BNN LIVE: Is Zion Washington ready to emerge as a star for Boise State’s defense?

BNN LIVE: Is Zion Washington ready to emerge as a star for Boise State’s defense?

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Now, here’s fourtime NSMA Idaho Sports Writer of the Year, BJ Reigns, with another edition of Bron Nation News Live. Hey, how we doing? Happy Wednesday to you here at Bronation News Live. Broncation News.com. My name is BJ Reigns. We do this every Wednesday, every Wednesday. We do it every day at 9:00 a.m. talking Boise State Sports here at Broncation News. But on Wednesdays, we get a combination of Michael Callahan, we get Brad Bedell, and talking some defensive guys today. So, Michael Callahan nice enough to uh pop on with us for the next 30, 45 minutes or so. Uh Michael, how we doing, man? Pretty good. Excited to be here and talk some of the defensive guys coming back next year and uh excited to see what they do. Now, before we go any further, I think major congratulations is in order for you. Uh I assume this is degree number two. This must be in the master’s degree, maybe. I don’t know. But I know we uh we saw you uh was watching the videos and the photos over the weekend at graduation and there’s there’s old Mike Callahan walking across shaking hands and holding up the diploma there. Uh congratulations man. Yeah, thanks man. Pretty fired up. Got to finish up my MBA two weeks ago. Obviously got to graduate. Got to do the student athlete walk. So that was a cool experience just getting to be around the guys again and uh obviously it went pretty well. That was my third degree, two undergrads, MBA. So, finished up now just finishing up the job search and figuring out what I’m going to do when I grow up. So, uh that’s impressive, man. I was lucky to get one degree. So, uh shout congratulations, man. Two degrees plus an NBA. That is uh that’s awesome. And and shout out to the business school there. They’re doing big things over there. Uh that’s great. Great. Congrats, man. That that’s awesome for you. A lot of guys, they finished playing. They’re just kind of done with the school part of it, and you pushed through and finished it and got it. And that’s uh very uh very commendable and and not surprised based on just knowing you little that that I do that you’re you uh that you have not one not two but now three uh you know so you have three actual diplomas then or what how does that work? Yeah, I got three pieces of paper, three different things on it and obviously it helps playing football for 50 years or however long was a boy you stayed for. So uh you know how does that work? I mean you’re you’re in a different you’re in a different case. you obviously, you know, very smart student. I think you’re on the deans list several times and stuff, but I mean, uh, what is the, uh, you know, I know there’s some some, you know, thought out there, oh, they just give the the football players the easiest classes, they can stay eligible or, oh, they have all the tutors, you know, and the academic people helping them out the whole way and and maybe that is the case for some people, I don’t know, but what what is the how do how on the academic side for folks that aren’t familiar kind of what is that process when they help you guys, you know, pick classes? And you obviously have to pick classes that work with the practice schedule, too. So, how how does that all work? Yeah, obviously you got to do a lot of uh navigating to figure out, you know, what classes you can take during season versus in the spring. You know, sometimes some guys will have morning classes and you got to schedule them out on a day that won’t interfere with practice during the spring and then during season you make sure that you know, your schedule’s not you try to make the season as manageable as possible. Uh you kind of tend to load up in the spring and kind of go to work during that time of the year. But, uh, you know, our our academic staff over at PRCO does a freaking unbelievable job with all of our athletes and, uh, you know, it’s definitely led to a lot of academic success with a lot of our guys. You know, you saw Marco getting top 10 scholar in the entire school, which is just ridiculous. But, uh, you know, they do a great job. Well, uh, yeah, the academic side, I know the APR rate came out recently. You guys set more more records with that. So, uh, yeah, again, kudos. I was watching the video. I think I you told us that and I kind of was kind of watching. Oh, there’s Mike. How’s it going? So, uh, congrats, man. Hope that was a fun weekend. Again, uh, appreciate everybody for joining us here on BNN Live. Again, our title sponsors, row paint.com, Andy Rowan Company. All your t all your painting needs, whether it’s those interior, exterior painting, the concrete coatings, hit up our title sponsor, Andy Row, and Paint.com. We’re uh up to number 18 today. Excuse me. Number 18 today. Zion Washington in our list of the 25 most important players on the football team. We’re going to talk Zion today and a couple other guys. Chad kicking us off says need that hat. Uh and then Scott says uh should do some contests for the swag. Maybe get Rorow Painting to sponsor the side of the hat with their logo. We’ll we’ll look into that. As I’ve said several times, uh Boise State doesn’t allow me to sell the merchandise due to some trademark stuff. So, I can not sure I can give away a $35 hat, but I’ll I’ll see what I can do. We’ll try to figure something out moving forward here. But, uh they got some they’re very protective of their trademark. I’ll just say that. So, um I I’m not allowed to sell these hats, but I will do what I can maybe to have some sort of contest to give a couple away. We’ll we’ll see what we can do. But, uh if you have a question for Mike, myself, whatever, get that in there and we’ll get to that here in the chat. A little bit of news did come out yesterday, Mike. The uh the South Florida game. Uh we knew it was slated for Thursday, kind of kicking off the season, April uh August 29th. nice Thursday kickoff, but we find out uh yesterday it’s going to be a uh 3:30 kickoff in Boisee on a Thursday uh in August. Uh 5:30 right there in Tampa, Florida in the in late August. Um you’ve played some of those souththeastern portions United States, you know, season openers uh the past couple of years. Uh 5:30, I mean, I guess it’s better than 3:30, 2 o’clock. Absolutely. a