Wednesday, May 14, 2008.

After a strong sophomore year, Boise State's Kyle Wilson is getting his national notice as a junior. He's a Bronco up for Bronko's award. The All-WAC cornerback has been named to the watch list for the Bronko Nagurski Trophy, given annually to college football's best defensive player. Wilson, who hails from the shadow of Rutgers in Piscataway, NJ, has started since midway through his freshman year and has had a major impact on the BSU defense. Last season he recorded 41 tackles, two interceptions, a sack and eight pass breakups.

Wilson is supposed to be faster than Orlando Scandrick, his former Bronco teammate who ran the fourth-fastest 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine and ended up a fifth round draft pick of the Dallas Cowboys. But nobody got to see Wilson prove it in spring football, as he missed the sessions with a kneecap injury that required minor surgery. While it might be cool for Boise State to have a player on the Nagurski list again, (ahem) Oregon has two. The Broncos will face Ducks defensive back Patrick Chung and defensive end Nick Reed September 20 in Eugene. For that matter, Louisiana Tech has two of the WAC's four players on the list: safety Antonio Baker and defensive tackle D'Anthony Smith will be in Bronco Stadium October 1. The other WAC representative is Hawaii linebacker Solomon Elimimian.

Former BSU star Daryn Colledge caught part of spring football from the sidelines--then returned to Green Bay and ended up on stage with Poison's Bret Michaels, the erstwhile rock star who's been the subject of VH-1's reality show "Rock of Love". Colledge was joined by Packers teammates A.J. Hawk and Colin Cole for "Nothin' But a Good Time" during Michaels' encore. Colledge's assignment is a little more serious in Green Bay's minicamps, as he battles second-year pro Allen Barbre to try to hang onto his starting job at left guard.

Now this is a road trip. The Boise Burn go to Daytona Beach for a Sunday afternoon game against the Thunderbirds. The only thing that would compare to this in Boise minor league sports history would be the Idaho Steelheads' trip to Estero, FL, to face the Florida Everblades during the 2004 Kelly Cup Finals. The same guy, Eric Trapp, runs the Steelheads and Burn organizations, so he knows how to work the travel angles to make the trip fit into a tight budget. Daytona Beach, by the way, is 2-5 and is in last place in the af2 South Division.

Was the WAC championship this year in Boise State men's basketball a one-time spike? Perennial conference power Nevada is trying to ensure that it was. The Wolf Pack has drawn a line in the sand, calling its newly-completed recruiting class the best in school history. It's rated in the top 25 nationally by ESPN.com, Scout.com and Rivals.com. One of the highlights of the six-player group is College of Southern Idaho guard Joey Shaw, a three-point specialist who started his college career at Indiana. Shaw was touted as one of the best shooters in the country during his high school days in the Phoenix area.

The Bronco Nation phenomenon gets knocked for being a one-trick pony (football, football and more football). Granted, there's been a minimum of hype for this, but the WAC Track & Field Championships beginning today at Bronco Stadium are set up to get the Nation outside its box. Whether it'll happen or not remains to be seen. The stature of BSU track has risen measurably the past few years, especially with success during the indoor seasons since the advent of the Jacksons Indoor Track facility at the Idaho Center. The weather is going to be ideal, as we start the climb toward possibly our first 90-degree day of the year this weekend. Oregon fans don't just cram Autzen Stadium--they fill Hayward Field, too. We'll see if blue and orange fervor can branch out this week.

It doesn't affect anything with Boise State wrestling, but it has to be discouraging to the Broncos to see yet another Pac-10 program bite the dust. Arizona State has dropped wrestling, men's tennis and men's swimming in an effort to save $1 million. Oregon had already cut wrestling in favor of reviving its baseball program. Now you have to wonder what happens to sponsorship of the sport by the Pac-10. That leaves the conference with only eight participating schools in wrestling, but only two are full-fledged Pac-10 members: Stanford and Oregon State. The other six, including 2008 champion BSU, are affiliate members. Not good. The fact that--wrapped in the sunniest climate in the nation--ASU cut men's tennis and men's swimming is another story.

This Day In Sports...May 14, 1981:

The Boston Celtics top the Houston Rockets, 102-91, to claim Game 6 of the Finals and win the NBA Championship. The Celts' Larry Bird, in his second NBA season, went 7-of-10 in the second half--finishing with 27 points and 13 rebounds. The MVP of the Finals, though, was Boston's Cedric "Cornbread" Maxwell. Although it was the Celtics' 14th NBA title, it was the first for any member of that Boston team.

(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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