Boise State depth chart versus San Diego State: Get to know your Bronco corners

The Broncos will be looking to bounce back against San Diego State tomorrow night (6:00 p.m. MT, CBS Sports Network), maybe with a blowout win, maybe with a narrow win, maybe with a trip to SeaWorld to pet the dolphins. I hear that always makes one feel better.

The depth chart for tomorrow night's game leaves a little bit to be desired in the Bronco secondary where injuries have taken their toll. Join me after the jump for a meet-and-greet with Boise State's new starters as well as a spin around the rest of the depth chart. 

Visit the BroncoSports website for the full pdf of the depth chart. You can also find a detailed roster and, if you're really wanting to kill an hour, the team's weekly notes.

Bold = Starter

Italics = Depth chart change

Wingdings = Secret Mayan decoder message

OFFENSE
Kellen Moore	Doug Martin	Chandler Koch
Joe Southwick OR	D.J. Harper	Tommy Smith
Grant Hedrick
Mitch Burroughs	Matt Miller	Tyler Shoemaker	Kyle Efaw OR
Kirby Moore	Geraldo Boldewijn	Chris Potter	Gabe Linehan
Aaron Burks	Dallas Burroughs		Kyle Sosnowski
Nate Potter	Joe Kellogg	Cory Yriarte	Chuck Hayes	Charles Leno
Faraji Wright	Spencer Gerke	Thomas Byrd	Brenel Myers	Michael Ames
		Matt Paradis
***
DEFENSE
Tyrone Crawford	Billy Winn	Chase Baker	Shea McClellin
Tyler Horn	Ricky Tjong-A-Tjoe	Mike Atkinson	Jarrell Root
Byron Hout OR	Aaron Tevis OR
Tommy Smith	J.C. Percy
Lee Hightower	Jonathan Brown	Cedric Febis	George Iloka	Quaylon Ewing-Burton
Antwon Murray	Hunter White	Jeremy Ioane	Travis Stanaway	Bryan Douglas
	Dextrell Simmons			Josh Borgman
***
SPECIAL TEAMS
Dan Goodale OR	Trevor Harman	Hunter White	Brad Elkin	Chris Roberson
Michael Frisina	Dan Goodale		Trevor Harman
Mitch Burroughs	Mitch Burroughs
Dallas Burroughs	Chris Potter
Drew Wright

Disclaimer: Depth charts mean as much as you want them to mean. Keep in mind that things change over the course of a game week and that game situations, injuries, and performance will render some of this depth chart moot. Still, it's fun to speculate ... with hyperbole! 

Meet your new starting cornerbacks

Boise State's top three corners - Jamar Taylor, Jerrell Gavins, and Ebo Makinde - are doubtful with a leg injury,  out with a torn ACL, and out with a hamstring pull / public shame (giving up two double-move touchdowns will do that to you), respectively.

So where does that leave the Broncos? Not holding open campus tryouts for Mark Wahlberg Invincible types. Yet. 

The two guys who will be starting at corner on Saturday are redshirt freshman Quaylon Ewing-Burton and true freshman Lee Hightower. Hopefully you won't hear their names called too much except on big hits, interception returns, and moments where color commentator Aaron Taylor has his roster upside down.

To get to know these two newbies better, here are some fun facts about each.

Quaylon Ewing-Burton wears No. 26 ... When he arrived at Boise State, he was just Quaylon Ewing ... He has started four games so far this year and been pulled from at least two for poor play ... He was the man in coverage on the final eight TCU points ... He played the third corner/safety spot in the season opener against Georgia and played it very well ... His nickname at OBNUG is Q-Burt.

Lee Hightower wears No. 29 ... The Idaho Statesman ran an interesting feature on Hightower this week, explaining among other things that Hightower chose Boise State over Yale and Penn against his mother's best wishes and vowed to get his master's degree from an Ivy League school to make up for it ... Hightower was one of the last recruits in the 2011 Boise State class and was only recruited after safety Jamie Byrd decommitted and chose TCU ... Hightower has two of the bigger hits of the season, blasting a Colorado State returner ... Hightower is also the name of a popular character in the Police Academy movies. Bronco fans find this hilarious.

Next up at cornerback: People you know even less

Should anything happen to Ewing-Burton or Hightower on Saturday, the Broncos will have to dig deep to find able-bodied corners. Here is the short list for who's next behind Q-Burt and Hi-T.

• Antwon Murray - Best known as a senior mentor
• Bryan Douglas - Best known as a guy whose name Boise State has no idea how to spell.

  

• Josh Borgman - Best known as a special teamer

And that's it. Hazen Moss is listed as a defensive back on the Bronco roster, but he is more of a safety-nickel player than a corner. So if you'll be in the San Diego area for the game this weekend, you might want to stretch before coming into the stadium.

We have our new Winston Venable, and it only took nine weeks

Boise State's nickel position has been a job share for the first nine weeks of the season, which just goes to show how valuable and rare players like Ellis Powers and Winston Venable are. This week the depth chart finally revealed its long-awaited answer to Venable's successor: Jonathan Brown.

Brown and Hunter White had been sharing the co-starter label all season until this week. Now it is Brown's job to keep and to defend next year when he returns for his junior season.

Assorted injuries: Billy Winn, Doug Martin, Bronco Nation's fragile psyche

Billy Winn is questionable for Saturday's game with a leg injury that he suffered against UNLV. He played sparingly against TCU and had little impact. 

Doug Martin is questionable for Saturday's game with a leg injury that he suffered against UNLV. (What was in that UNLV water? Joint poison?) Martin was used as an emergency back on Boise State's final drive in a blocking capacity only, and he figures to be well enough to play on Saturday, if needed. Expect D.J. Harper to start and Martin to sub in.

Bronco Nation is day-to-day with a case of the sads. We are expected to return against San Diego State, provided the Broncos don't fall behind early.

Kellen Moore greatness update

Let me first begin by saying how disappointing it is that Moore's career may become more well-known for what could have been rather than what was. He is the best quarterback in college football this year, he was last year, and when all is said and done and I'm giving his acceptance speech into the College Football Hall of Fame, he will be the great college quarterback of our generation.

OK, enough hyperbole and complaining. Let's get down to Moore's statistical records.

• With two more touchdown passes, Kellen Moore will pass Hawaii's Colt Brennan for third on the all-time touchdown list and help me cross off one more thing on my bucket list: Sticking it to Colt Brennan.  
• Moore is No. 7 on the all-time passing yards list, and he will pass Phillip Rivers with 69 more yards. After Rivers comes Brennan, so looks like I better start another bucket list. 
• The NCAA record for highest single-season completion percentage is 76.6 percent by Colt McCoy. Moore is at 74.1. He was at 76.3 percent going into the UNLV game. 

George Iloka interception watch hits Week Nine

Could Iloka really finish the season with zero interceptions?  

28 days without an ACL tear

Keep up the good work, people. 

Internal players of the week

Boise State did not give out internal players of the week because of the loss to TCU. When the team loses, everyone loses. So I guess Coach Pete will be bringing out The Hammer on Saturday?

Your turn

How do you think Boise State's new cornerbacks will do against the San Diego State passing attack? What injury is more important to heal by Saturday - Billy Winn's or Doug Martin's? Is Kellen Moore great or what? Share your thoughts in the comments.