The first week of fall camp is going to be a series of mini-road trips for the Broncos. Not by air nor bus, but likely by feet. The Ed Jacoby Track at Bronco Stadium is still being resurfaced, so the Broncos get to deal with their first tiny bit of adversity for 2006. They’ll open camp tomorrow at the Boas Tennis & Soccer Complex off Boise Avenue and Protest and stay there through Friday’s two-a-days, then go indoors Saturday at the Caven-Willams Complex—and jockey back and forth from there, through at least Monday. The workouts on natural grass at the soccer field will prepare BSU for its, well, its three games on natural turf this season.

I was one of those who connected way too many dots a couple weeks ago on the subject of junior college running back Webster Patrick coming to Boise State. As the Statesman reports this morning, it’s not going to happen. Patrick tells Chadd Cripe that BSU informed him it couldn’t wait any longer for him to get his grades situation squared away at Butte College in California. And you never know what other red flags may have popped up within the Bronco brain trust. Water under the bridge now.

You might call it the “BC Rule” in the ACC. The conference has a new bowl policy, spurred by Boston College’s relegation to Boise’s MPC Computers Bowl. The Eagles expressed their displeasure, although they did get their happy ending out of it with a 27-21 win over Boise State. From now on, any bowl affiliated with the ACC must choose the team with a higher conference standing or a team within one game of that higher ranked team. That’s not the way it happened last season, as the Meineke Car Care Bowl opted for a North Carolina State team with three conference victories over 19th-ranked BC, which had five.

Former Boise State standout Alex Guerrero has signed a free agent deal with the Seattle Seahawks and has joined the team in Cheney, getting a second chance after he was cut by Kansas City last week. But, as Jeff Caves pointed out yesterday on Idaho SportsTalk, the All-WAC defensive tackle looks like he might be just a training camp body. The right side of the Seahawks defensive line has been hit by injuries—tackles Rocky Bernard and Marcus Tubbs and end Grant Wistrom are out with various ailments and could be missing up to three weeks.

By the way, former BSU star Shaunard Harts is listed as Seattle’s no. 2 free safety right now behind Ken Hamlin, the former Arkansas star who returned to the team yesterday for the first time since an October street fight last year left him severely injured. The Seahawks roster also includes quarterback Gibran Hamdan, brother of BSU quarterback Bush Hamdan. Gibran had a big spring in NFL Europe, but he’s fourth on the depth chart, so it’s a real long shot.

Jake Plummer’s latest test of intestinal fortitude is underway with Denver’s training camp convening at Dove Valley. Despite 23 victories the past two seasons, skeptics look at Plummer as an accident waiting to happen. But the Capital High grad keeps the proverbial chin up through it all. The biggest challenge would appear to be deflecting the distraction of the giddy Denver front office grabbing Vanderbilt quarterback Jay Cutler in the first round of the NFL Draft. But Plummer is persevering—Cutler says Jake has been very supportive so far in camp and even gave him some pointers during contract negotiations. The big adjustment for Plummer will really be moving on without former offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak, now head coach at Houston. Kubiak is credited with developing Jake into a less mistake-prone quarterback and a system leader.

Even when the Boise Hawks turn in a pitching gem against Salem-Keizer, their bats can’t respond. Mark Pawalek, Jose Pina and Ron Clipp combined on a four-hitter last night at Memorial Stadium. Problem was, the Volcanoes two-hit the Hawks and scored the winning run on an error and a passed ball in a 1-0 victory. The Hawks didn’t get a base runner past second and had nary a hit after the fifth inning as they dropped their fourth straight to Salem-Keizer. And suddenly, after ruling the roost in the Northwest League East Division, their lead is down to just one game. The Hawks have one more chance against the West Division leaders tonight.

Baseball’s trading deadline came and went yesterday, and Dontrelle Willis is still a Florida Marlin. You’d have thought the Marlins would reconsider keeping the former Boise Hawk after what happened to him last Saturday. On the other hand, maybe it scared other teams away. The D-Train endured one of the shortest stints of his career, lasting just 2 1/3 innings in the Marlin’s 12-3 loss to the Phillies. Willis allowed eight runs, six earned, as the Phils put together a seven-run third inning. He fell to 6-8 as an even record continues to elude him, and his ERA jumped up to 4.27. But seriously, folks, a handful of big league teams would have given half their infields for a chance at a deal for Dontrelle.

This Day In Sports…August 1, 1978:

Atlanta pitchers Larry McWilliams and Gene Garber hold Cincinnati’s Pete Rose hitless, snapping Rose’s 44-game hitting streak. The day before he had tied Wee Willie Keeler’s National League record. It further magnified the most unbreakable of all major league records: Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak in 1941. Of course, another chase is on right now, with the Phillies’ Chase Utley at 32 games.

(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment Sunday nights at 10:30PM on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra and anchors five sports segments each weekday on ESPN Radio 1350 KTIK.)

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