little bit later, but I mean, you probably would have preferred a a seven or eight pm Eastern time start. Yeah, a 5:30 kick that first half until the sun starts to go down. It will be cooking on that field. And I saw that kickoff time yesterday and the first thing I thought was how many Infernos are they going to try to squeeze in this year? because that I mean we knew that Georgia Southern was going to be hot and I’ve played in a few of those, you know, southeastern humid games. That Georgia Southern game was I’ve never experienced anything like that in my entire life in terms of the heat, humidity. And we do a really honestly our Inferno practices get you more ready for that than you would think. Um, but nothing’s going to totally prepare you for what that heat feels like until you’re on the field and the guys can get into the rhythm and figure out what they need to do to stay on the field at that point just because of obviously first game nerves. You’re going to have cramps naturally. I, you know, I don’t know the statistics behind it, but I know that that’s out of all the games in a football season, the most cramps are always going to come in game one just because of the nerves and anxiety. But adding on that humidity on top, you know, these guys are going to have to put in a lot of work obviously to get themselves physically immensely ready for it. But I know that they’re going to do they’re going to do a great job with it. We always do an amazing job handling that when we have an you know a season opener down there. But uh the kickoff time also now just being a fan is an interesting time. Yeah. You’re not man. If you’re working till five o’clock, you’re gonna be asking the boss to get off a little early maybe. Yeah. Seriously. there. You’re just going to have to sit at your desk with your phone underneath it and uh try to keep tabs until you get out of there. But the real world, brother. Yeah, that’s I’m not excited for that part. Yeah, that is kind of a bummer. I mean, it’s it’s nice, I guess, for the team, too, because the game will be over at 9 Eastern instead of whatever time. So, they’ll fly all the way back and probably get back, you know, at 1 or two in the morning instead of 4:00 or 5 in the morning or whatever it would have been, you know, flying back the whole way overnight. But so that helps a little bit and and for some fans I guess on if it is going to be on a week night or a work night or a school night, however you want to call it to have the game over with at, you know, 7:00 is is better, I guess. But yeah, you just people take a half day. It’s all right. I guess you take a half day, you start the grill out back, you know, on a Thursday at noon and make it an unofficial holiday here. And I guess they did that because there’s a double header. They’re going to have uh Nebraska and uh Cincinnati, I believe. Nebraska at Cincinnati. They’re playing or no, they’re playing at Arrowhead Stadium. Uh that game’s like at 8:00 PM Eastern, something afterwards or 900 PM Eastern, I think afterwards they have a double header on that Thursday, but um you know 5:30 Eastern. I saw a lot of people saying, “Hey, people on the East Coast will finally be able to see, you know, see Boise State game like not won’t be at midnight.” So yeah, you take the good with the bat, I guess, with that. And um I know a lot of Boise State fans are going to South Florida. I saw some saying, “Oh, it’ll be perfect for me. I’ll be sitting in the stands.” Uh so uh you know, it is what it is. It just odd on a Thursday to see a 3:30 Mountain time kickoff. um just you’re so excited for the first game and the Thursday part you’re thinking oh sweet Thursday they’re going to be in a prime time slot and then it’s like all right it’s starting at you know a lot of Boise State fans in California or whatever it’s 2:30 uh you know Pacific time for the folks in Seattle or wherever else on the on the the West Coast so that that it’s a little odd but you know what um I always like the Thursday early game because if you win you know if you win the game on Thursday if you’re a Boise State fan you get the rest of the weekend and there’s some great games the rest of the weekend you can just kind of prop your feet up and the we’re already one and0, you know, we’ll watch these games and enjoy it. So, if you’re a fan, you get that first game out of the way. And also, Mike, for the for the team, knowing it’s the first game, you can back you, you know, back spring ball and and or fall camp up to where, you know, you’re just starting your Monday on Saturday that week and and everything’s a normal at least a normal week for for you guys and then you probably get an extra day or two off on the back end. Uh, which is probably nice as well. Yeah, that is uh that’s a great point. um those having this season start on a Thursday is huge because it’s followed by a Saturday game. So you’re looking at in terms of the travel, you know, obviously like you said, we fly back after the games. No matter where we are, what time we get done, as soon as the game’s over, you pack your stuff, get on the bus, go to the airport, fly back overnight. So getting that extra day, you know, landing on a Friday, getting the day off, get the body right, getting the Saturday off to relax and unwind and also start getting, you know, extra preparation for uh the next opponent, you know, that is invaluable at that point of the season, especially coming off a game like this game will be. Um, you know, coming in to a very humid and hot environment. I’m sure a lot of guys are probably going to lose some pounds in that game. So, uh, getting the extra two days to rebuild their strength, regain their energy, and, uh, get ready for the week after and extra preparation for, I mean, any form of extra preparation for a game is a benefit in my opinion. So, um, I I’m personally a big fan. I’m not a big fan of the time just for selfish reasons and being, you know, fan perspective, but I do think that it’s going to help out the team long term. Now, were you the kind of guy that even if you guys got back at 2 am or whatever on Thursday, you’d have been in your 8 am class on Friday? