Boise State Roster Countdown 2021: Day 44, Riley Whimpey

Another palindrome day...not many left. With just 44 days left until kickoff, let’s look at our pal that occupies that same jersey number on the Boise State roster—Riley Whimpey.

#44, Riley Whimpey, SUPER Senior, LB

Stats

Height: 6’1”

Weight: 236 lbs (+6)

High School: San Clemente High School, San Clemente, CA

How’d he get to the Blue™?

Whimpey initially signed with the Broncos in 2015, but opted to serve a two-year church mission before joining the squad ala Kekoa Nawahine (and Darren Lee etc). In high school, Whimpey was a three-star recruit per Scout.com and was rated the #15 in all of California and #24 in the West Region at OLB. As a senior, Whimpey earned CIF Southern Section Southwest Division Co-Defensive Player of the Year honors and was the Sun View League POTY as well. Riley was named to the All-Orange County First Team in his final season after setting the San Clemente record with 172 tackles. Prior to moving to California, Whimpey was a standout at Utah’s Lone Peak High School, where he helped his team to the state semis in 2013 behind 101 tackles. That year, he was also named second-team All-State as well as first-team academic all-region. Whimpey chose the Broncos over an offer from Utah State—the school both of his older brothers starred for.

Nickname

”Hefty”

Here it is again.

Look-alike

Still thinking he looks like this Canadian actor Chad Faust, best known as the guy that played a minor character on that one episode of CSI.

Career Highlights

Named a 2020-21 Academic All-America Division I first teamer by CoSIDA. Named to 2020 preseason All-Mountain West Team. Started all 14 games for the Broncos in 2019 and was named 2nd Team All-Mountain West after finishing the season with a team-leading 84 tackles. Academic All-Mountain West in fall of 2017. Appeared in 12 games for the Broncos in 2017. Posted unheard of 172 tackles as a senior in 2014 (roughly 12.3 per game). Helped team to league title in 2014. Named CIF Southern Section Southwest Division Co-Defensive Player of the Year in 2014. Named Sea View League Defensive Player of the Year in 2014. Helped Lone Peak team squad (UT) to a state semifinal appearance in 2013 after posting 101 tackles. Named second-team all-state as a junior in 2013.

2021 Prospectus

Whimpey took advantage of the “free” Covid year and opted to return for his super senior season at Boise State. This is a good thing.

Whimpey was Boise State’s leading tackler in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, racking up 61 total tackles (7.5 for loss), 2 PBUs and a sack. He followed that up with a strong spring...the first such camp under Andy Avalos, and registered 7 tackles and a sack in the annual spring game. Of course Whimpey—now the wily vet—offers much more to the team than just tackles...he’s an emotional leader on the field and a guy that his teammates look to for guidance on defensive alignments and the like. I think Whimpey has a mega (super) senior season and might even hit that 100 tackle plateau—a fitting close to a solid Bronco career.

Is he on Twitter?

Yeah—he’s primarily a re-tweeter...but yeah (@rdwhimpey)

Completely made up fact

In the offseason, Riley founded the “Whimp 2 Warrior” program where he takes a member of the Whimpey family and hardens them into a mixed martial arts master. You can see his grandmother compete at UFC Fight Night this Saturday.