Tuesday, June 16, 2009.

Boise State's coaching staff is occupied this week with high school individual and team camps at Bronco Stadium. And that says a lot more than it used to. Camps have become places where high-level recruits get exposure to various campuses and programs. And additionally for BSU, an opportunity to identify the diamonds in the rough that have become a Bronco staple. A recent New York Times article pointed to the fact that Kellen Moore and his Prosser High teammates would spend a week each summer at BSU's camp. That's when Bronco coaches became convinced that Moore was going to be their guy at quarterback.

"You can watch tape, watch all their games, and then get there and watch them play in front of you for a half hour and get more out of that than watching 10 games on tape," coach Chris Petersen said in the Times story. "That's why we really like it. Not so much to really recruit them right then, but to say 'do we think this guy is that type of player?'" The article points out that Boise State was the only FBS team to heavily recruit Moore, and the result was last year's 12-1 season. "As a bonus, the move also helped the Broncos land Moore's brother, Kirby, a receiver who was highly coveted by every major college on the West Coast," the Times said. Petersen noted on National Letter of Intent Day in February that Capital High offensive lineman Bryant Thomas was basically discovered at the BSU camp a year ago.

Klayton Adams, one of the more engaging offensive linemen to play for Boise State during the golden era, has been hired by Sacramento State coach Marshall Sperbeck as his new tight ends and offensive tackles coach. Adams, an unsung junior college transfer, was thrust into the starting lineup for the Broncos in the 2003 Fort Worth Bowl after Tyrone Tutogi was ruled ineligible because of academics. Adams had a stellar game in the win over TCU--then started all season as a senior and earned second-team All-WAC honors. He went into coaching with the BSU staff in 2005 before taking a full-time job as offensive line coach at Western Washington, where he's worked the past two seasons.

Just like the Roady's Humanitarian Bowl is hoping the buzz maintains without the ACC as a participant, the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl is looking at life without the Pac-10. When the Pac-10 couldn't fill its slot last December, the game struck gold with Notre Dame, which routed Hawaii on Christmas Eve. The Hawaii Bowl was slated to get the Pac-10's No. 7 team this season, and the conference and the bowl have already decided not to take any chances and part ways. But this year, the Hawaii Bowl goes back to Conference USA. And everyone on the Islands knows there's only one team in that league that would light a fire under Warrior fans: SMU, with coach June Jones. Now, can the former UH coach get the Mustangs to six wins after a 1-11 season in 2008?

Rainouts are rarely a problem for the Boise Hawks during the summer at Memorial Stadium. But this totally weird stretch of wet weather has a lot of fingers crossed as the 2009 season opens this Saturday night against the Tri-City Dust Devils down by the river. The rain just keeps on keepin' on. As of this morning, the National Weather Service has recorded an inch and a half of precipitation at June's halfway point at the Boise Airport. But you know and I know that edge-of-the-desert number pales in comparison with the amount of rain that has fallen in most parts of the city, especially along the foothills, including Memorial Stadium. Time to move Boise's official NWS reporting station downtown.

Former Boise Hawks pitcher Joel Peralta, cut loose by Kansas City in spring training, has resurfaced with Colorado, and he's contributed to the Rockies' franchise record 11-game winning streak. Peralta finished the 7-1 win over the Mariners Sunday with a scoreless ninth inning, his third appearance during the streak, dropping his ERA to 1.93. He hasn't allowed a run since giving up two in his Rockies debut four weeks ago. The 33-year-old Dominican righthander, who had a brief stint with the Hawks in their final year of Angels affiliation in 2000, waited a long time to get to the bigs. He didn't make it until age 29 with the Halos in 2005. Peralta spent the last three seasons with the Royals.

When I saw that the Boise State men's track and field team tied for 25th at the NCAA Championships Saturday, I knew Rocketman 5000 of Bronco Country.com would come through with this. With that performance, BSU doubled the existing record for Top 25 finishes in a school year with six. Football ended up 11th in the nation, wrestling 12th, women's indoor track 19th, gymnastics and men's tennis 20th, and men's outdoor track 25th. The best previous showing was in 2004-05, with football, men's track, and gymnastics.

This Day In Sports...June 16, 1989, 20 years ago today:

Doug Weaver, Nick Price, Mark Wiebe and Jerry Pate all score holes-in-one on the sixth hole during the second round of the U.S. Open at Oak Hill. It was the first time in history that four golfers had aced the same hole in any American professional tournament. Ironically, Price and Pate, the 1976 U.S. Open champion, missed the cut at the end of the day.

(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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