Boise State spring ball intensity is ‘through the roof.’ Here’s what changed

BOISE (Idaho Statesman) — Before Boise State put the ball down for the first spring practice of the year, head coach Spencer Danielson knew he had to make some changes.

Coming off a 2025 season that saw the Broncos face-plant in a season-opening 34-7 loss to South Florida and end in a 38-10 bowl loss to Washington, Danielson came into the spring wanting to instill a key feeling:

Urgency.

“We’ve done practice similar here for a lot of years, and there’s some really good things we do in regards to practice, but practice is going to look different for guys that go out there,” Danielson said on March 23, three days before spring practice started. “There are some things that I want to make sure our guys are competing and responding to adversity. … Guys have got to go out there, and once that ball gets put down, there’s going to be a heightened level of urgency with our practice.”

The third-year head coach then stuck to his guns. The increased intensity over the past three weeks compared to past spring practices has been noticeable, with a resemblance to a fall camp workout and not an April walk-through.

Players were in pads and doing live tackling drills by the second practice of the spring. Coaches keep a whistle close to their mouths to help it avoid getting too serious, but there’s no shortage of big men going at each other at the line of scrimmage, or wide receivers and defensive backs battling for 50/50 balls in the end zone.

One of the major changes is that the coaching staff has split live reps into two groups on either side of the field. Both groups run similar plays, but it’s designed to give players who are third or fourth on the depth chart more reps.

“The threes or the fours were only getting four or five reps of practice. Now, everybody’s getting 22 to 25 reps in practice,” defensive coordinator Erik Chinander said a couple of weeks ago. “So I think that’s going to be huge for the development of the newer guys and young guys.”

How are the players dealing with it themselves? Hopefully, redshirt senior quarterback Maddux Madsen won’t be required to make many tackles this fall after a turnover, but even he has found himself wrapping up a dummy and taking it to the ground.

“The game that we play is a live football game, and so I think the more we can do it in practice, (it) helps us,” Madsen said. “Obviously, we have to protect guys, but it’s awesome to see the energy and the intensity.”

Redshirt junior tight end Matt Wagner has fallen victim to one of Danielson’s new methods. Throughout practice, Danielson will call out an offensive and a defensive player and have them go one-on-one — while the rest of the team watches from the sidelines.

It’s produced some great catches from the likes of wide receivers Rasean Jones and Cam Bates, causing the offensive sideline to erupt in cheers. Other times, the likes of junior safety Kyle Hall has gotten the defense riled up after batting down a ball that was basically in Wagner’s hands.

“It creates a big environment for the guys, where let’s see how you can handle a route under pressure,” Wagner said earlier this spring. “… When you get 100 eyes looking at you one-on-one to see who can make a play, that’s how we find out who our real playmakers are.”

It’s not just the offense feeling the intensity. Players like redshirt junior Boen Phelps, expected to be the Broncos’ leading linebacker in 2026, have to deal with tackling the human bowling balls that are running backs Sire Gaines and Dylan Riley. They might feel the bumps and bruises come the end of practice, but with five months left until Boise State kicks off its season at Oregon on Sept. 5, no one in camp is complaining.

“I don’t remember going live this early, but I liked it today. I think it amped up practice a little bit, and it is pretty unique,” Phelps said last week. “ … The competition’s through the roof right now, and I think it’s just going to get us better for summer and into the fall.”