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I uh morning. So, that is the one nice thing, I guess, that most guys probably won’t have morning class on Friday. I I learned through through the hard way that uh in season it’s probably better to go online anyways. So, young guys, when you’re younger, you’re probably going to have the in-person classes. You got to deal with that quick turnaround. But uh as you get older, you start realizing that you need that you need that time to yourself and you need to be able to build your own schedule around keeping your body healthy and getting, you know, recovering after games. So, but it’s definitely a quick turnaround. Pull the Hank Bachm and join the uh join the class discussion from the locker room. That was ridiculous. That was when uh when the uh the thunderstorms came in and the game got delayed three hours and uh what was it? Uh UCF. Yeah. Yeah, that was ridiculous. Viral that they went viral. There there’s the team discussion as Hank Bachm. Now, was he just doing that to prove the point, be funny, whatever, hope people see me, or was that or was he uh actually like, you know, engaged in the discussion there? He will he will tell you that he was doing it to be engaged in the discussion, but he was absolutely just being Hank if you know him. And uh he was probably in there for 30 seconds. He was in there for 30 seconds. They could get the picture and then Yeah. Yeah. popped in, you know, in full pads and uniform. He’s like, “Oh, this will be hilarious if I do this.” And next thing you know, he’s viral. So that’s Hank. Were you Were you still part of I know you’ve been you’re there six years, so I’m trying to think how this backs up, but were you at the Were you part of the Florida State game? Yes. Yeah, that was uh I ended up traveling. Um that was my first travel game. I was a traveling red shirt that year. So I was a part of that game. That was my first introduction to Boy State football. You mentioned the uh you know the inferno practices and all that. I mean, that was a game where in the second half they Florida State was the one cramping up and not ready for the heat in their own environment, their own stadium, and you guys came back with a huge second half comeback. And I a lot of people pointed to the conditioning in the second half there as a big reason why you guys came back. Yeah, it’s no joke. They have a proven a proven method to get us ready for those Southern humidity games. And um I mean we obviously you’re going to have guys cramp regardless, but for the most part from what I remember, and I know that that was seven years ago now, um I I remember everybody that was cramping was cramping on the sideline. We didn’t have any issues in game, which is a huge win for our team. Let’s see this. I was muted. I muted myself. Got it. I was like, I think I’m having problems here. That was me. I didn’t want to be gargling ice in front of the mic, so I muted myself while I was drinking. I forgot to put my energy drink in the uh in the refrigerator, so I had to uh put some ice in with my energy drink this morning. So, I we have the mute we have the JTUS memorial mute jar because he does it about three times a show. So, I have to contribute to the uh to the mute jar here. So, I apologize for that. But, uh BSU Bill said, “Rest in peace Tim Plow’s offense beginning of the UCF game to halftime. That was a fun first half seeing uh what they what throwing the ball and things and and then uh yeah, something uh I think it’s gotten out there publicly, but some things changed at halftime and some other games and looked a lot different and and uh not surprised that Tim Plow is killing it uh at UC Davis. Uh he’s crushing it at UC Davis. He just run the offense he wants to run. Things look pretty nice. I’ll just say that. Um, let’s see. Uh, what do you make? Uh, let’s see. Uh, a lot of people saying that rankings don’t include Boyisee State. Not Not in a lot of people’s top 25. Um, they, you know, get to the playoff what you guys did. You know, come back with a solid team, but, you know, it’s Katon says not surprising without Genty. Uh, got to prove it. Um, what do you make maybe of not not being ranked in some of these preseason top 25s? You know, I I think as college football continues to evolve, you’re going to see more of an emphasis placed on those power four teams, which is natural, but um you know, I don’t know how many teams were ranked in the top 25 preseason last year that fell out, but I would imagine it was anywhere between 10 to 15. So, in my opinion, um, even even now as I’m out, I don’t put any weight into those preseason rankings because I think we started off last year, if I remember correctly, like they had us like 40th before the season and we ended up what, eighth. So, I mean, it doesn’t matter preseason rankings, obviously. I think that that’s a good point. You know, losing losing Ashton. Um, obviously, I think people want to see what this team’s going to look like without an Ashton Genty. And I think that’s I I think that is a fair question to bring up, but um this team is returning so much and so much experience on both sides of the ball that by the time this season gets rolling and by the time they start putting some uh some stuff on film and the the rest of the country gets a chance to see it, I I I have no question that this team will end up back in the rankings. And either way, in my opinion, the rankings are, you know, the rankings just a number. I mean, they are honestly till till early November whenever when the CFP rank comes out. That’s the only one that that really matters. That’s the only one that counts. That’s the only one that we got to be worried about. So, uh, until then, don’t put too much weight in the preseason rankings. They’re going to disrespect us. It’s just the way it is. And until we prove it on film, doesn’t matter. The first four games though, I mean, at South Florida, they’re, you know, a solid uh, you know, AAC team and on the road, you know, it’s never an easy game. But if you find a way to win that South Florida game, you come home to play Eastern Washington in week two. You go to Air Force week three, which after you get a buy before you go to Air Force, which is nice, and then um you go to Air Force. I mean, that’s never a gimme game. I don’t care how bad Air Force is, that’s never a game that you feel, oh great, we’re going to play Air Force. Um but if you’re able to win at Air Force, you come home to play App State. I mean, there’s a pretty decent chance that Boise State should be 4-0 going to Notre Dame and and that would be probably ranked by then and and probably uh you know, add even