Appreciating Boise State’s latest 4-year starting QB

If you’re just now catching up on the famous nephew, you should know he’s still really good.

Boise State quarterback Brett Rypien is one of the nation’s best and most consistent quarterbacks, but many college football fans have somehow rarely heard from him. Rypien, a senior this fall, has started for the Broncos for four straight seasons, flying a bit under the national radar.

He was a four-star QB prospect in the class of 2015, with offers from the likes of Mississippi State, Washington, and Washington State.

He finished his high school career with the state of Washington’s high school career passing yards record after throwing for 13,044 yards, to go along with 134 total touchdowns. He also set the single game passing record with 613 yards, and shares the state record for single-game TDs (8) with Saint Kellen Moore.

At that point, he was best known as a guy with a famous family.

Mark Rypien, a Wazzu quarterback from 1982-86, is Brett’s uncle. Brett says his uncle, who enjoyed a 16-year NFL career and won two Super Bows, made a huge impact on him from an early age.

“We’re pretty close. That’s how I got into football,” Brett said via the Seattle Times. “Watching some of my uncle’s highlights when I was really little, about three to four years old. He’s been there for me at every level I’ve played at, and it’s nice having a guy who understands because he’s been there at so many levels.”

Brett adds that there were no hard feelings over his choice to attend Boise State and not his uncle’s alma mater.

“He was really supportive of me throughout the entire (recruiting) process,” Brett said via the newspaper. He wanted me to be a Coug, but he was going to support me wherever I went.”

Brett is 1-1 against his uncle’s former school — the Cougs beat the Broncos 47-44 in overtime in 2017, and the Broncos won 31-28 during Brett’s sophomore season.

“I just admire him for stepping out and wanting to pave a path for himself,” Mark said via the Seattle Times. “He would have liked to come to Pullman, but there’s always something about that comfort of stepping out of that comfort zone and trying something different and starting a career of your own.

“I tell him that I’m a Coug, but I love that you stepped out of that neck of the woods and wanted to become a Bronco. I’m very impressed with him as a player.”

When Rypien’s at his best, Boise State’s ceiling is almost as high as it’s ever been.

His freshman year, he lit up the stat sheet, throwing for 3,353 yards and 20 touchdowns, and he followed that up with another 3,646 yards and 24 touchdown passes as a sophomore.

In 2017, he missed a game against New Mexico after leaving a game the week prior due to injury and dealt with protection issues, so he didn’t look quite as prolific, though he finished with a solid game against Oregon in the Broncos’ latest bowl win over a Power 5 team. That somewhat shaky junior season could be one reason he’s not mentioned too much in terms of the 2019 NFL draft quarterback class, despite still being listed at a reasonably NFL-friendly 6’2 and outperforming top-10 pick Josh Allen in 2017.

But let Bill Connelly illustrate just how productive he’s been for Boise, even with the uncharacteristic 2017 season:

Boise State’s offense took off when Rypien started looking like Rypien again. The former four-star prospect produced a 141 passer rating as a true freshman in 2015, then bumped it to 155.7, 18th in the nation, in 2016. But he struggled in last year’s season-opening win over Troy, then suffered a head injury early against Washington State.

He missed the New Mexico win, looked awful against Virginia, then labored through the next three games against solid defenses. BSU was winning pretty easily — 24-7 vs. BYU, 31-14 vs. SDSU, 24-14 vs. Wyoming — because of a surging defense, but a rebuilt running game and shaky passing game were stunting the offense.

By late-October, however, Rypien looked fine.

-Brett Rypien, first 6 games: 62% completion rate, 10.4 yards per completion, 2.3% INT rate, 117.2 passer rating

-Rypien, last 7 games: 63% completion rate, 14.9 yards per completion, 1.4% INT rate, 159.7 passer rating

It’s been a few years since Boise was truly dominant, but Rypien’s still contributed to two of the Broncos’ most outrageous wins ever.

As a freshman and as a senior, Rypien was part of the two biggest beatdowns in FBS of this millennium, if you go by yardage:

The biggest yardage gaps in total offense in a single game since the year 2000 are:

1. Boise State vs. UConn 2018 (+625)

2. Boise State vs. NIU 2015 (+621)

3. Oregon vs. New Mexico 2010 (+613)

4. Alabama vs. Vanderbilt 2017 (+599)

He’s not known as the biggest arm, but in each of his seasons at Boise, his season-long passes were 85, 76, 87, and (so far) 74 yards. He’s more about touch, as some of his prettier career touchdowns demonstrate, like this 44-yard score against Nevada last season:

And this 47-yard score against Washington State in 2016:

And he’s not exactly a mobile quarterback, as that’s rarely been a focal point of Boise’s offense, but, well — this happened at one point:

He won’t go down as the greatest four-year starter in Boise history — that’ll almost certainly always be Kellen Moore — but he’s still made his mark.

He’ll finish No. 2 on the program’s all-time passing yardage list, and potentially No. 2 in passing touchdowns as well. And he’s got a great shot at adding another high-profile bowl win to the Broncos’ rafters.

After that, we’ll see if the NFL takes more interest in him than it has in previous Boise State winners. There’s a chance, considering his decent height. And Rypien is already a Super Bowl MVP name, too.