Monday, April 2, 2007.

Spring football resumes today for Boise State, and so does the sifting-out process at the wide receiver position. Going into 2007, there’s Jeremy Childs, Vinny Perretta, and everybody else. A lot of everybody else. That’s a good thing, because there needs to be a primary threesome to replace Drisan James, Jerard Rabb and Legedu Naanee, who take 263 career catches for 4,037 yards and 28 touchdowns with them. How about this nugget—the final 37 yards of that 4,037 was covered by Rabb as he finished the hook and ladder. That means the senior trio was at 4,000 on the button at the very moment James lateraled on the now-legendary play at the Fiesta Bowl.

At any rate, the cupboard is far from bare at wideout. There’s Toshi Franklin, part of that great 2004 recruiting class who longs to put up numbers like some of those other guys. Franklin had an impressive first scrimmage of the spring with six catches. And there’s the intrigue of Julian Hawkins, the tight end who impressed against Oregon State with a 42-yard catch last September. Everyone thought it might be the breakout game for Hawkins, but that was it for receptions—for the season. Hawkins has been moved to wide receiver, where his size (6-3, 231 pounds) gives him a chance to be the next Legedu.

Not to forget Aiona Key, the California all-state wide receiver and high jumper who’s loaded with potential and is anxious to be known for something other than a leg that caught a freak bounce on a certain Oklahoma punt on New Year’s Day. Key is still looking for his first career catch as his sophomore year approaches. Then you have the wild cards: Xavier Lucas, the 6-4 redshirt freshman speedster from Phoenix, Evan Surratt, the JC transfer who moved from the secondary, and special teams standouts Nick Harris out of Kuna and Tanyon Bissell.

Aside from Bart Hendricks’ four touchdown passes (he’s baaaaaack) and the fact that the Boise Burn recorded a win in its first-ever game, the most significant stat I saw from Saturday night’s 57-52 victory at Louisville was the attendance: 9,678. That can only bode well for Boise’s new franchise, as the sports scene back there is crowded aplenty with upper echelon Division I football and basketball with Louisville and Kentucky. And they have a little event called the Kentucky Derby that takes the place over a month from now. This isn’t the AFL, it’s af2—yet it’s attractive enough in a market like that to draw almost 10,000. Good omen for Qwest Arena.

There’s never been a more intriguing race for fourth place in the history of Boise minor league pro sports. That’s because home ice advantage is perceived to be big in the Kelly Cup Playoffs, and the Idaho Steelheads are trying to control their own destiny (and destination) after taking five points in their series with Long Beach. But Stockton has pulled even with the Steelies at 84 points after a 4-1 win over Phoenix last night.

It was the guys who got the assists who made the noise in Saturday night’s 4-2 win in the Steelheads’ regular season home finale. Jay Beagle, the rookie out of Alaska-Anchorage, had three helpers, while goalie Steve Silverthorn notched the first point of his professional career, getting an assist on Marty Flichel’s empty-net goal in the final minute. Oh, Silverthorn also recorded his ECHL-leading 34th victory of the season.

There must be some battle fatigue setting in as the Idaho Stampede tries to hang on for an NBA D-League Western Division title. You could draw that conclusion from the Stampede’s fourth quarter yesterday in Bakersfield—Idaho into the final period trailing by four but lost to the Jam by 20, 98-78. Coach Bryan Gates had to go with primarily a six-man rotation, and the team ran out of gas. It was the Stamps’ lowest point total of the season and marked their fifth loss in the last seven games. They still lead Colorado by two games in the West, though.

The best news the Stampede has today is that it’s Randy Livingston’s birthday. Livingston is 32—a young 32. He’s as close to long-term star as the franchise is ever going to get. The former LSU star has started 43 of 45 games for the Stampede this season in his third tour of duty with Idaho (the only two nights he missed were due to injury in February). “I tell everybody that every birthday I go 10 years back,” said Livingston in a recent NBA.com interview. “So I’m going to be 22. Because I came out when I was 21 and played with that great Houston team in '96 that lost to Utah with Clyde (Drexler), Charles (Barkley) and Hakeem (Olajuwon), who have been around for awhile, everyone thinks I'm 37 or 38.”

Other goings-on over the weekend: the BSU men’s tennis team is rolling again, winning its fourth straight match Saturday to take the Red Lion Spring Break Invitational at the Appleton Center. The 4-3 victory over Georgia State in the championship ups the 19th-ranked Broncos’ record to 21-5. The Albertson College baseball team is rolling, too, after a solid weekend against an old nemesis. The Coyotes won three of four games at Simplot Stadium against the University of British Columbia, including a doubleheader sweep yesterday. The victory in the nightcap Saturday snapped a eight-game losing streak by the Yotes—and a 14-game losing streak to UBC dating back to 2005.

Think of all the things that have happened to Dontrelle Willis in the six short years since he was the ace of the Boise Hawks staff. He’s been an All-Star twice, has pitched for a World Series champion, was National League Rookie of the Year, and has been a 22-game winner and a runnerup for the NL Cy Young Award. Willis is the Marlins’ career leader in wins, with a 58-37 record, 15 complete games and eight shutouts. It’s no wonder that the D-Train will be on the mound today in D.C. for Opening Day as Florida visits the Washington Nationals. Willis was an innocent part of a trade Between the Cubs and the Marlins before the 2003 season—now he’s the face of the franchise.

This Day In Sports…April 2, 1983:

Three weeks after leading Virginia during the first-ever NCAA Tournament visit to the BSU Pavilion, 7-4 center Ralph Sampson wins the Adolph Rupp Award as college basketball’s Player Of The Year. Sampson was the first one to win the honor three years in a row. Later that spring he would be the first pick in the NBA Draft, going to the Houston Rockets. The Cavaliers, by the way, got out of the Boise Bracket and into the Elite Eight that year before falling by a point to eventual national champion North Carolina State.

(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 1350 KTIK/The Ticket. He also handles color commentary on KTVB’s telecasts of Boise State football.)

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