'Twas Three Nights Before Christmas

'Twas three nights before Christmas, we're yelling, no shame,
blue and orange clad friends sat watching the game.
The Broncos were playing the Utes at Sam Boyd
But "playing" means the Utes are getting destroyed.
Despite the late start no children are in bed
with visions of Kellen "scrambling" in their head.
And mamma in her most favorite BSU shirt
Just finished saying how much a loss would hurt.

When out on the grass there arose such a clatter.
I sprang from my snuggie to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like Titus Young,
Tore down the blinds from the window where they hung.
The moon reflected on my new Bronco flag,
Like Avery, dodging defenders that lag.
What do my wondering eyes suddenly meet
It's Doug, Pettis, Kellen, Titus, and Coach Pete!

With a little old driver, lively, with wits
I knew in a moment it must be Lyle Smith.
More rapid than eagles on blue turf they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;
Now 'Swyk, now Titus, now Austin and Efaw
On Kellen, on Coach Pete, on Brotzman and Hiwat!
To the Bronco car flag, to the Bronco night-light!
Now punt, now pass, kick, run and score touchdowns all night!

As dry leaves that before the blue hurricane fly,
When Moore meets an obstacle, mount to the sky.
So up to window the players they flew,
With the Kyle Wilson RV, and Byron Hout, too!
And then, in a jiffy, I heard in my room
The hitting and scoring; "Boise State!" I presume!
As I drew in my head, and was shouting with joy,
Coach Pete tapped my shoulder and said; "Hey there my boy!"

He was dressed in a jacket, a cap on his head
"Is that thing surgically attached?" To him I said.
His mouth smiled, in the Coach Pete kind of way,
And he opened his playbook, ready to call a play.
With a twinkle in his eye, hand on his left knee,
Into his microphone; "Statue of Liberty!"
We ran to the TV, in unison "hurrah!"
Just as Kellen and the rest embarrassed Utah.

"How can you be here and there at the same time?"
I asked with my hands, still short of words like a mime.
"It's part of the magic, the perks of Boise State.
Would you like to try? Call a play, see how you rate."
My life had led up to this, I knew what to do.
And I laughed when I said it; "Give the ball to 'Shoe.'"
The Utes were so focused on Pettis and Young,
Shoemaker was left wide open, the ball was flung.

With not a defender around, the ball flew
Into the arms of Tyler, AKA "Shoe."
The game went on with plenty of Bronco scoring
If I wasn't a fan I'd say it was boring.
I heard Pete yell as the team left and went out of sight,
"Happy Las Vegas Bowl to all, and to all a victorious night!"

Kyle Wilson's NFL Transition

It is without question that the Boise State secondary has dropped off a little bit since the now graduated Kyle Wilson left for the NFL. I can still hear Bronco's offensive lineman Faraji Wright (with some back-up singers, of course) rapping about him at the Fiesta Bowl fan celebration party at Taco Bell Arena on campus; "He's goin' to the league!" Good times... As you know, Wilson went in the first round as the 29th overall pick to the New York Jets. As one would expect, the learning curve in the league has been steep. Couple that with the fact that head coach Rex Ryan is a defensive guru and expects a lot from his players and that cornerback is the toughest position in the game, and you understand why a rookie has a long way to go to get to the top level of his game. Trust me, Kyle is smart, he will do fine.

Wilson is from New Jersey and actually grew up a Giants fan. Coming out of high school he was only a two-star recruit. He found a place to hang his hat in Boise, Idaho. By midway through the season his freshman year, Kyle was starting and carried that all the way to the Fiesta Bowl against Oklahoma. It is amazing to look back and see how he transformed from the young, hot shot who needs to cut his dreadlocks and grow up, to the seasoned, experienced, wily veteran whose hair is a symbol of his ability and was a symbol of the team. In fact, his whole family has dreadlocks, I saw them at the Fiesta Bowl. His brother even made a Kyle Wilson bus that he took to all of Boise State's games around the country (expect for maybe Hawai'i). My guess is that it now resides somewhere in the New York/New Jersey area.



His hair is pretty intimidating. I mean just look at him. It's kind of scary...

Kyle Wilson in all of his Fiesta Bowl (version 2) glory!


Boise State and their incredible coaching staff had struck again. People like Darren Colledge, Ryan Clady, Quinten Mikell, Gerald Alexander, and now Kyle Wilson all went from lightly-recruited names in college scouts' notebooks to full time NFL contributors. It seems that these types of success stories keep coming out of the same small school in western Idaho; and don't expect that to change. Wilson is just the latest in a long line of them and there will be more. Here is Kyle, smiling on draft day as he holds up his green Jets jersey.



Along with the learning curve and expectations that come with being a first round pick, Wilson has found himself in a unique circumstance. All-pro cornerback Darrelle Revis selfishly held out of training camp in hopes of receiving a new contract as the highest paid player at his position. What that meant is from the beginning, Kyle was going to play a lot of downs. So he prepared for it and it's a good thing he did. Since getting his new contract and re-joining the team, Revis has been injured and has missed some games, therefore thrusting the former Boise State star into the starting secondary. It was a rough go for Wilson against the Baltimore Ravens at the beginning of the season, but since then he has played well, broken up passes, and even returned some punts. He has played well enough to force the coaches to keep him in there, even with Revis back in action. It will only go up from here for Kyle Wilson. I saw him Monday night against the Vikings. He looked good. The best part, he still has his Samson-like dreadlocks flopping in the wind as he begins to create "Wilson Island."