more excitement. We found out that game will be on NBC now uh at Notre Dame. They’re going to be probably top 10 at that point. So, if things go well, the first kind of uh marquee game could be that October 4th game at Notre Dame. Yeah, absolutely. And uh I think you had a good point there with the Air Force game. Uh, in my mind, I put them I put Air Force and Wyoming in the category of do not look at their record ever because those games will always be a dog fight no matter what talent they have just in terms of the schemes that those two teams run and the mentality of those programs, it’s going to be a tough game. But coming off a buy, getting those first two games, get your feet underneath yourself, getting a buy, an extra week of preparation for the triple option, which the triple option is the I’ve never hated something more in my life than playing the triple option. And uh getting getting the extra week of preparation for these guys is going to be massive for the guys in that locker room and the coaches upstairs. So, um, it’s going to be, like you said, you know, you look at those first four games, that’s an exciting start to the season heading into that Notre Dame game. And like you said, nationally televised game committee is probably looking at that game pretty closely, especially in terms of good chance both teams are floating in the rankings pretty pretty decently high at that point. So, we’ll see what goes on with that game. But, uh, it’s going to be an exciting start of the season. I love the schedule personally. I can see you uh Saturday, September 20th, having a couple old teammates over to the house kind of uh kicking back, pouring a extra, you know, extra little thing into a cup and going, they can deal with the triple option today. I’m watching this on TV. It’s your guys turn. We don’t got to deal with this anymore. This is uh that’s that’s in the past. I’ll probably have PTSD from that in 40 years. But uh for now I just get to sit back and try to watch it, which is already going to be like watch paint dry to me. By the way, before we move on, I know you were a young kid. You weren’t 21, so I’m sure you probably were not a part of this, but you know, we did these uh we do the Riley and Ridge show uh here on Bronco Nation News. And uh when we do it at the James and the drinks get flowing a little bit, we get some good stories being told. And we had uh Garrett Collingham, Matt Pastoni, uh we had some guys on the show and there’s there’s kind of a legendary story. There’s a legendary story that after that Florida State game when you guys had that six-hour plane delay, uh some of those guys in full Boise State gear literally went to a a college bar down the down the street from your hotel and and uh ended up uh getting a little bit tipsy before the flight back home. And and there’s there’s some good stories about that on the bus going to the airport and and the flight. Um, did you hear about that? Do you know anything about that? I was 17 at that point, so I was not in that crew by any means. I would have been one look at me kicked out of there. And uh I I didn’t hear about it until we got back. I started hearing a few whispers of some of the older guys that something went down with that. And uh that’s just an unbelievable story and kind of speaks to that 2019 team. Um, just a super fun group, super veteran group. I mean, I can’t tell you how many senior starters we have on that team. But hearing that story now, that doesn’t surprise me at all. Well, I’ll have to send you the full clip. It was uh and again, Garrett Cullingham is telling the story while having a few uh, you know, beverages at while he’s telling the story. We’ll just see the truth there. Yeah. So, it was uh yeah, I mean they were there in bull full Boise State garb and apparently some of the you know I guess Florida State co-eds were uh you know uh impressed I guess by Boise State players being out at out at the uh the bar and then that the bartender I guess was uh you know hey you kicked our tail here’s some free drinks and it was I guess it got I guess uh and then I guess Rid the bus is loading and Rid can’t find him and he’s texting them get your bleep back here we’re leaving and then I guess they were told to sit in the back of the bus as far away from Harson as they could and and they end up sitting in the row right behind him or something. I don’t remember the whole the whole story, but it was uh it sounded like they had a pretty good time. And then uh but he did say that was the best flight he’s ever had because he slept the whole way back. Oh, yeah. Absolutely. I mean, I can attest to those sleeping on the flight back when you leave at 1:00 a.m. Same thing with Hawaii this year. I mean, I I fell asleep and when I woke up it was 11:00 a.m. in Boise. So, I understand that. But that’s just an un I I’ve heard that story for a few years now, but hearing it come from the horse’s mouth, that’s freaking hilarious. Yes. Yes. And now now that you’re uh you’re part of that alumni group, we’re we’re going to start to get some of the stories out of you here, too. Uh oh, yeah. Eventually start rolling out. We have some of that. You can’t be you can’t be uh you know, calling out the guys that are still on the team here. So, we got to get the story with the older guys, you know, as time passes here. Um uh by the way, Notre Dame opens with Miami, Texas A&M, Purdue, and Arkansas. realistic they could have a loss by that by when they play Boise State. Yeah, I mean that’s a that’s a tough slate to start the season. I’m looking at Miami and Texas A&M because obviously those two teams are massive in the portal and um are always going to have a ton of talent. Then Arkansas, you got to deal with Tailon Green. So that’s already a headache in itself trying to game plan for that. So we’ll see what goes on with them. All right, good discussion. Mike, I want to get into Zion Washington and some of these some of your former teammates here as we continue our top 25 list of the most important players on Boyisey State heading into 2025. But first, want to thank a few of our sponsors that help make this show free of charge for you guys to watch on YouTube here. And that starts with our title sponsor, rowaint.com. Andy Row and company, row paint.com. All your painting needs, whether it’s those interior, exterior painting, the concrete coatings, make sure you hit up our title sponsor, Andy