Tuesday, May 5, 2009.

Yesterday I mentioned SI.com saying Boise State's secondary "might be one of the nation's best." Well, the first salvo may have been fired on that subject, and it comes from Eugene. Wide receiver Jamere Holland has had as good a spring as any Duck, according to new coach Chip Kelly. That's saying something for a wide receiver who was almost ushered off the team last fall by then-coach Mike Bellotti. Holland, a much-hyped transfer from USC, had just four catches for 53 yards last season, two of them--and 45 yards of it--in the Holiday Bowl win over Oklahoma State. "Jamere was just not engaged, and that was the best way I could describe it," Bellotti said in a Salem Statesman-Journal story.

Holland appears to be engaged now. He is Oregon's fastest player, even competing for a spot on the Ducks' 4 X 100 relay team in track. "The first game [at Boise State], he's gonna be blowing by people because nobody really knows who he is," said sophomore quarterback Darren Thomas. "They don't know he runs a 4.2 (40-yard dash) and is one of the fastest players in the country." I'm thinkin' the Broncos do. For the record, Holland caught three passes for eight yards in Oregon's Spring Game at Autzen Stadium.

One former Boise State player was in the chaos that was the collapse of the Dallas Cowboys practice facility Saturday. Julian Hawkins, who signed with the Cowboys as an undrafted free agent and was participating in his first mini-camp, talked to KTVB's Zach Wolken. "I am definitely okay, said Hawkins. "I was able to get out of the debris that was falling and stuff like that. First thing I did was I got on my hands and knees and I thanked God, you know--because any of us, you don't know which way it's gonna fall."

Not only are Jared Zabransky and Andrew Woodruff gearing up for Canadian football, but former Boise State offensive guard Jon Gott is, too. There's a story at Canada.com on Gott, a Lethbridge, AL, native who was taken in the fifth round of the homegrown CFL Draft by the Calgary Stampeders in 2008. The biggest revelation: he's growing his long hair back after lopping it off last August. "I cut the hair, and I wish I hadn't," said Gott. "It was just way too hot during the fall camp in Boise, and I was dying, so I had to cut it. I kind of regret it now. Hopefully it'll be back by November, and I'll keep it for good." Rookie camp opens June 4 in Calgary.

The men's basketball team to watch in the WAC next season is Nevada. As in, which way will the Wolf Pack go? The latest news out of Reno has Nevada recruit Steven Bjornstad seeking a release from his national letter-of-intent. The Wolf Pack has denied Bjornstad's request, according to his high school coach, David Long at Columbia River High in Washington. Long says Bjornstad, a 6-10, 225-pound center, was spooked by the gun issues that spurred the recent dismissal of Ahyaro Phillips. "Here's the bottom line," Long told the Reno Gazette-Journal. "He doesn't have the warm, great feeling he had in the fall [when he committed]. This is a different program now." Bjornstad would be the fifth player to depart the Nevada program since the end of the season. And, of course, the Wolf Pack lost coach Mark Fox to Georgia five weeks ago.

The NBA has released the slate of 75 college basketball players who declared for early entry into the NBA Draft, and four are interesting choices from the WAC. After looking at the list, you wonder why Louisiana Tech didn't win the conference championship this year. The Bulldogs have three players looking at a leap to the NBA: Kenneth Cooper, Kyle Gibson and Magnum Rolle. Cooper left the team in mid-season, while Gibson and Rolle have not hired agents and could return to Tech if they opt out of the draft by June 15. New Mexico State's Jonathan Gibson also declared, as did Nate Miles, the College of Southern Idaho player embroiled in the Connecticut recruiting controversy during the NCAA Tournament.

College of Idaho's baseball season is living on the edge now after the Coyotes were upset in the first round of the NAIA West Tournament yesterday in Vancouver, BC. In a game that featured seven lead changes, the Yotes' Chad Yeggy served up a bases-loaded walk in the top of the ninth, allowing Cal State San Marcos to tie the game at 8-8. Then in the 11th, two C of I errors on the same play put the winning run on second, and the Cougars cashed in with a single to win it, 9-8. The Yotes face host University of British Columbia today in an elimination game.

Goodbye Bonnie, hello Will. After seven years Director of Media and Community Relations for the Idaho Steelheads, Bonnie Way Snider is retiring (more or less) to concentrate on motherhood. She did a great job for the Steelheads and the Boise Burn. Bonnie will be replaced by the inimitable Will Hoenike, who's been Season Ticket Director for the Steelheads and the Burn in the two-plus years since he left his weekend sports anchor post at KIVI. I hope Bonnie doesn't mind me lifting this line about Hoenike from her farewell e-mail, but it was too good to pass up: "His ten years of TV reporting as well as his all around general intelligence and ability to wear heels makes him the perfect candidate to fill my shoes."

This Day In Sports...May 5, 1987:

The Basketball Hall Of Fame inducts three of the NBA's most exciting players ever: former scoring champions Rick Barry and Pistol Pete Maravich--who averaged, respectively, a league-best 35.6 points for the San Francisco Warriors in 1967 and a league-best 31.1 points for the New Orleans Jazz in 1977, and guard Walt Frazier, who excelled on defense as well as offense for the New York Knicks.

(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.)

---