Tuesday, July 1, 2008.

Today is July 1, and in the past, that meant college football recruiting was just hitting full stride. Schools had already held their summer camps for high schoolers, and it was time to get after it. Now, in 2008, Boise State is in mid-season form--mid-recruiting season, that is. The Broncos already have six commitments for their 2009 class listed by Scout.com. So, is this high volume of early verbals a trend in the rest of the WAC? Well, not exactly. According to Scout.com, Fresno State has just one commit to date (it's a good one, David Carr's younger brother, Derek). Hawaii and Nevada also have one each, while Idaho, Louisiana Tech, New Mexico State, San Jose State and Utah State have none so far. We won't know for a few years how significant this is for BSU, but no one's complaining down there right now.

Bob Behler, Voice of the Minutemen the last nine years, is the new...well, it's hard to call him the Voice of the Broncos in Paul J. Schneider's fresh wake, but everybody will get used to it. Behler joins KIDO in two weeks after winning seven AP awards for "Best Play-By-Play" in Massachusetts/Rhode Island for his work on UMass sports. Behler, who has also done some network play-by-play, will now seek to show that he's not just a hired gun to cover the short two-year contract Peak Broadcasting has signed for BSU radio rights (the school could always take him along wherever it goes in 2010). Safe to say Behler will make a smooth transition back West--he's originally from Stockton, CA. He'll make his Boise State debut August 30.

On the TV side, FSN Northwest will carry the Hawaii at Oregon State game on September 13. Which again begs the question: why not the more compelling BSU-Oregon matchup a week later, when there's nothing else going on in the Northwest? Oh well. There must be a reason Fox SportsNet isn't regionalizing that day--the network opted for Arizona-UCLA.

Is the third year the charm for Dan Hawkins at Colorado? The former Boise State coach has SI.com's Stewart Mandel is his corner. From Mandel's latest "College Football Mailbag", in answer to a reader's question: "The Buffs are definitely a team you'd be smart to watch out for this season. Hawkins' team improved considerably from Year 1 (2-10) to Year 2 (6-7, with upsets over Oklahoma and Texas Tech). This year's team will be far more experienced, what with quarterback Cody Hawkins entering his second season and the possibility of as many as eight senior starters on defense. And if incoming freshman Darrell Scott--the nation's top-rated running back recruit last winter--lives up to the hype, he will give Hawkins exactly the type of elite skill player he's been missing.

Mandel continues: "The coach finally feels confident enough in his personnel to go to a no-huddle offense, and we may start to see more of the unconventional plays that marked his tenure at Boise State. The bigger question may be the defense, which absolutely tanked at the end of last season. We'll find out about the state of the Buffs pretty quickly--after opening against Colorado State and Eastern Washington, Colorado goes through a daunting four-game gauntlet against West Virginia, Florida State, Texas and Kansas. If Hawkins' team can get a win at home against either the Mountaineers or Longhorns, it could set them up for an eight or nine-win season."

I didn't want to say this in the days leading up to the U.S. Olympic Trials. It probably would have jinxed him. But Boise native Nick Symmonds bears a striking resemblance to Brad Pitt. Now Symmonds has qualified for the Beijing Olympics by winning the 800-meter run at the trials in Eugene last night, and NBC can make plans to show his face. Symmonds, a seven-time 4A state track champion in various events for Bishop Kelly, picked a good time for a career best, running a 1:44.10 with his signature home stretch kick before a cheering throng at Hayward Field, his adopted home track.

There's a reason they call them the Tri-City Dust Devils. Strong winds covered Pasco in grit last night, and the home team was devilish in leaving the Boise Hawks in the dust, 5-3. After the Hawks had taken a 3-1 lead in the third inning, Tri-City picked away with single runs in four of the next six frames to get the win. The loss evens Boise's record again at 7-7. Cubs' first round draft pick Ryan Flaherty appears to be settling in as a pro now. The former Vanderbilt shortstop went 3-for-4 with an RBI last night to raise his average to .375.

Rick Bauer's latest tour of duty in the majors has not been exactly boffo. The Centennial High grad made his return to the bigs June 5 and allowed three runs in an inning, mopping up a Cleveland blowout win. Now he's yielded three runs in three of his four appearances for the Indians. Bauer threw two innings of relief in the Tribe's 9-5 loss at the Reds Sunday, allowing three runs on three hits to land his ERA at 13.50. Bauer, now in his seventh Major League season, worked hard to get back to the bigs after spending all of last season in the minors. Now he'll have to fight to stay.

This Day In Sports...July 1 in many a year:

The day when new conference affiliations traditionally take effect. On this day in 1970, Boise State officially became a member of the Big Sky. In 1996, Boise State and Idaho joined the Big West on July 1st. In 2001 on this day, BSU and Idaho went their separate ways--the Broncos off to the WAC while the Vandals began to split time with the Sun Belt (for football) and the Big West (for all other sports). And Idaho joined BSU in the WAC three years ago today.

(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.)

---