Saturday, January 29, 2011

Pettis, Young to Play in Today's Senior Bowl

Bronco record-breaking receivers Austin Pettis and Titus Young, who helped Boise State to a 48-5 record over the last four years, have been wowing scouts and spectators all week in practices for the Senior Bowl. The two are set to take the field for the North in the annual college all-star game.


#2 Wide Receiver Austin Pettis

Together with fellow senior Titus Young, Pettis formed the best receiving duo in Bronco history and one of the best in the nation. He was the “go-to” guy when Boise State needed a first down, and became famous for clutch catches and jump balls where he would sail high above his defender for a miraculous catch. Pettis obliterated the Bronco record books with his outstanding four-year achievements.

Austin was one of five true freshman to play in 2007. He finished second on the team with 46 catches (for 465 yards) and second with six touchdown receptions. Pettis had nine receptions for 89 yards against East Carolina in the Hawai’i Bowl and eight in back-to-back games against Utah State and Idaho . He recorded his first 100-yard receiving game with 139 yards and three TD’s against Idaho .

Pettis earned second-team All-WAC honors in 2008 with 49 catches for 567 yards and 9 touchdowns. Austin grabbed nine passes for 120 yards and two touchdowns against Nevada . He was named to the All-WAC academic team.

Last season, Pettis was All-WAC with 63 catches (9th all-time) in 12 games. He broke the school record with 14 receiving touchdowns and tied another mark with four TD catches against Idaho . Austin also broke the record for consecutive games with a TD catch by hauling in one per game in the first 10 games. Austin had six catches against Top 10 Oregon and burned Miami of Ohio for 115 yards on four catches. He had 10 receptions for 129 yards and two touchdowns vs. UC-Davis and nine catches for 105 yards and a score vs. Louisiana Tech.

Pettis has continued his steady play in 2010. He has 55 receptions for 753 yards and 8 touchdowns. Austin broke Don Hutt’s (1970-1973) 37 year-old record of 189 career receptions earlier this year and continues to add to his total. He is now just 111 yards shy of passing Ryan Ikebe for career receiving yards.

In his career, Pettis has 213 receptions for 2,640 yards and 37 touchdowns. Austin is a Communication Major at Boise State.



#1 Wide Receiver Titus Young

Growth. What growth. Lest any potential recruit wonder about what Coach Chris Petersen and the Bronco coaching staff can do to help a young man, they need only look at the quality man that Titus Young has become. He has matured by leaps and bounds, both personally and talent-wise. This speed merchant will go down as one of the greatest receivers ever to play for the Broncos. He had raw talent and speed when he came to Boise; he leaves as a complete receiver who runs great routes, shows incredible hustle (no one will ever forget his fumble recovery in the end zone against Fresno State after he trailed the play all the way downfield), has amazing hands and makes acrobatic catches.

In 2007, Young caught a pass in all 13 games. He finished third on the team with 44 receptions for 639 yards and five touchdowns. He also rushed for 66 yards and two touchdowns. Young had two rushing touchdowns and one receiving vs. Utah State and was on the receiving end of seven passes against East Carolina . He also had six catches against San Jose State .

In 2008, Young played in three games, getting 10 receptions for 168 yards and a TD and rushing five times for 52 yard and two touchdowns.

Titus earned All-WAC both as wide receiver and kick return specialist last season. He became the first player in school history to bring two kickoffs back for touchdowns in a season and in a career. He returned the opening kickoff 95 yards against Nevada and “officially” returned one 100 yards against Idaho , even though we all know it was more like 108. Young had 79 receptions (2nd in school history) for 1,041 yards (#6 all-time) and 10 touchdowns (7th all-time), becoming just the eighth Bronco to surpass the 1,000-yard mark. Titus was second in the WAC with 143.7 all-purpose yards per game, second in kickoff returns (26.9), third in receiving yards (74.4 per game) and seventh in scoring). Young also rushed 15 times for 151 yards and three touchdowns. Young’s 2,012 all-purpose yards was second only to Brock Forsey’s 2,127 in 2002. He helped to stretch TCU’s secondary with eight catches for 72 yards despite the Horned Frog defense converging on him due to the injury of Austin Pettis. Young had two touchdowns (one on the fumble recovery, one receiving) and had 174 all-purpose yards against Fresno State . He scored two touchdowns at Bowling Green and caught six passes for 83 yards and a TD vs. UC-Davis. TY had eight receptions for 115 yards and three TD’s against Hawai’i and eight catches for 110 yards and a score vs. Louisiana Tech. He also went over the 100-yard mark against Idaho and Utah State .

