Broncos lose defensive tackle to injury

[UofDuck]

By Chadd Cripe
ccripe@idahostatesman.com

The Boise State football team has taken a hit at one of its thinnest positions.

http://voices.idahostatesman.com/2009/0 ... kle_injury

Redshirt freshman defensive tackle Greg Grimes will miss four to six weeks with a leg injury, coach Chris Petersen said Monday. Grimes is expected to contribute in the tackle rotation this season.

The injury leaves the Broncos perilously thin at tackle, where they already will miss redshirt freshman Michael Atkinson for three games because of suspension. The Broncos open the season Sept. 3 against Oregon.

The Broncos have two proven performers at tackle in starters Chase Baker and Billy Winn, both sophomores. However, Grimes’ injury leaves sophomore J.P. Nisby and redshirt freshman converted end Darren Koontz as the backups. The Broncos like to rotate four tackles during games.

Sophomore offensive guard Chuck Hayes, a former defensive end, took snaps at defensive tackle Monday afternoon. He also took snaps at offensive guard, where he is a long shot to make the lineup.

I'll have a full story on the Broncos' tackle situation later this week.

[akili1133]

Too bad to see hear they are having inury problems already.As duck fans know, when the injury bug bites it hurts! It is just going to be salt on the wound when Blount force trauma is running down hill at them.

[maxduck]

Combine lack of depth with the speed with which I expect the Oregon offense to operate this year and I see a very long 4th quarter for Boise State.

[Tray Dub]

I hate to root for injuries, but this is definitely a good thing for us. I'm far from sold on our o-line.

[bigsugarduck]

It sounds like 2 of their top 4 at the position are gone for the first few weeks....They wrapped us up pretty well last year running the ball, but with that pass threat to open things up....look for a BIG improvement in the YPC this year...depth issues at DT only helps the cause...

[dthomas=ddixon]

They wrapped us up pretty well last year running the ball,

The funny thing is, they didn't slow down our running game at all last yr. Blount & JJ both had 100 yrds in that game. That's one reason I'm not really worried about this yrs game. Our offense was so one dimensional & simple & they still couldn't even slow it down. Imagine what we'll do this year!

[stewbertwilloughby]

They wrapped us up pretty well last year running the ball,

The funny thing is, they didn't slow down our running game at all last yr. Blount & JJ both had 100 yrds in that game. That's one reason I'm not really worried about this yrs game. Our offense was so one dimensional & simple & they still couldn't even slow it down. Imagine what we'll do this year!

We must have been watching different games. Our offense did nothing the 2nd and 3rd quarters.

[echo31]

They wrapped us up pretty well last year running the ball,

The funny thing is, they didn't slow down our running game at all last yr. Blount & JJ both had 100 yrds in that game. That's one reason I'm not really worried about this yrs game. Our offense was so one dimensional & simple & they still couldn't even slow it down. Imagine what we'll do this year!

They had 40 carries split between them, and JJ had 94 yards and Blount had 99 yards. Neither went over 100 yards, both had less YPC than normal, and neither had a run longer than 18 yards.

[dthomas=ddixon]

Yeah obviously out O was not great. We ran the ball like 40 times in a row at one point. I'm just saying, even when they knew exactly what was coming we still put up good yardage. 2 backs just below 100 for a game is pretty good no matter how it happened.