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Boise State Recruiting: The road to Signing Day

Signing day is just around the corner! Where do we sit with the 2016 class?

By Casey Joplin
Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

This will be my last article before 2016 signing day. This Wednesday, February 3rd, high school seniors across the country will make the best decisions of their lives and become Boise State Broncos.

We got a couple of commitments this week, some good news from Niumatalolo, confirmation on the coaching change-up, and DT did work at the Reese's Senior Bowl!

Here's a quick run down of the haps: We got commitments from Alexander Mattison, Emmanuel Fesili, Josh Fatu, Austin Dixon, Donté Harrington, Kayode Rufai, Jordan Happle, Ben Vering and Solo Taylor. Phew! 9 commits in a week is SOLID. Even though Taylor and Vering are walk-ons, we won't count them out since BSU is all about promoting the walk-ons to scholly status. It'll take work, but the opportunity is there for sure. Ali'i Niumatalolo announced that he would enroll in school this season and go on his LDS mission next summer. Some will wonder why waste a year, then leave for 2 more, then only have 4 left to play 4? Well, he'll get a year of experience under his belt, have a good expectation of what he'll come back to, and some of the missionaries come back and play right away anyway. Darian Thompson was named outstanding player for the North team after 5 tackles and 2 PBUs in the Reese's Senior Bowl. It's safe to say he should have a pretty decent day come draft day. And finally, Zak Hill was officially announced as Co-OC, along with Scott Huff, but Harsin will be calling the plays this fall. Oh, and Adams will be pass game coordinator and Huff will be run game coordinator. Confused? Naw, Hars knows what he's doing.

Let's recap the 2016 class and I'll give you the skinny on any new info we've heard this week.

Cedrick Wilson, WR, 6'3 190lbs

Joel Velaquez, K, 6'0 220lbs

Derriyon Shaw, DE, 6'3 220lbs

Ali'i Niumatalolo, ILB, 6'1.5 230lbs

Nick Crabtree, TE, 6'6 247lbs

Tyson Maeva, ILB, 6'0 230lbs

Desmond Williams, S, 6'0 190lbs

Reid Harrison-Ducros, CB, 5'10 165lbs

Ezra Cleveland, OT, 6'6 270lbs

Julian Carter, WR, 6'2 175lbs

Robert Mahone, RB, 5'11 190lbs

Kole Bailey, OT, 6'4.5 285lbs

Robert Lewis, CB, 5'10 170lbs

Chase Hatada, DT, 6'2.5 255lbs

Daniel Auelua, DT, 6'2 285lbs

Deandre Pierce, DB, 5'10 170lbs

John Bates, TE, 6'6 210lbs

Jake Constantine, QB, 6'2 190lbs

Alexander Mattison, RB, 5'10.5 200lbs

Austin Dixon, OL, 6'6 265lbs

Josh Fatu, DT, 6'3 270lbs

Emmanuel Fesili, DT, 6'1.5 309lbs

Donté Harrington, OL, 6'1.5 275lbs

Kayode Rufai, DE, 6'4 240bs

Jordan Happle, S, 6'1 181lbs

Ben Vering, DE, 6'4 230lbs

Solo Taylor, LB, 6'3 220lbs

If you don't think Boise State got some SERIOUS steals in this class, you haven't been paying attention. With these numbers, here is where we are:

1 QB, 2 RB, 2 WR, 1 K, 2CB, 3 S/N, 4 DT, 3 DE, 4 OL, 3 LB, and 2 TE

That brings our current total to 27, though 2 of them don't count against scholarships. While I have read we can take 25 players, I'm not sure how much attrition has been accounted for. I (Most of my info is coming from Mike Wittman @RivalsMikeW. Give him a follow if you aren't already.) We have very few spots left. Notice that Bubba Ogbebor is not listed on there. TECHNICALLY he gave his commitment, but none of the recruiting sites are showing him as a commit.

This seems to be a pretty telling tweet, but we will find out come signing day. I believe there is still at least ONE silent commit still out there. I'm thinking it could either be Curtis Weaver or Jabari Watson. We MIGHT even have two silent commits still out there as things got a little confusing when we got the rapid commits last weekend/early last week. Let's take a quick look at each position. If the info is still good, I'll leave it as-is.

QB

We lost a QB and gained a QB. Honestly, I think we came out on top in this exchange. That's not to say that losing Wilson was a good thing, because it wasn't. He was a SOLID recruit with SOLID numbers. But looking at Jake's numbers, you'll see some similarities:

6'2 190lbs, 3,988 yards, 299/414 (72.2%) for 51 TDs and 6INTs to go along with 64 carries for 321 yards (5 ypc) and another 7 touchdowns. In 3 years starting for Camarillo, he had 7,269 yards on 590/861 (68.5%) 85 TDs and 16 INTs. That 5.3:1 TD to INT ratio. I'll take that. Not to mention, he's doing that against southern California teams, which are arguably better than the competition in Oklahoma. Again, I think we came out on top in this interchange. Here's Constantine's highlights for ya.

