Boise State numerical roster countdown 2016: Day 4, Brett Rypien

I have the pleasure of writing about our starting QB, #4 Brett Rypien. As a true freshman, he played well beyond his years and earned plenty of notable accolades. Let’s not discuss them here, though!

#4, Brett Rypien, True Sophomore, QB

Stats:

Height: 6’ 2”

Weight: 200 lbs (+1)

High School: Shadle Park High School, Spokane, WA

How'd he get to the Blue™?

Brett, as many of you know, is the nephew of former Redskins QB Mark Rypien. The consensus was Brett would follow in his uncle’s footsteps to Washington State. the Cougars were indeed hot on his trail, but something about Boise State resonated with Rypien. He ended up passing on offers from WSU, Mississippi State, Arizona State, Washington and Oregon State to name a few.

Nickname

“The General”

He will march our troops down The Blue™ with ruthless efficiency.

Look-a-like

Jesse Spencer

Career Highlights

Brett was a varsity player all 4 years while at Shadle Park. Based on his stats, I don’t imagine he was a starter as a freshman: 42 of 94 (44.7%) for 677 yards and 7 TDs to 4 INTs. Respectable for a 14-year-old playing against 17 and 18-year-olds. He quickly improved, going 247 of 395 (62.5%) for 3,179 yards, 23 TDs and 10 INTs as a sophomore. As a junior, he was 326 of 498 (65.5%) for 4,191 yards, 56 TDs, and 10 INTs. WOW. And finally, as a senior, he was 345 of 541 (63.8%) for 4,552 yards, 50 TDs and 12 INTs. That’s a total of 12,599 yards, 136 TDs, and 36 INTs.

When all was said and done, he was a consensus 4-star recruit, a top-15 quarterback nationally, Washington State Player of the Year by the Seattle Times and Tacoma News Tribune and AP 3A State Player of the Year.

He then enrolled at Boise State a season early to learn the offense and compete for a starting job. While he did not win the job outright, but was thrown into the role after Finley went down early in the season. He went on to complete 273 of 429 passes (63.6%) for 3,353 yards, 20 TDs and 8 INTs. He earned MW Freshman of the Year and was named to the All-Mountain West First Team, the first time this was accomplished by a true freshman if I’m not mistaken. He was also named the Poinsettia Bowl MVP after going 29 for 39 for 377 yards, 3 TDs and 1 INT in a 55-7 win over the Northern Illinois Huskies.

As a true sophomore, Brett is currently on the Davey O’Brien and Maxwell preseason watch lists.

2016 Prospectus

In case you haven’t been paying attention, Brett will be the starter for the Broncos this season. As we have discussed in previous articles, Tommy Stuart will be his backup and the coaches will most likely try and redshirt Constantine. Hopefully, they don’t get to a point of needing to burn it as I’m not sure they feel comfortable with Upshaw or Humphrey as the second backup.

Based on what I’ve heard multiple times, mostly from the coaches, Ryp has gotten better. There is always room for improvement, sure, but he played pretty dang well for an 19-year-old playing against much older competition. We’ll find out just how much better in 4 short days!

Is he on Twitter?

He is indeed, but don’t expect to read much from him this fall.

Completely made up fact

As a method to help him improve his game, Brett recently took a page from one of his favorite television characters and began eating only Eggo waffles, hoping to gain a similar skill set.