Row, and row.com. Hey, Taco Bellworks.com is where you can go to get more information on the S Soom Management Group, the Nicolas family. They’re doing a tremendous job supporting our community. They’ve committed over $400,000 to student athlete scholarships with the men’s and women’s basketball teams at Boise State through the endowed scholarship. So, uh, return the favor, folks. Next time you’re looking for a delicious, affordable, uh, cheap meal, head to Taco Bell. Love the cantina bowls there. I sub out the rice for the lettuce. It’s keto friendly. Taco Bellworks.com. And they’re also hiring. So you can get more information on applying for a job at Taco Bell. Uh if you just head into a local Treasure Valley Taco Bell location, Idaho Central Credit Union, iccu.com. There’s a branch pretty much on every corner, but the easiest is that mobile e branch online banking right there in your smartphone. Idaho Central Credit Union. Don’t know what you’re missing, folks, till you make the switch. Rains family so happy we switched to ICCU and you can as well. Very easy process and you can get it started at icu.com. Um, hey, Snake River Pool and Spa Patio and game locations in Twin Falls, Boyisey, Meridian, and Nampa. Been around since 1978. They’re part of the Boyisey State home team. And if you’re looking for that sauna, that spa for the back patio, maybe a pool table for the game room, they got you covered. Snake River Pool and Spa, patio, and game. And again, online at thespa team.com. You’re looking uh speaking of getting covered for some Boise State gear. Best clearance rack in town right there in the front. When you walk in the Blue and Orange store, right there in the Boisey Town Square Mall, second floor next to Pro Image. The Blue and Orange store online at the Blue and Orange store.com. You can order anywhere in the world, whether it’s caps, bumper stickers, sweatshirts, jerseys. They got you covered. And Promage right next door has all the Ashton Genty Raider jerseys as well. So, make sure you head there to the Blue and Orange Store online at the blue and orange store.com. I’m Lithia Ford of Boisey. They are sponsoring the hole-in-one contest at our golf tournament. Lithia Fordaboisey lithia Fordboyisey.com. View all their full inventory of vehicles. And they’ve got Cage Casey, Roger Carryon, all those guys. Lithia Fordboyisey.com. They’ve got them in vehicles. And if you’re looking to support someone that supports Boise State athletics in a big way next time you’re looking for a car truck purchase, make it at Lithia Ford of Boisey. And don’t forget Jackson’s the $5 meal deal. Two hot dogs and a kettle chips for $5 at Jackson’s. They also have that uh 99 cent coffee deal going on anytime, day or night. 99 cent coffee from our friends at Jackson’s when you use your Let’s Go Rewards app. I want to do a quick plug for our golf tournament and our happy hour event. Mike, I mentioned uh the Lithia Ford Boyisey sponsoring the holein one. We’re giving away a new car. It’ll be at the hole, hole six there at Timberstone. And I know you’re unable to participate in the golf this year due to your uh your surgeries, Mike, but we’re hoping maybe that happy hour event two weeks from tomorrow, we can get you out there to to have a cold one and hang out and chat with some fans. And and as uh we did announce yesterday that Coach D uh has locked in his commitment to be part of the Q&A. We’re going to have Spencer Danielson there. We’re going to have Leon Rice there uh taking questions from fans, interacting up on stage. But, uh, the one I’m most excited about is, and people keep saying, “How’d you get him to do it?” But, uh, Dirk Cutter also will be, uh, up there on the stage taking some questions as well. So, maybe we can get a Michael Callahan question to Dirk Cutter from the crowd. I I don’t know, man, because he’s going to answer. He’s coming in as blunt and honest as you want. So, be careful what you ask him because he’s going to tell you the truth at this point. He’s proven. But, uh, I just hope he has a couple Kors lights before he gets up there. I’m looking forward to that. He’s going to do we’re really excited about we’re raising money for the Idaho Youth Sports Commission. It’s a great charity around town that helps uh kids around town be able to participate in youth sports. So, uh, if you, uh, you know, don’t golf, don’t care about golf, but if you’re, you know, a fan and want to come hang out and hear from Leon Rice or have a chance to shake Spencer Danielson’s hand or talk to Dirt Cutter, uh, all the other folks, we’ll have Brad Bedell out there and and Kent Riddle and some other coaches from the basketball side. And as I mentioned, Cage Casey, Roger Kerion, uh, Matt Louder, Latril Capable, the NIL guys with Lithia Ford to Boyisey. They’re going to be out there. Lithia is going to have a little setup in the back and they’ll be uh, signing little mini footballs and shaking hands and talking to folks. So, it’s going to be a good time and you can hang out with uh a lot of your uh cool uh you know players and coaches that you guys you know root for. You can come hang out with them in person, shake their hand, talk to them and you’re raising money for a good cause. Your $35 includes your horseshoe golden ale uh beer and it includes pizza from Uncle Bob’s. So, you come out, have a couple beverages, have some pizza, hang out. We got great attendance, but we want to sell this thing out. So, it’s at the beer garden at Western Collective Brewery. So, Western Collected Brewery in Garden City there. Uh, 35 bucks. Email me reigns@ broncnationnews.com if you want to come. Reigns@ broncnationnews.com. And I mean, pretty if you’re a Boise State fan, I mean, for 35 bucks to have Coach D and and Leon Rice in the same room right there. And you throw in Durk Cutter and Michael Callahan and some of the other big dogs. I mean, I don’t know why it sounds like pretty good value. And again, this is not some money maker for BNN to to to, you know, put money in my pocket. This is all getting added to the pot to get donated to the Idaho Youth Sports Commission. Three years of doing this golf tournament, we’ve raised about $25,000 for the Idaho Youth Sports Commission. So, uh we went down to one uh flight uh not two. So, this year, so we have less golfers. So, we’re trying to make up some of the money for the charity by having this event the night before. So, uh if