By Chadd Cripe
ccripe@idahostatesman.com
© 2012 Idaho Statesman

On Thursday, Brian Murphy broke down the defensive players in the Boise State football team’s 2012 recruiting class. You can read that report here.

Today, I take a crack at the 11 offensive players — and the one kicker:

• Offensive lineman Travis Averill (6-foot-4, 270 pounds) of Anaheim, Calif. will begin his Boise State career at center. He was the Trinity League Offensive Lineman of the Year and a first-team All-CIF selection. He was so solid in his commitment that he told his high school coaches that even if Chris Petersen left, he was going to Boise State.

“He’ll really have a chance to be a great center for us, if not that, a guard,” offensive line coach Chris Strausser said. “He’s a very explosive player, very athletic. He shows up on film not just blocking guys, but dominating guys. To finish blocks consistently the way he does intrigued a lot of people.

“He’s a very likable kid. Anyone recruiting him is going to feel attached to him really quick. He’s the type of guy you want to have around you.”

• Offensive lineman Steven Baggett (6-3, 255) started 38 high school varsity games and was named first-team all-district in Arlington, Texas, as a senior.

“Of the three (line) recruits, he’s probably the most traditional type of tackle body,” Strausser said.

• Wide receiver D.J. Dean (6-1, 180) of Eagle High is the lone Idaho recruit this year and he is expected to grayshirt. He is better known for his defense, earning All-Idaho honors as a safety. He made 56 catches and six interceptions as a senior.

“We think he’s going to start at the receiver position, but one of the things we really liked about D.J. is he could play defense,” coach Chris Petersen said. “He’ll be a really good special teams player.”

• Tailback Devan Demas (5-9, 176) is a speed back who accumulated 2,114 all-purpose yards and 26 total touchdowns as a senior in Houston. He’s from the same school, Cypress Creek, as D.J. Harper.

“He’s one of those guys where it’s one cut and if somebody misses him they’re not catching him,” running backs coach Keith Bhonapha said. “He’ll be a great asset. He’s a different type of back than the other kid coming in and than what we have now.”

• Tailback Jack Fields (5-10, 196) rushed for 2,478 yards and 25 touchdowns as a senior, putting the cap on a tremendous career at Americas High in El Paso, Texas. The only recent Bronco Bhonapha could compare him to: Doug Martin.

“He’s a guy who’s physical, can make guys miss, can run through tackles and he has the speed that he can take off. He’s definitely an exciting player,” Bhonapha said.

Said Petersen: “The more we studied his junior tape, the more impressed we became. A lot of times you see running backs who put up impressive yards and things are blocked extremely clean and they run through it. You always see him making somebody miss or running somebody over. He’s doing that time and time again. We started jumping up and down about him back in the spring.”

• Fullback Armand Nance (6-2, 245) helped Spring Dekaney High win the Texas 5A Division 2 state championship and earned all-state honors. He was his team’s Mr. Versatile, even filling in on the offensive line at times. Tight ends coach Scott Huff plans to put him on the Dan Paul track — fullback to start, with the chance to grow into a role on the line of scrimmage as a tight end.

“He is a real physical, physical football player, as physical of a kid as I’ve seen on film,” Huff said.

• Quarterback Nick Patti (5-11, 195) enrolled last month to make a run at the starting quarterback job. He played in the Semper Fidelis All-American Bowl in Phoenix in January and was among 24 QBs invited to the Elite 11 camp prior to his senior season, signs of how much national respect he earned.

Patti was 34-4 as a high school starter. He set his school’s career records for completions (374), yards (5,701), TD passes (66) and completion percentage (67 percent) and was named the 8A Florida Player of the Year following his senior season.

He has great speed — he said he was clocked at 4.49 seconds in the 40-yard dash — but is eager to prove he’s more passer than runner.

“We feel really good about Nick Patti, we feel really good about the other three guys and it’s going to be one heck of a competition,” Petersen said. “There are four guys that really have a good shot here of being our quarterback and I have no idea, I really don’t, but I know we’ve got some talent there. … (Patti) can throw, he’s accurate, he sees the field, he can run. He played at a very high level of football. We had Nick targeted for a long, long time and Nick had us targeted as well.”

Patti stuck to his commitment despite the departure of offensive coordinator Brent Pease.

