Tuesday, April 29, 2008.

Pittsburgh's selection of Oregon quarterback Dennis Dixon in the fifth round of the NFL Draft Sunday was termed a surprise by many. The Steelers already have Ben Roethlisberger and Charlie Batch...and Jared Zabransky. The former Boise State star signed with Pittsburgh as a free agent three months ago and harbored hopes of a shot at being the Steelers' No. 3 QB. He said on Idaho SportsTalk last week he expected the team to bring in a signal-caller for training camp, but not this way. Dixon is still rehabbing the knee injury he suffered with the Ducks last fall but is expected to join the Steelers this summer. They say they want Dixon as a quarterback, not a "slash" ala Kordell Stewart. Zabransky has a head start due to Dixon's recovery, but Jared's window of opportunity is now.

After the draft of Ryan Clady Saturday, Denver papers got the obligatory comment from Colorado's Dan Hawkins, Clady's former coach at Boise State. In the Rocky Mountain News, Hawkins echoed Bronco coach Mike Shanahan's amazement at Clady's feet. "He was that way from Day 1. He really was," said Hawkins, who was his coach as a freshman at BSU. "That was just part of his DNA." Clady played right tackle opposite Daryn Colledge in his one season under Hawkins. Clady is the second BSU product to be drafted this decade by Denver, who picked tight end Jeb Putzier in the sixth round in 2002. At No. 12 overall, Clady also becomes the highest draft pick ever out of school in the state of Idaho. Ray McDonald was the 13th overall pick of the Redskins in 1967.

The Kansas City Chiefs didn't take Clady in the first round of the draft, but they're giving former Boise State standout Jeff Cavender a shot way after the last. Cavender, Clady's offensive linemate at BSU, will try out at the Chiefs' minicamp this week, and fellow trenchman Tad Miller will do the same with the New York Jets. Both hope to land free agent contracts like Taylor Tharp and Dan Gore did with Carolina and Miami, respectively.

Former Hawaii quarterback Colt Brennan is busy changing his life paradigm regarding the NFL. Brennan wasn't chosen until the sixth round Sunday by Washington, and he'll be the first to admit the laundry list of drawbacks that haunted him. "The way it kept being described to me, the closer you get to the draft, the more conservative everybody gets," Brennan said in the Honolulu Advertiser. "Unfortunately, I came with a lot of question marks because of the system I played in and the conference I played in, to obviously my situation at Colorado, to obviously my hip injury. With all of those question marks, when you compare it to a guy like (USC's John David) Booty or (Michigan's Chad) Henne who don't have any of those question marks, it's just one of those things."

Still, it must have been galling to Brennan to see Joe Flacco of Delaware become the first Division I-AA quarterback since 1995 to be chosen in the first round. And it must have been galling for his four wide receivers, Davone Bess, Ryan Grice-Mullins, Jason Rivers and C.J. Hawthorne, not go in the draft at all. "I'm good," said Bess in the Advertiser. "No regrets at all. One year wouldn't have made a difference." Bess, Grice-Mullins and Rivers have agreed to free agent contracts.

Taylor Bennett, the one-time Boise State quarterback recruit who reneged and joined Georgia Tech in time for a trip to the Humanitarian Bowl in January, 2004, then played in the game last New Year's Eve, may be on the blue turf again this fall. This time he could play against the Broncos. Bennett is transferring to Louisiana Tech after the coaching and schematic change from Chan Gailey to Paul Johnson took him out of the mix with the Yellow Jackets. He won't have to sit out this season after getting a waiver from the NCAA. I've never heard of this, but because Georgia Tech doesn't offer the information systems security master's program he'll enroll in at Louisiana Tech, he's eligible this year.

Bennett threw for 2,136 yards and seven touchdowns against nine interceptions as a junior at Georgia Tech, completing less than 50 percent of his passes. He started the Humanitarian Bowl against Fresno State and played the first half in the Jackets' 40-28 loss. Bennett will compete with incumbent Louisiana Tech senior Zac Champion for the starting job. La Tech comes to Bronco Stadium for a Wednesday ESPN game on October 1.

Catching up with a couple of the best players in recent College of Idaho baseball history: Jason Simontacchi, who made such a big splash as a 28-year-old St. Louis rookie in 2002, is pitching for the Long Island Ducks of the Atlantic League. Simontacchi made it back to the majors last season with Washington after two seasons away and went 6-7 in 13 starts. But he went on the disabled list in July with an elbow injury--then refused an assignment to Triple-A by the Nationals in October and became a free agent. Branden Florence, who has come tantalizingly close to the majors, is also in the Atlantic League this season, playing for the Bridgeport Bluefish after being released by the Phillies. Florence just turned 30 and is in his eighth minor league season. The Atlantic League is the top independent league in baseball and is regularly scouted by the bigs.

Boise State's Troy Merritt has done this many times this season: come back from a first round deficit to win a tournament. This one isn't very big. Merritt is one stroke off the lead with two days to go at the WAC Golf Championships in San Jose. Merritt carded a four-under-68 yesterday at the Cinnabar Hills Golf Club, just behind the 67 of New Mexico State's Joshua Stewart. The rest of the Broncos have started to feed off their star, as they're in second place as a team, trailing tournament leader NMSU by 11 shots.

This Day In Sports...April 29, 2006:

Daryn Colledge becomes Boise State's highest NFL Draft choice in 20 years when he's taken in the second round, and 47th overall, by the Green Bay Packers. The All-WAC offensive tackle from North Pole, Alaska, who started all 52 games in his BSU career, was expected to move to guard and get a chance to start for the Pack. Colledge would thus be protecting Green Bay great Brett Favre in his final two NFL seasons in 2006 and 2007.

(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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