Spring practice recap: Day Three: The return of the shotgun fumble

The Broncos wrapped up their first week of spring practice with a session on Friday that was short on details and apparently high on shotgun grief. The Idaho Statesman's Chadd Cripe reports on the status of the offensive line and the progress of the team's backup centers. Fumble level: Orange.

After the jump, read more about the Broncos centers and discuss how you think the position will shake out over the spring.

 

Story of the day

You can't stop the shotgun fumble, you can only hope to contain it

If you were a fan of Boise State's traveling fumble circus last season, then you should be pretty pleased with the progress of spring ball. With Thomas Byrd nursing an injury this spring, new faces are in the lineup at center, and as line coach Chris Strausser will tell you, snapping is not their forte.

"We don’t have a bunch of guys who are really natural at snapping the ball," Strausser said. "They’ve got to get better at it."

The shotgun snap support group includes main Thomas Byrd backup Bronson Durrant as well as former guard Joe Kellogg and redshirt Spencer Gerke. As Chadd Cripe notes in his story, one of the main problems with the group is that none of the three played center in high school. Boise State has not recruited a true center since Byrd, and the increase in the shotgun formation has made transitions tough for guards and tackles.

It will be interesting to see how this all plays out in spring scrimmages over the next few weeks. At the very least, it looks like the Doug Martin fumblerooski dive play gets to stay in the playbook.

Video of the day

Chris Strausser coaches stuff up

Boise State's offensive line coach was mic'ed up for practice this week. Commence learning:

Someone get me a brick wall to run through. That. Was. Awesome.

Of note: Joe Kellogg fumbled a shotgun snap with an invisible football.

Miscellaneous

• Did you pick out some intriguing O-linemen in the above video? Charles Leno was there. I'm pretty sure that newly-minted OL Matt Paradis made a cameo. Anyone stand out to you?
  
• When are we going to get a report on John Michael Davis? Soon, I hope, or else I am going to be making one up.
• Drew mentioned it on Thursday, but it bears repeating: Where is all the media coverage of spring practice? I am going to operate under the assumption that the media is not allowed at practice because I cannot believe that local papers would pass up this type of reporting opportunity. What else is there to cover in southern Idaho? You can only spend so much time on a Boise Hawks preview.
  
• Thank goodness Chadd Cripe is around. I would carry his Bronco Beat blog in my wallet if that was at all feasibly possible.
  
• Remember last season when we fans started noticing bad mechanics from Kellen Moore but were too afraid to say anything concrete for fear of treason? Well no worries, everyone. Moore knows he throws off his back foot way too much, so we're all off the hook.

Moore: "It’s your mechanics, stepping into the ball, pocket presence — it’s little detail things where you review the season and see opportunities to get a little better."

• More insight into Kevin Sapien's 60-year-old-man body.
  

Sapien said that he had up to 10 stingers in a single day last year as he fought through pain to finish the season.

Dick Tomey had the same problem last year, except "stingers" was a euphemism for whiskey sours.

Your turn

Looking forward to shotgun fumbles at the spring scrimmages? Excited about the new big bodies on the offensive line? Glad that Kellen Moore is resolving to throw less off his back foot? Share your thoughts in the comments.