“The thing that helped us with Nick is he comes from a big high school and he’s actually used to change at his school and understands that process and I think he did a nice job of picking a school,” new coordinator Robert Prince said. “It’s tough when you lose your position coach, but I think he felt strongly enough that the offense will be something he can help in and he stayed strong.”

• Tight end Connor Peters (6-4, 245), a sophomore transfer from Laney College in California, is expected to make a quick impact as a blocker. The Broncos have been missing a blocking specialist since Tommy Gallarda was injured midway through the 2010 season.

“We’re hoping he can be a dirt-dog masher for us,” Huff said.

Peters played at De La Salle High with linebacker Blake Renaud, who joined the Broncos last year. Boise State wasn’t looking for a tight end when they saw him, and he didn’t shine in that offense.

“He kind of got showcased more in college,” Huff said. “You really got to see what he could do in his first year there.”

Said Petersen: “We love tight ends. We like to use multiple tight ends and move those guys around. We definitely think he’s one of those guys who can bring that toughness and set the edge and help us in the run game.”

• Tight end Hayden Plinke (6-4, 240) signed with Boise State in February 2011 and grayshirted. He has gained some weight and still is a lean 240, Huff said. He came to Boise State’s attention by attending the summer camp.

“For Connor (Peters) and Hayden, the hard thing is going to be figuring out the offense,” Huff said. “That’s always the thing that guys struggle with the most.”

• Kicker/punter Sean Wale (6-2, 175) was 26-of-33 on field goals over the past three seasons at La Habra High in California. He kicked off the ground, rather than using a tee, which coaches hope will ease his transition to college.

He was recruited as a punter at first but Petersen made it clear that his priority will be field goals now.

“Down the road, he could probably be our punter as well,” Petersen said. “We definitely brought him in here to compete for kicking field goals.”

• Wide receiver and return specialist Shane Williams-Rhodes (5-7, 160) was an all-around playmaker at Klein Collins High in Spring, Texas, and coaches say he will electrify college stadiums, too. Watch this punt return to get an idea of his talent.

“The smallest guy on our roster might be the guy that excites everybody the most,” Petersen said. “I don’t like to put pressure on any guys, but coming in we haven’t had many guys who have made the plays he can make in high school.”

Prince said Williams-Rhodes can squat about 400 pounds.

“He’s very hard to catch even in a little telephone booth,” Prince said. “He is dynamite in a (5-7) package. … His junior highlight tape, they’re just throwing him little bob screens and we’re used to maybe throwing a bob screen on first down and now it’s second-and-3. He’s catching it and turning it into 50-yard touchdowns.”

• Offensive lineman Mario Yakoo (6-4, 320) was a late addition to the recruiting class after UCLA withdrew its scholarship offer. He contacted Boise State, which already had recruited his teammate, safety Chanceller James.

Yakoo likely will grayshirt.

“He is a big kid and he is a young 17, but he looks like he’s 27,” Prince said. “We’re fired up to get a guy like that this late in the process.”

Yakoo has unusual size for a Boise State recruit, but the coaches don’t seem concerned.

“He’s not fat,” Prince said. “He’s just burley.”

Strausser said the Broncos recruited Yakoo last summer, before he committed to UCLA, so they went mostly off of the information they gathered then when they made the quick decision to offer him a scholarship.

•••

Most likely to play

Of these 12 players, here is my list of the five most likely to make an impact in 2012:

1. RB Jack Fields: One of the two tailbacks almost certainly will play, and Fields appears more physically ready for college football. “We need some firepower back there now,” Petersen said.

2. TE Connor Peters: He has a redshirt year available, but he was recruited with the idea that he can step in to the blocking tight end role right away.

3. K/P Sean Wale: Maybe Wale’s recruiting will push one of the returning kickers to step up. If not, Wale could be the kicker to beat when he arrives in August.

4. RB Devan Demas: Other than starter D.J. Harper, the Broncos don’t have much game-breaking speed at tailback. Demas provides that element and could be a needed change of pace.

5. QB Nick Patti: The Broncos aren’t shying away from the idea that Patti could win the starting job as a true freshman. It will be a challenge — it’s hard to imagine he could overcome the 2 ½-year head start of Joe Southwick — but he certainly has the talent.