By Chadd Cripe
ccripe@idahostatesman.com

MERIDIAN — The Boise State football team’s offense needed 77 snaps to finally find the end zone on Friday afternoon at Mountain View High.
The defense dominated the second scrimmage of spring ball, two weeks after the offense used an array of explosive plays to score five touchdowns in the first scrimmage.

The final scrimmage is Friday at Bronco Stadium (6 p.m.).

“I never like it when our offense gets after our defense too much,” Boise State coach Chris Petersen said. “I just don’t think that’s the way it should be. It was nice to see our defense step back up, especially with as many defensive guys as we have out right now. That means some of these young guys are really taking to coaching and taking a step in the right direction.”

The offense managed one touchdown (a 5-yard run by freshman Matt Kaiserman) and one field goal. The touchdown drive was a 10-play, 78-yard march fueled by quarterback Bush Hamdan’s scrambling 42-yard pass to Toshi Franklin and 9-yard pass to Tanyon Bissell on third-and-6.

Hamdan, a senior, had the strongest performance of the four quarterbacks. He narrowly missed a touchdown pass when Austin Pettis came down out of bounds.

None of the performances seemed to crystallize the quarterback race. Freshman Kellen Moore took the first drive with the first-teamers but was ineffective.

“I thought Bush made some good throws,” Petersen said. “We might have more of a feel now, but there’s no rush to set anything in stone.”

The offensive standout was senior wide receiver Julian Hawkins.

Hawkins often is overlooked in a strong receiving corps, but he became a third-down specialist last year and finished with 23 catches.
He moved to wide receiver from tight end.

“I’m pretty much known as the guy who’s going to catch the ball on third down,” Hawkins said. “I feel a whole lot better than last year. I have the nuances of being a receiver now.”

Hawkins made the play of the scrimmage — a 20-yard catch on a third-and-8 throw from Lomax. Hawkins was drilled by safety Jason Robinson as the ball arrived.

“That needs to continue,” Petersen said. “He is a big target and that is definitely playing to his strengths. If we can get him to make tough catches over the middle, that’s going to help the offense tremendously.”

On defense, senior tackle Sean Bingham had a nice outing. He made a sack in the scrimmage and one during the practice that preceded it.

Bingham moved to tackle this year after four seasons at end, and he has found the position a better fit for his skills.

“I’m athletic, but not that athletic,” he said. “I probably should have been playing tackle since the beginning. … But better late than never.”

Stats are not available yet. Our story will be updated at IdahoStatesman.com when they become available.