Two weeks ago, Boise State football suffered its first loss of the season when junior running back D.J. Harper tore his anterior cruciate ligament, knocking him out for the rest of the season; the same knee that Harper blew out last season.
BSU’s Doug Martin has been a household name all season, but with the injury to Harper, it made room for senior Jeremy Avery to get back in the mix. Avery ran the ball eight times last week against New Mexico State for 69 yards and touchdown. Saturday, Avery churned out a better performance against the Toledo Rockets.
Avery’s output was key for the Broncos. He rushed for only 42 yards, but reached the end zone on three separate occasions.
“[W]hen you get into the red zone you want to score,” Avery said. “Every chance that you have it is all out [because] everybody wants to get into the end zone.”
“He’s a really good player,” coach Chris Petersen said. “He’s fast, he’s shifty. The first touchdown he scored wasn’t blocked very clean. He just put a little move on and outran everybody.”
Avery is no stranger to rushing the ball. Having been a primary back in the past, Avery reminded us all what he is capable of.
“[Avery] knows what he’s doing,” junior quarterback Kellen Moore said. “He has done this for a while.”
The Broncos enjoy seeing Avery play and have full confidence in him.
When asked what the team was telling him throughout the game Avery said, “Keep it up. Just keep running hard and don’t stop and just keep going. It’s good to have that motivation in you and you want to keep it up.”
Avery’s efforts helped the Broncos to a 57-14 victory, but Avery wasn’t alone in getting rushing attempts. Martin got his usual carries, but so did Matt Kaiserman, Jarvis Hodge and Drew Wright, who all put in work too.
“It’s good to get Kais(erman) back in the mix and get him into a little bit of a rhythm,” Petersen said. “I think those four guys, with Drew Wright, they’re all very different, but I think they’re all good players.”
“[Kaiserman] is a great running back who gets positive yards every play,” Moore said.
When asked if those other backs will get to see more opportunities to run the ball Peterson said, “I hope they do, but I think the one thing we need to do is we feel like we need to get a couple of guys into a rhythm and not water it down too much.”
The Broncos depth at running back was evident against Toledo with backs like Kaiserman, Hodge and Wright playing behind Martin and Avery.
“I’ve always been so pleased with our running backs. They’ve shared the ball and nobody mopes around and nobody has poor body language,” Petersen said.
The strength of the running back corps for BSU is a hidden gem, but look to see Martin and Avery carry the load. Also look for Avery to ignite the Bronco offense the rest of the season.
“It’s just a long season and everybody’s gonna have a piece of this pie,” Petersen said. “Tonight it was his time to have a bigger piece.”