RB

We got our Crockett replacement, and honestly, I think we may have come out on the better end of the stick on this. Mattison had back-to-back 2,000 yard rushing seasons in Southern California. That's absolutely absurd. He's a borderline 4-star recruit on most recruiting sites.

Alexander Mattison, 5'10.5 200lbs, San Bernadino, CA

Mattison finished his senior season with 2,057 yards on 151 carries (13.6 ypc) and 22 TDs as well as 14 receptions for 296 yards (21.1 ypc) and another 3 TDs. For his career, he has 4,566 yards on 382 carries (11.9 ypc) and 53 TDs AND 41 receptions for 953 yards and 8 TDs. Lots of ands in there. He also had a great offer list, including the likes of Washington, Arizona State and Washington State.

WR

Bubba Ogbebor, 6'1 194lbs, Frisco, TX

As I stated above, Bubba seems to be a lock for the Broncos, but none of the recruiting sites are listing him as a commit. We'll find out on signing day, to be sure.

OL

I have to think Harrington and Dixon rounded out our OL class. Kole Bailey, Ezra Cleveland, Austin Dixon and Donté Harrington comprise a pretty formidable quartet of pancake-makers. Of the 4, Donté looks to be the "shortest" at 6'3 and Dixon is listed as tall as 6'7. Bailey is 6'5 and Cleveland is 6'6. That's big. All of them.

TE

The coaches surprised us, sort of, with flipping yet another TE from Oregon State. As you all remember from last season, they happened to flip Pistone from them late in the game as well. John Bates is a BIG target at 6'6 and 210lbs. He will be a GREAT target for Rypien and the other QBs in the years to come. What prompted the signing of another TE is this:

An unfortunate situation, but hopefully Lucero turns things around and gets everything right back on track. It certainly makes sense, though, why they would pick up another TE. Attrition is always going to be something we have to deal with. Crabtree has remained solid in his commitment and reaffirmed it again this week amongst all the bolting and such.

DT

Fesili and Fatu committed this week, but I think we could potentially see one or two more DL players. I honestly don't know how much room we have left. We will find out on Wednesday. It's kind of nice still having a little uncertainty out there, but I definitely want those commits lol. Fatu was originally listed on here as a DE, but I have to think he moves inside. 309lbs seems a little big to play at DE, so I have to think Fesili is staying on the inside.

DE

Jabari Watson, 6'3 255lbs, Fontana, CA

Curtis Weaver, 6'4 245lbs, Long Beach, CA

I REALLY hope we land both of these guys. We still have AT LEAST one silent commit out there, and I have to think it is one of these two. We MIGHT even have two silents, but I lost count. Here's hoping for two! We also got a commitment from Capital stand-out Ben Vering, who will presumably stay at end as a walk-on, but could possibly play LB or maybe even move inside if he can gain some weight. Kayode Rufai was a steal out of Oregon. Sounds like he was holding out for an Oregon offer that had not yet materialized, but did have an Oregon State offer.

LB

We already have Tyson Maeva on campus and Ali'i Niumatalolo announced he will enroll for a year at BSU, THEN go on his mission. We added a walk-on in Solo Taylor, who looks like a solid in-state kid. We've had good luck with in-state LB I think, most recently Leighton Vander Esch. I can't really see us talking any more linebackers at this point, but I have been wrong before!

S/N

Surprise! Jordan Happle visited the same weekend as Jake Constantine, got an offer, and committed immediately. Happle might be one of the biggest steals of the class. Plucked from Oregon's backyard, he has the makings of Darian Thompson 2.0.

CB

Reid Harrison-Ducros and Robert Lewis are solid gets for this class. Once they sign, Coach Ambrose will have some great young talent to work with. Terrell Burgess committed to Utah last week, so I don't think we take any more CBs.

K

We got our player in Joel Velazquez. No other players on the list in this respect, but I would anticipate a walk-on or two as generally kickers or long snappers are not offered scholarships, at least not out of high school.

I think that covers the majority of the names still floating around there. I'd like to, again, thank Mike for setting up the list here so that I could glean from it. Hopefully you found this helpful for the remaining few weeks of the 2016 recruiting season before LOI day. And quickly after that, Spring camp will take place, then summer training and fall camp. Before you know it, we'll be watching the Broncos on the Blue again. Go Broncos!