In advance of Saturday’s Spring Game on April 19, Bronco Nation News will look at five storylines for fans to watch. First up, the wide receivers.
I feel good about most of Boise State’s position rooms on the offensive side of the ball. The offensive line returns four starters, the running back room is loaded with talent, despite the loss of Heisman runner-up Ashton Jeanty, Maddux Madsen returns after a 3,000-yard season and Matt Lauter returns after a first-team All-Mountain West season for the tight ends. The room I have the most concerns about are the wide receivers. It wasn’t a strength for the Broncos last season, and they lost leading receiver Cam Camper to graduation and Prince Strachan to USC. Boise State has yet to add any transfers to the wide receiver room, and there were no freshman who enrolled early so the Spring Game will be display exclusively what the Broncos bring back from last year’s team.
Returning for the Broncos are Latrell Caples, Austin Bolt, Chris Marshall, Ben Ford, Cameron Bates and Chase Penry. Those six combined for 84 catches and 947 yards last season. For context, in his final year as a Bronco in 2021, Khalil Shakir had 77 catches for 1,117 yards. This wide receiver room returns less production than what a single WR1 produces, making it the biggest unknown of the offense this year. It’s a veteran room, with plenty of seniors who are known commodities.
Caples and Penry are reliable slot receivers who should combine for about 700 yards again this season. They’ll be a safety net for Madsen and reliably get open on underneath routes. Bolt has battled injuries during his time as a Bronco and has yet to go over 200 yards in a season during his five-year career. However, going into year six, it seems as though he’s the favorite to be starting X-receiver. Marshall is a former five-star receiver who has NFL talent, but hasn’t been able to stay healthy. A recurring trend with all four of these receivers.
All of them have missed significant time during their Bronco careers. One of the questions I have for Saturday, how many of these guys even play? Spencer Danielson mentioned after the team’s second scrimmage that multiple receivers were banged up and may not play in the spring game. How many of these guys do we see, and how many show out? Caples, Marshall and Bolt all have missed time due to injuries recently, according to Danielson.
Bates is the most intriguing receiver currently on campus. He was the only true freshman to play 100 snaps on offense last season and despite limited production, flashed something this room doesn’t have otherwise. JUICE. Bates is lightning quick and can make guys miss after the catch. He’s the first Boise State receiver since Shakir that feels like he can catch a screen pass, make a couple guys miss, and take it to the house. Last year he looked like a freshman, but with a full season to settle in I’m excited to see how he looks during the Spring Game. Can he step up and be a full-time starter for the Broncos?
The overarching question of this room for me is Can Boise State’s wide receivers create explosives this year? Last season, Boise State’s offensive explosiveness was almost entirely tied to Ashton Jeanty creating big runs. The Broncos offense completed just 15 passes of 20+ air yards last season (which we’ll call deep catches), and without Jeanty, who had 36 explosive runs last season, the receivers need to step up this year in creating explosives. Of the 15 deep catches last year, only 4 were made my members of the current wide receiver room (3 by Caples, 1 by Penry). Can this group get more explosiveness this year, and will we see it at the Spring Game? Bates seems like the obvious candidate to see an uptick in production. Does Bolt bounce back and become a deep threat again? Tyrone Jackson redshirted last season, but was a highly touted recruit, including offers from Oregon and Iowa State. Can he step in and be a contributor?
As of now, I don’t have tremendous faith in this wide receiver room, and the tea leaves suggest the staff doesn’t either. We’ve seen three wide receivers in the transfer portal announce they’ve received Boise State offers, suggesting the staff wants to elevate this room before fall camp. We’ll get a chance on Saturday to see what the guys here will have to offer.