you want to come hang out and mingle, it’s 6 to8. Again, just reach out to me on Twitter or email me uh [email protected] and we’ll get you uh get you all set up. Uh, Surf City Bill, who I think’s coming, says, “Ask Cutter for his honest take on Mike.” Uh, you’re a defensive lineman. I don’t think he have anything bad to say about you. Come on. No, he puts me and he used me on Clydesale for the whole year, too. So, that’s right. I I can probably give you, dude. Hardworking, unathletic, and stiff, but good blocker. That’s what I’m going to get from cutter. I can tell you right now. And And horrible hands. Yes. Will not throw me the ball. put me in a put me in a pass blocking situation on the one pass attempt we had in Clydesdale last year. You had your one uh chance against Memphis and you blew it, right? Yep. Blew it. Never coming back. Going to haunt me for the rest of my life. I think every time I mention that I need to add something to your paycheck because I I traumatized you there. Uh all right, so Zion Washington, we’re going to get to him in a second, but two guys previous that were also defensive that I wanted to give you a quick chance to touch on. Number 20 on our list was David Lu. And I know obviously he’s a transfer from BYU. You didn’t get a chance to play with him. Uh but uh being a part of this Dline and knowing who all you guys lost, I think it’s over a thousand snaps you guys lost along the defensive line that you’re the interior that you’re having to replace this year. Um what do you make and what do you know of him coming in from BYU and and uh the fact that uh they they went to, you know, he seems like he’s got a chance to start here as one of the replacements for you guys there on the interior. Yeah, absolutely. He um he’s obviously the prototypical nose tackle build. You know, he’s a big big dude. He’s probably floating around 320 at this point. I know he came in a little bit heavier, but uh I know he’s got great hands, great lateral mobility for a guy that size. And uh what I saw in person, um he’s going to be a force in the Mountain West. I don’t think that there’s any question about it. Very talented kid. He’s Sonatani Lou’s cousin. Um I don’t know if that’s a well-known fact or not, but um obviously coming from that you you’d assume that there’s going to be something there and so far he’s proven that there is. So David Latu is going to be an absolute force for our defensive line. Very excited for him. Obviously going to be in a very strong competition for uh that starting nose tackle role with Braxton coming back to the three tech position. And uh you know I I I truly believe that these guys are taking big steps in the right direction. how they handle May and how they handle the summer is going to be a big dictator in that. But, um, I think that at the end of the day, this defensive line room is in a very good position for being in May right now. All right. So, number 19 was linebacker Jake Rip yesterday. And there was a time when Jake Rip uh in spring once Andrew Simpson left was going to be moved down to edge. And, you know, last year a lot of his pressures came in from the edge position. and they moved him around a lot last year, but yep, sounds like he’s moving back primarily to linebacker, but in some packages, we’ll still get a chance to uh, you know, get up there on the line. Uh, what do you make of number 19 on our list, Jake Rip? Yeah, Jake Rip at the end of the day, like you think about Jake Rip, and there’s one there’s two words that come to mind. It’s football player. And, uh, it doesn’t matter where you’re going to put him, he’s going to be effective this year. This is absolutely Jake Rip’s breakout year. um very smart, prepares the right way for each game. He’s shown a lot of ability on the edge. I’m sure that the guys in the edge room know that, you know, he’s going to be a very viable option for us on third downs, getting him in those pass rush situations. And at the end of the day, you know, depending on what package we’re in, you know, going nickel to dime, um I’m not sure how much stress they want to put Jake Rip under having him go from stud in a dime package to uh to um Mike in or Will in the uh in the nickel package. But at the end of the day, I believe that this dude could do that. I think he has the mental capacity to be able to flip-flop those two positions. obviously very different in the grand scheme of our defense, but I think that Rip at the end of the day is just a football player. Get him on the field. He’s going to do a lot of great things this year. All right, Mike, maybe a trick question here, but uh if I told you Ty Benfield was number one on the team in snaps last year on defense, you’d probably believe that. Uh any idea on your defense who was number two in snaps last year? I’m gonna go I’m probably gonna go with Amari McCoy. Okay, close, but it’s Zion Washington. Wow. And Zion makes sense. Zion Washington number two uh with 879 snaps last year. And he is our number uh where are we at on this list? Number 18 on our most important players on the Broncos in 2025. We’ve got Zion Washington. And you he didn’t get a lot of the headlines, didn’t get a lot of the hype. you know, maybe didn’t have some of the stats that some guys had, but he was out there just as much, if not more, than literally almost everybody on the defense uh last year. And and you know, the year before uh 300 346 snaps. So, he over doubled his snap count last year. May had a much bigger uh role there. 