At Boise, Success Isn't Out of the Blue

College football fans know that recruiting is considered the most important element in order to build a successful program. That's why every February, so much attention is placed on letter-of-intent signing day when recruiting classes are broken down and analyzed by experts from all across the country. And every year, the same powerhouse programs dominate the final recruiting rankings from Florida and Texas to Oklahoma and USC to Notre Dame and Alabama.

There's one winning program, however, that never cracks college football's elite recruiting list. Boise State.

"It's true, we don't compare to when it comes down to attracting [elite] recruits from all over the country," said Boise State tight end Richie Brockel, a fifth-year senior from Greenway High in Phoenix, Ariz. "But that's what makes this program so special. They recruit good guys who love to play football, and the coaching staff is not afraid to develop them as people on and off the field."

It's a formula that seems to work based on Boise State's success on the field.

The Broncos, who will host Oregon Thursday in arguably the most anticipated opening game of the college football season, have won at least 10 games eight times in the past decade -- including a 12-1 record in 2008 -- and are 35-4 under Coach Chris Petersen.

While coaches like Urban Meyer, Mack Brown and Pete Carroll work with rosters stocked with five- and four-star recruits, Petersen has done it with plenty of overlooked players who did not have a lot of options coming out of high school.

Just look at the Broncos' most recent recruiting class. According to Rivals.com' 2009 rankings, Boise State ranked 73rd out of 112 schools in recruiting.

"That's OK with us because the players that come here enjoy the entire process and that's usually not the case at other places according to what I've heard," Brockel said about Boise State, which enters 2009 ranked No. 14 by the Associated Press, the highest preseason ranking in school history.

"Everyone that comes here seems to maximize their potential. I know that I have."

The NFL certainly has noticed. Over the years, Boise State has had 41 players drafted, including six over the last two years. Currently, there are nine former Broncos playing in the league.

But it's the total college experience that Boise State offers that sets Petersen's program above the rest.

"We definitely go after kids that fit a certain profile for our program," said Boise State assistant Viliami Tuivai, the team's director of football operations. "Our evaluation of [recruits] breaks down to three categories. The person, the student and then the athlete.

"The character, the integrity and the discipline part all have to be in place in terms of the person. Student-wise, we're looking for kids who come from families that it's more important for them to graduate than it is to us. When you get that, there's definitely academic discipline there. So we don't have to hold their hands to get them to go to class.

"The last aspect is the athletic part ... we look to see if they can function at the position that were looking for them to fill. Not the hype part. We just want to know if that kid can play football, which is not that hard for anyone to evaluate."

When looking at Boise State's roster, you will find a core of players from Idaho but there's also a high number of athletes from other places. There's Kyle Wilson, an All-American candidate from New Jersey; Aaron Burks, a talented freshman wide receiver from Texas; and several key contributors from Georgia and Arizona, including Brockel.

But the pipeline that runs the Broncos' program starts from a stream of California athletes, especially from the Southern California area.

"Obviously because of population, California has a lot of kids that can play," Tuivai said about the 34 California players on the roster. "They might not have the recruiting build-up, but the key is that they want to come here.

"And once they get here, we continue to recruit them. Our philosophy is to promote the players we have and that makes our place more attractive to future recruits ... we don't want them to just come here and exist. We want them to come here with all of the characteristics and social makeup of this place and be successful and strive. That's not easy."

Boise State, which is Idaho's largest university with nearly 20,000 students and has an average class size of 28 students, offers plenty of outdoor things unique to Idaho.

Near the top of activities is whitewater rafting.

During the offseason, Brockel helped organize a river trip with several teammates who had never sat in a raft before.

"It was such a great bonding experience," said Brockel about the trip that included Compton, Calif. native Jaron Johnson and Wilson. "It was the first time for a lot of guys who went and everything was cool until the raft flipped. They started freaking out like they were about to die.

"Once everyone settled down, we all started laughing together. It was just great experience for all of us."

Promoting these type of experiences is something that Boise State's program does well. The Broncos realize that they do not have the money to match up with the nation's top programs, but they make up for that by creating a sense of trust within the Boise community and their growing fan base.

With their two biggest assets being Petersen and Bronco Stadium, which features a celebrated blue ''Smurf turf," the Broncos have not been afraid to make changes to stay competitive financially.

There's the "Bleed Blue" slogan adopted for this season, which was created to help exploit Boise State's football success. The Broncos also increased ticket prices by 17 percent and forced many season-ticket buyers who were previously exempt to join the Bronco Athletic Association in order to have access to their seats.

"The ideal goal would be to get a bigger stadium. That's the best way to get more people involved and not have to continually raise ticket prices," Petersen recently told reporters when asked about Boise State's revenue. "Nobody is happy about that -- the administrators, the coaches, the fans. Nobody wants that. But it is what it is.

"It's how it is right now for us to survive and do the things that we want to have done."

In Petersen, Boise State has one of the hottest coaching names in football. Whenever a top head coaching job opens up, Petersen's name is always mentioned. But so far, he has stayed true to Boise State.

"He's the key to everything," Brockel said about Petersen, who earned an automatic raise for the second consecutive year and who, according to his five-year contract, will make $1,112,650 this season.

"He sets the structure of the program. And I don't think that he wants to leave Boise because he has all the things he wants here. Family, great community support and a winning program."

And Boise State is looking to take another step forward this week against No. 16 Oregon. If the Broncos can defeat the Ducks for the second year in a row, don't blame Boise State fans if they start thinking about a BCS bowl bid. Just remember what the Broncos' dramatic victory over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl did.

"It's like starting out with a bowl game," Petersen said about facing Oregon to start the season. "It's a top-ranked team ... it's exciting. I don't think we've ever had this much buzz generated by a team coming here."

But Petersen also understands that a victory over the Ducks does not guarantee anything if Boise State falters in conference play.

"One game is not going to make or break a season," Petersen said. "I know as much as people make that a case, that's just going to be our mindset."