With ‘reps’ and ‘drills,’ Boise State spends spring trying to better its special teams

Shaun Goodwin, Idaho Statesman

BOISE (Idaho Statesman) — If not for a calamitous early September night from Boise State football’s special teams unit, the Broncos very well would have ended the 2024 regular season undefeated.

Boise State traveled to Eugene to take on No. 7-ranked Oregon in week 2 of the regular season. The Broncos lost 37-34 on a last-second field goal, but the game got to that point only because the Ducks scored on an 85-yard punt return and a 100-yard kickoff return.

Boise State ended the regular season with an 11-1 record before winning the Mountain West championship game and then losing in the College Football Playoff quarterfinal round, and the special teams unit remained shaky: it ranked 98th in the nation for kickoff return defense (22.2 yards per return) and 123rd for punt return defense (14.7 yards).

Unsurprisingly, the Broncos are focusing on improving all facets of the special teams this spring.

“We’re going to get everybody reps at this time,” special teams coordinator Stacy Collins said Monday. “It’s a lot of fundamental technique drills — just see who can pick up those drills.”

Boise State hired Collins from Penn State before the 2024 season on a $350,000 annual salary, the program’s largest-ever commitment to a non-coordinator or head coach. He earned a 3% ($10,000) raise in February, the lowest among the Broncos’ coaching staff.

However, his initial significant contract will mean special teams improvements must come sooner rather than later.

Key among those improvements? Keeping teams pinned inside their 10-yard line on punts.

“You cannot give up explosive plays in that part of the game,” Collins said. “We want to be 90% when we’re in our pin-punt situations, putting the ball inside the 10. We were about 70% (last season).”

Tackling in the open space is a big part of that improvement, but Collins said tackling will improve overall as senior punter James Ferguson-Reynolds gets more comfortable with improving hang time on his kicks. The Australian punter made a habit in 2024 of running out to the left and kicking a low punt downfield. His 43.5-yard average ranked him 32nd in the nation last season, but he was following up a sophomore campaign in which he led the nation at 49.7 yards per punt.

“For him, distance has never been an issue,” Collins said. “We’re working on trying to get some more hang on some stuff. He does a great job in situational putting.”

While Ferguson-Reynolds is still around, Boise State has a job on its hands that is somewhat new: finding a kicker.

Rocky Mountain High School graduate Jonah Dalmas was a five-year regular for the Broncos and finished his college career with the most points in program history (508). Boise State has two kickers participating in spring practice — junior Evan Kiely and redshirt junior Jarrett Reeser — while Australian freshman Roland Podesta has been limited with a leg injury.

The Broncos also have an incoming redshirt junior transfer, Colton Boomer, who will arrive from UCF this summer. Boomer hit the game-winning field goal to beat Boise State 18-16 at Albertsons Stadium in September 2023. He went 30-for-42 (71.4%) on field goals at UCF, but was just 3-for-6 in 2024 before entering the transfer portal.

“Colton’s a guy who’s done it on The Blue … a game-winning field goal on The Blue,” Collins said. “He’s a mature guy who’s played a lot of football and can be a kickoff and field goal guy.”

Collins is also still trying to find his best options when the ball is kicked to the Broncos. The team’s kickoff return unit was a respectable 33rd in the nation (22.3 yards per return) in 2024, but the punt return squad ranked just 119th (4.4 yards).

Collins said sixth-year running back Malik Sherrod, a transfer from Fresno State, has stood out returning all kicks. “He’s got great lateral movement and the ability to hit the burst,” Collins said. “… He can do both punt and kick return. There are a lot of guys that can do one or the other, but Malik’s got the ability to do both.”

Collins also said sophomore running back Dylan Riley, who had a 96-yard kickoff return against Utah State last season, and redshirt junior receiver Kayden Chan have made good impressions.