67 tackles, two forced fumbles, six pass breakups, and obviously played that deep safety uh you know, position and and um you know, had the hybrid cover skills at times. Had to come up and play on some guys and um I know Tubner and Robinson and OPo and those guys, you know, were in the box more and kind of near the line of scrimmage. Um he was much more kind of in the back playing that safety role and and um overall, you know, I thought had a pretty pretty solid season. We’ll get into the uh some of the numbers here on uh Pro Football Focus and what Nathan Carroll has in our article broncnationwe.com. But what did you make uh I guess of last year and and just to this point the career of Zion Washington? Yeah, like you said and now you said it out loud that actually does make sense that he would be number two in snaps. But um you know last year coming in we’re going to the dime look. Um obviously was going to be the starter at that boundary safety position with Tubner rolling down to the dime role. um this year coming in, you know, he’ll be the true starter at boundary safety in our nickel defense and uh it kind of depends on what the coaches identify as our strength as a defense in fall camp going forward. But, you know, whether we are in nickel or dime, he’s another guy that just will not come off the field. And at the end of the day, that’s going to be invaluable for him. having over over 800 snaps last year. That experience will be huge for Zion coming into this season because now it’s about the fine details in terms of pushing his game to another level. You know, a guy that’s going into year five, been around the program for a long time, knows the way that things are run and knows what needs to happen on a weekly basis to put yourself in a position to be successful on game day. I think that Zion’s going to take big steps in both his run support and his coverage skills and coverage abilities. And I know that he’s already been putting in a ton of work this off season. Making sure his body’s ready to go and make sure he’s ready to be on the field for another 800 whatever snaps it ends up being for him. But uh a guy that doesn’t come off the field for a defense is very clearly a crucial a crucial player for any scheme depending on nickel or dime. Now, I told you when we hired you, like it’s we try to, you know, you I know you’re going to take the positive spin here, but sometimes stats are stats and numbers are what they are. And a lot of the pro football focused numbers were not super kind to Zion Washington, uh, you know, last year when you when you really dive into some of the numbers. And I’m looking at Nathan Carol’s article again. You can read this at broncationnews.com right now. And I’m not here to rip on him. I’m just giving you the facts, folks, and we can, you know, talk about it and see where he can improve. But um you know you guys struggled at times missing tackles last year and that was one thing the numbers say were not great for Zion Washington. 23.7% missed tackle rate was the worst of anybody in the back seven last season. Uh he missed at least one tackle in 13 games. And when he was in coverage, Pro Football Focus credits Washington giving up five touchdowns and 378 yards and he also had no interceptions. uh he finished with a 60.9% Pro Football Focus grade, which was the second lowest of of any starter uh on Boise State’s team. Uh but uh he Nathan notes if you’re looking for optimism, he did improve as the season went on. His three highest run defensive grades were the three to finish out the regular season against Wyoming, Oregon State, and UNLV. In those three games, he allowed just four catches for 34 yards as well. Um, so, uh, again, when you’re out there a lot, that also means you’re more susceptible to to negative plays, too. But, uh, then, you know, missed some missed tackles, giving up some big plays, and I know sometimes the big plays, it’s it’s not always the safety’s fault. I know Tubner would get blamed a lot when he’s chasing the guy down because somebody else missed missed their, you know, assignment or or or whatever, but, uh, there is clearly, you know, for Zion, as you said, some areas where he can take his game to the next level. Yeah, absolutely. And uh I think at this point in his career, he can be open and honest with himself and look in the mirror and identify what he’s got to get better at. You know, that you’re talking about the missed tackles. You know, that was a problem for our whole defense as a whole, including me. Um I mean, I’m not, you know, invulnerable to that, too. Like, I mean, I had stuff I had to work on and I over the course of the season worked on it in during practices and he did too. And like you said, the last three games of the year were his best games. So to me that is a positive point for him. I think that he showed that you know he will improve and he needs to improve and I think over the course of the next you know through spring ball going in going into summer training and going into fall camp I think that you know as long as he continues to attack it with you know a positive mindset and coming in and identifying what he’s got to work on I think that Zion will show improvement over the course of the season. Again, it’s just going to come down to, like you said, you know, when you’re on the field a lot, you’re more susceptible to uh to negative numbers or whatever the PFF grades say and whatnot. But I think that with him, obviously, a very talented, explosive dude. He’s going to do what he can to help this team and put himself in a better position going into the season. I We need to get the uh Pro Football Focus scouting report on Michael Callahan out. It’s not great. That’s why, See, that’s my bias towards them because they’d give me, we’d go through the film and uh we’d send I think there were five or six clips that they had of me being in a negative that we sent in for review. Not me, but our assistant Dline coach because he’s like, “You were not even remotely close to the ball here and they gave you a missed tackle.” And I’m like, “Well, awesome. I mean, I don’t care, but at the end of the day, my numbers are not good.” Uh, I really do think and I’ll have to clarify this with Nathan, but I’m pretty sure they just literally have like average Joe’s like that like football like me that just we they get paid to watch a game and just chart every player on every game and it’s literally one guy’s evaluation that that kind of ranks a lot of that. Yeah. And uh that’s that is the truth. I I won’t I won’t hide anything from that. Yes. PF isn’t gospel. There’s a lot of human error in the data. I do think that there are a lot of positives with PFF and I think that there’s a lot of positives in game prep with PFF because PFF allows you to go in and see different formations. You know, align plays to certain formations, see what their success rates are on them, see what the tendencies of the of the overall offense are. But like you said, PFF isn’t gospel at the end of the day. You got to put in the work. And uh yes, the PFF grades for some guys aren’t as good as others. And you know, I think there’s one guy that they absolutely nailed the PFF stuff with and that’s Ashton. And then everybody else, whatever. Yes, exactly. That that was gospel. Whatever that grade was, like 98 or something, the