‘You can’t start halfway up the mountain;’ What Boise State’s Spencer Danielson said in fall camp preview

Coming off a second straight Mountain West title and a College Football Playoff appearance, Boise State was once again picked to win the MWC in the preseason media poll.

Head coach Spencer Danielson is well aware of the lofty expectations for the Broncos, but Danielson hasn’t spent much time thinking about the historic 2024 season or any 2025 opponents beyond the team’s Aug. 28 opener at South Florida. 

“Last year is last year,” Danielson said during Thursday’s pre-camp press conference. “You can’t start halfway up the mountain.”

The Broncos will hold their first practice of fall camp on Monday. 

Here are the highlights from Danielson’s press conference. 

On retaining every full-time assistant coach

“I really do believe we have the best staff in the nation. I don’t know if there’s any other coaching staff in the country that can say they didn’t lose any coaches this offseason. Dirk Koetter stepped down from being the offensive coordinator, but he’s our senior analyst. Zak Hill came in to coach quarterbacks, and we didn’t lose any other full-time coaches. That’s a big deal in this landscape and it shows … our players and our coaches believe in what we’re doing here.”

On Sire Gaines’ fall camp availability

“He’s had a great summer. Right now, he’s going to be healthy for Practice 1. … I don’t think he took a day off all summer time. And I think that gets thrown around a lot. Like Fourth of July, we give our players about a week off; he stayed in Boise and snuck into the weight room to work out. That’s just the summer he’s had.”

On injuries entering camp

“Going into fall camp, (offensive linemen) Hall Schmidt and Tyler Keinath, they’ll be practicing but somewhat limited. They had some surgeries this offseason … but they will be ready to roll, they’ll just be somewhat limited to start fall camp. Outside of that, (defensive tackle) David Latu will probably miss a couple of days. He had a soft tissue injury last week, but he’ll be in the mix probably in a week or so. … Other than that, our guys will be ready to roll.” 

On allowing players to fail

“I want to make sure our best players fail and have to respond in practice because that’s going to come for them Game 1. Game 1 we play a really talented South Florida team that we have to get ready for. I have to make sure the first time our best players fail is not in Game 1. As a freshman, as a player who maybe hasn’t played a lot, failure comes a lot more in fall camp. But I want to make sure every single player on our team is in conflict every single practice, and they’ve got to respond to that because championship, elite teams respond to adversity.”