shane Irwin and Rylie Smith who will not participate as they recover from injuries, quarterback Hank Bachmeier would be on that list as he played through a knee injury last season and had surgery in the offseason, but since he's the quarterback he will be able to participate.

"Being in the position he plays nobody touches him anyway so he is non-contact but Hank will participate and be slightly modified in everything we do," said Avalos.

College football has turned into a year-round endeavor Boise State just finished an eight-week training program to get stronger and faster, but also study the game of football.

Spring ball the focus shifts to competing on the field and situational awareness and the more Boise State can put together now, the more specialized they can be in the summer and during fall camp.

“Spring ball has always been and will always be about competition development and growth.

But so far Avalos likes what he is seeing out of his staff and players after his team missed out on their bowl game because of COVID-19.

“They trained like they missed out on Christmas last year like they didn’t get anything," said Avalos. "They trained like that and continue to work that way throughout the entirety of our offseason and the beautiful thing about it is the players are leading it."

Spring drills culminate with the annual scrimmage on April 9.

Boise State fans may have also been paying attention to the NFL combine as Khalil Shakir posted a 4.35 40-yard dash at the combine and his draft stock is on the rise.