Young leads Boise State with 61 receptions this season (#13 all-time) for 1,117 yards (third in the record books) and nine touchdowns (9th all-time). Young shattered Ryan Ikebe’s (1993-1996) record of 2,751 career receiving yards earlier this season and could become Boise State ’s first 3,000-yard man tomorrow afternoon! TY passed Don Hutt against Nevada and is second all-time to teammate Austin Pettis for career receptions. Titus has 1,684 yards of all-purpose offense this year already (8th all-time). He has nine carries for 45 yards and a touchdown and 20 kickoff returns for 512 yards. He had six receptions for 80 yards in the season opening win over Virginia Tech, five catches for 136 yards and a TD against Oregon State, seven receptions for 105 yards and a score against San Jose State, six catches for 129 yards and a TD against Nevada and four catches for 94 yards and a touchdown against Wyoming.

In Young’s spectacular career, he has 194 receptions for 2,965 yards and 25 TD’s (4th all-time), 42 rushes for 314 yards and eight touchdowns, and 51 kickoff returns for 1,345 yards (26.4 avg.) and two scores. Young has 4,624 yards of all-purpose yards and counting, good for sixth in Boise State history. Titus majors in Communication.

Best of luck to Austin and Titus today!

Bronco Wrestlers Score Resounding 35-3 Win Over Stanford in Pac-10

#3 Boise State blew out Stanford 35-3 last night in Taco Bell Arena in a final preparation before Sunday’s match with defending Pac-10 Champion Oregon State. Coach Greg Randall’s team showed signs of the complete team effort needed to wrest the conference title away from the Beavers in front of 1,103 fans.

In the most thrilling and surprising match of the night, Boise State’s Matt Casperson shocked #13 Zack Giesen of Stanford at 197 pounds in the final minute to give the Broncos the 35-3 win. Giesen held a 3-0 lead after two periods, but a locking hands foul on Giesen opened the door early in the third. Casperson then scored an escape point that closed the gap to 3-2. The clock ticked under a minute. Then, Casperson shot and scored on a shocking take down with 50 seconds left as the partisan crowd went crazy. The Bronco redshirt freshman held on for the upset win.

Improving heavyweight J.T. Felix began the match with an 8-4 victory over Dylan Rush to push his season record to 8-6.

In between, the usually dependable Bronco wrestlers came through. Boise State opened up a 28-0 lead before surrendering a point. #15 Alan Bartelli topped Matt Sencenbaugh 4-1 and a Cardinal forfeit at 133 pounds gave the Broncos a quick 12-0 lead. #18 Levi Jones followed with a 10-3 win at 141 pounds over Jordan Gray. Another Stanford forfeit at 149 pounds put Boise State ahead 21-0 and it was all over but the shouting.

Adam Hall, the nation’s #2-ranked wrestler at 157 pounds, scored his third major of the season with a 14-3 victory over Stanford’s Kyle Meyer to advance his season record to 19-0. Kurt Swartz followed with an 8-4 victory over Garrett Schaner at 165 pounds.

The Bronco crowd was hoping Kurt’s brother Jake could turn in some magic at 174 pounds against #7 Nick Amuchastegui. The younger Swartz battled hard but fell 4-0 for Stanford’s only win of the evening. #1 Kirk Smith was impressive in a 14-3 major over Spence Patrick and Casperson closed the evening with his dramatic win.

Boise State is now 7-2-1 this season, 2-0-1 in the Pac-10 while the Cardinal fell to 7-8 and 2-2. The Broncos make the trip to Corvallis for the third meeting of the season against Oregon State. The two teams tied in Boise in November and met up at the National Duals on January 8, when the Broncos prevailed 24-12. Coach Randall’s team will attempt to negate the home advantage in a closely-watched contest for the favorite’s role in the upcoming Pac-10 Tournament. You can follow the match live at www.osubeavers.com. Action gets underway Sunday at 3 p.m. Mountain time.

#3 Boise State 35, Stanford 3
HWT – J.T. Felix (BSU) dec. Dylan Rush (S) 8-4
125 - #15 Alan Bartelli (BSU) dec. Matt Sencenbaugh (S) 4-1
133 - #2 Andrew Hochstrasser win by forfeit
141 - #18 Levi Jones (BSU) dec. Jordan Gray (S) 10-3
149 - #3 Jason Chamberlain (BSU) win by forfeit
157 - #2 Adam Hall (BSU) major dec. Kyle Meyer (S) 14-3
165 – Kurt Swartz (BSU) dec. Garrett Schaner (S) 8-4
174 - #7 Nick Amuchastegui (S) dec. #11 Jake Swartz (BSU) 4-0
184 - #1 Kirk Smith (BSU) major dec. Spence Patrick (S) 14-3
197 – Matt Casperson (BSU) dec. #13 Zack Giesen (S) 4-3