highest ever. That’s fair. Uh Robbie Robinson says, “So Mike, when a player uh who’s been moved around as much as Rip, do they have do you know uh any insight on how much how much say does the player have when they’re moving him to a different position in terms of what he prefers?” You know, with a guy like him, it kind of comes down to a week- toeek game prep basis just on what he like knowing Rip, he’s going to go in and be like, “What where do you need me this week to put our team in the best position possible?” And if a coach wants to move him to edge or move him to will wherever he’s going to be the most successful, he’s going to do it. He’s going to do it at a high level. So, uh, you know, sometimes if if a guy is getting too much of a strain on his workload in terms of having to learn a new position, then at that point the player preference will come in. If if it’s proven that it will not help the defense or help the team. But, uh, with a guy like that and a guy that’s just a natural football player, um, I don’t I don’t personally I don’t want to speak for Rip, but I don’t personally believe he’d have a preference of one position or the other. Uh, yeah. And and I mean I not to say this bluntly, whatever, like the coaches just they’ll put you where they best see a fit and it’s not really I mean they may I mean maybe they say what do you like? I mean with the quarterbacks certainly it’s like what they want to know what concepts you like, what routes they like. I mean, there’s there is give and take, but in terms of like the actual spot, I mean, in the most part, it’s just sorry, this is where we need you, right? Yeah, basically. Um, let’s see if we got anything else here. Um, the defense though, you mentioned, uh, I mean, that’s three guys in a row on defense and you guys lost like a lot of this leadership type, you know, five, six year senior type guys and and now, you know, Zion is kind of one of those guys that’s been around for three, four years now. And so, um, you know, he’s an interesting guy because he was roommates with Ashton, you know, he was roommates with Andrew Simpson, who are both now gone. He was roommates, I believe, maybe even before that with Tayen Green at one point. Um, what, uh, you know, he’s kind of an interesting guy. Uh, you know, some, like I said, some of his close friends and roommates are now moving on and and he’s going to have a bigger role on the team this year. And this is, we said a big year for him. Maybe maybe some of the, you know, numbers weren’t kind to him last year, but if he’s a guy that wants to, you know, have a chance to play at the next level or make football a career or do something, this would seem to be a big season for him. Yeah, absolutely. And I think just starting off from like a leadership perspective, I think you hit it on the nose. I mean, he’s going to be one of the more experienced guys on the whole team coming in, not just on the defense, but the whole team. So, he has to step into a into a bigger leadership role, and I know he will. um he’s seen he’s had great leadership examples in that room before him, specifically with Alex Tupner. Having a guy like that in front of him and being in the room with him. Um I think that leaning on his experiences with him and seeing what he was able to do with that room will help him step into a bigger role in that regards. But I I’m sure that he is feeling the the reality of it that, you know, this year he’s got to go, you know, he’s got to step up and uh have the best season he’s had yet. And uh you know that just comes into having a you know having a day-to-day mindset stacking day by day and uh I know that Zion’s going to do everything he can to put himself in the best position coming up to this next season. Well, Mike, appreciate you. 45 May 14th and we can still talk football for 45 minutes. Always uh always a fun time. appreciate you as always for coming on and and uh we’re going to continue this countdown next week and and for the next couple of weeks and and I think we’re going to have enough football all summer to keep this thing going here heading into the season. So uh congratulations again to you on graduating for folks that came in late. Two degrees now an MBA in the books. So uh I don’t think your shelf’s big enough there. You got to get a new shelf for all the pieces of uh good luck finalizing the job front as well, but we’re hopeful that that won’t impact your uh I’m I’m sure in these interviews you were telling them you need, you know, 30 minutes on on Wednesday mornings uh free no matter what. So that that 9 a.m. to 10 is reserved. Yes. Yes. Yes. Should be. But uh appreciate you as always for jumping on, man. Did do a tremendous job at the insight. Looking forward to to keeping this going with you. Absolutely. Thanks for having me, guys. Hope you guys have a great day. Hey, thanks for jumping on Broncation News. Thanks to ropaint.com, our title sponsor. I’ll be back with Johnny Ballgame tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. Make sure you check out Broncation News.com. We’ve got that story on Zion Washington up. We’ll be posting one on Alvro Cardinis as well. We’re reviewing his senior season with the Broncos later today. So, all kinds of written content at bronationnews.com. You can go to our YouTube channel. That’s just uh YouTube.com/bronationnews. Subscribe there and watch all of our daily shows and videos. It’s also where we dump all of our press conference video, our highlights from games and things uh there as well. So, uh we appreciate all you guys for uh spreading the word on social media about Broncation News and what we’re doing. And you can subscribe. 50 bucks gets you a whole year at bronationnews.com. Have a great rest of your day. Go check out the website, tell your friends, give this a retweet, a share, a like, whatever. And and we’ll see you at 9:00 a.m. with Johnny Ballgame tomorrow. Again, presentation from our title sponsor.com. He’s Mike Callahan. I’m BJ Reigns. This has been Broncation News live on a Wednesday morning at bronationnews.com. Broncation News is presented by our title sponsor roadpaint.com. 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B.J. Rains and former Boise State defensive tackle Michael Callahan discuss safety Zion Washington, BNN’s No. 17 Most Important Player, and other Boise State topics on a RoePaint.com Wednesday edition of Bronco Nation News LIVE.