It is game week, finally, and that means so start the weekly Harsin (and select coaches) weekly press conference.
Big news of this weeks edition is Boise announcing that safety Dillon Sumner-Gardner will miss the first four games of the Bronco's season due to a suspension for "failing to meet NCAA football academic requirements" per BSU's press release.
Harsin was noticeably, and predictably, perturbed at the situation. "I think that is real simple, you have to take care of business. Certainly disappointed in that situation there, but my 10 year old son plays football now too and he understands that you have to take care of your school work in order to be able to play." Harsin added that he hopes everyone steps up at safety in DSG's absence but mentioned Cameron Hartsfield by name. "Cam Hartsfield certainly...Certainly one of the things I say with tremendous confidence is Cam Hartsfield since even last spring has been one of the most improved players."
Another player Harsin singled out as being one of the most improved players on the team is wide receiver Akilian Butler, and Harsin said it isn't just in his pass catching game he has seen improvement. "Number one is blocking, you wouldnt think that for a wide receiver. Just in practice, we spend time in a blocking circut...and he has just gotten after it. An example in practice is not many people take on Tanner Vallejo, and I wouldn't say he won the battle necessarily, but he was throwing his face in there, fitting up, and moving his feet."
The one position battle that is still looming on this Bronco offense is the left tackle position. It seems it is going to come down to a Wednesday night decision between Archie Lewis and senior transfer Will Adams.
"I feel good about both guys in that role. I don't think we are going to get into a lot of back and forth, but certainly both guys can do that." Harsin added that he isn't worried about the offensive line. "I'm not worried about the continuity of the offensive line, those guys have worked together with so much over the last 20 practices I think we are going to be in good shape."
Offensive Line Coach and Run Game Coordinator Scott Huff also spoke to the media and addressed what he thinks the strength of this years offensive line will be. "I would hope their preparation and their ability to adjust because there are a lot of times teams don't play the way we thought they were going to play going into the game."
Huff was followed by Defensive Coordinator Andy Avalos who says this won't be his first game that he has ever called played, but he is always trying to get better as a coach. "Inside my first couple years at a D-2 school, I got to call some plays, when the game was in control and I couldn't screw it up too much." Avalos added there is some anxiousness on his part for the game, but he is prepared. "We go through game day simulations in our scrimmages, and running it exactly the way we are going to do it on game day. We call it 'the mechanics', the mechanics of game day, as the players practice, guess what? We have to practice too."
The overwhelming feeling of the entire press conference was that Boise is as close as they can be to being ready to kick this season off. Boise will be looking to improve to 7-3 on opening week games in the past 10 years.
Big news of this weeks edition is Boise announcing that safety Dillon Sumner-Gardner will miss the first four games of the Bronco's season due to a suspension for "failing to meet NCAA football academic requirements" per BSU's press release.
Harsin was noticeably, and predictably, perturbed at the situation. "I think that is real simple, you have to take care of business. Certainly disappointed in that situation there, but my 10 year old son plays football now too and he understands that you have to take care of your school work in order to be able to play." Harsin added that he hopes everyone steps up at safety in DSG's absence but mentioned Cameron Hartsfield by name. "Cam Hartsfield certainly...Certainly one of the things I say with tremendous confidence is Cam Hartsfield since even last spring has been one of the most improved players."
Another player Harsin singled out as being one of the most improved players on the team is wide receiver Akilian Butler, and Harsin said it isn't just in his pass catching game he has seen improvement. "Number one is blocking, you wouldnt think that for a wide receiver. Just in practice, we spend time in a blocking circut...and he has just gotten after it. An example in practice is not many people take on Tanner Vallejo, and I wouldn't say he won the battle necessarily, but he was throwing his face in there, fitting up, and moving his feet."
The one position battle that is still looming on this Bronco offense is the left tackle position. It seems it is going to come down to a Wednesday night decision between Archie Lewis and senior transfer Will Adams.
"I feel good about both guys in that role. I don't think we are going to get into a lot of back and forth, but certainly both guys can do that." Harsin added that he isn't worried about the offensive line. "I'm not worried about the continuity of the offensive line, those guys have worked together with so much over the last 20 practices I think we are going to be in good shape."
Offensive Line Coach and Run Game Coordinator Scott Huff also spoke to the media and addressed what he thinks the strength of this years offensive line will be. "I would hope their preparation and their ability to adjust because there are a lot of times teams don't play the way we thought they were going to play going into the game."
Huff was followed by Defensive Coordinator Andy Avalos who says this won't be his first game that he has ever called played, but he is always trying to get better as a coach. "Inside my first couple years at a D-2 school, I got to call some plays, when the game was in control and I couldn't screw it up too much." Avalos added there is some anxiousness on his part for the game, but he is prepared. "We go through game day simulations in our scrimmages, and running it exactly the way we are going to do it on game day. We call it 'the mechanics', the mechanics of game day, as the players practice, guess what? We have to practice too."
The overwhelming feeling of the entire press conference was that Boise is as close as they can be to being ready to kick this season off. Boise will be looking to improve to 7-3 on opening week games in the past 10 years.
