First day a Historic day for Boise State but it’s only the beginning

In an effort to recover from a missed opportunity by the Lions (I normally would say beloved but I need time to rethink our relationship)  I think it’s important to take things into account by comparison.

With the 19^th and 31^st pick Shea Mc Clellin and Doug Martin become the first two Boise state players to go in the first round together, when you consider the schools you don’t see in the first round OSU, Oregon, Auburn Georgia, Georgia Tech, Michigan & Michigan State just to name a few schools we are accustom to see players going in the first round and here the class of 2011 puts two in there.

The next three days  we will see even more Boise State players taken and or offered camp contracts, when you as a Bronco fan consider the players left  Billy Winn, Tyrone Crawford, George Iloka, Tyler Shoemaker, Nate Potter, Kyle Efaw, Aaron Tevis, Byron Hout and Kellen Moore. I think it’s fair to say if just 2 years ago you were to tell people that in 2012 2 Boise State players would be drafted in the first round while Doug Martin and Shea would have been on many peoples list I’m sure most would have projected Potter and Winn as being those who would go if not Kellen.  The fact is every one of those guys have shown Bronco Nation they have the ability to play at an elite level and all have a great chance of not just making a NFL team but being an impact player. Most of the above will be drafted the next 2 days all of the above will get a shot to make a team.

No matter how you cut it last night with these first two of what will be many, we here in Bronco Nation received just a taste of validation of what we already knew this team is special.  Today and Saturday the nation will see that validation as Boise State has more players taken in this NFL draft than any team and as the years pass and these young men go forward doing what they have been doing all their lives. Proving they belong proving it’s not how big the dog is but the fight in the dog.

If TMunson was writing this piece he would certainly go all the way back to the first Bronco ever drafted Steve Svitak all the way back to 1970 7th round to the Raiders, and take us up the baby steps of continuous improvement, which lead to building on those who had come before them. This class of Bronco’s these 50-3 Broncos were not the first to burst through the BCS bubble they were the next to Busting through the bubble and I’m sure they are looking at those taking their place to build on what they have done, of this new batch of Broncos, I think all they would ask of them to do is to be all they can be to continue the tradition of winning and class, to do it the Bronco way, hard work and extra effort.

As the class of 2011 flows in with the previous NFL drafted and free agent Bronco, Boise State’s exposure only grows, and with each step Chris Petersen’s job gets even more difficult as young men around the nation look towards Boise State as a real option to get to the next level. Before this weekend players looked to Boise State to come for a shot to prove the others wrong, to have that chip on their shoulder and more or less tell the world they were capable and they shouldn’t of been passed over.  More and more Boise State is going to get those players that choose them over other major schools and these guys will not have that same chip on their shoulder, their motivation will not be to prove they belong their but their motivation will be and should be to represent the winning tradition that has now been firmly established at Boise State.

Now the desire will no longer so much come from a chip on their shoulder then from the pressure applied by those standards set before them and the desire to be even better than those that had come before them and that is going to raise the bar extremely high, but they will know if they give it everything as those who had come before them, the same effort, the same desire, the same intensity, then they too might someday hear their name called from the NFL podium.

One has to wonder when Doug and Shea singed their letter of intent could they ever imagined their name would be call by the NFL commissioner on the first day of the draft? Certainly all highly motivated athletes dream of it, but was it part of their reality after all they were not going to USC nor Alabama they were going to Boise State and the Blue Turf . That is forever changed as every Bronco and future Bronco now knows it’s a real possibility by attending Boise State. The culture of Boise State is about to change but it doesn’t have to be a bad thing as one reason to do the work is only exchanged for a new reason to do the work.

The class of 2011 has done a lot for Bronco Nation but something tells me they are not even close to being done!