A familiar name popped up on a Boise State roster this week. It was just in an unfamiliar place.
Former Boise State basketball player Kobe Young is back in blue and orange as a member of the football team. Young announced Sunday on social media that he was returning to Boise State, where the redshirt senior will begin his college football career as a wide receiver.
Young was a member of the Broncos’ basketball team from 2021 to 2024. He came off the bench, appearing in 52 games in three seasons and averaging 6.3 minutes and 1.3 points a game.
Young transferred following the 2023-24 season and landed at Cal State Fullerton, where he appeared in 26 games and started 19 last season. He averaged 7.7 points and a team-high 5.8 rebounds a game.
As a basketball player, the 6-foot-7, 208-pound native of Pasco, Washington, was the No. 12 recruit in Washington his senior year at Chiawana High School, according to Scorebook Live. As a football player, he was a three-star recruit with scholarship offers from Army and Central Washington, according to 247Sports.
Young was a second-team All-Mid Columbia Conference pick as a wide receiver and a defensive lineman his senior year at Chiawana.
Wide Receivers Wanted
Young is joining Boise State at a position where the Broncos don’t return much experience and are desperate for someone to step up and assume the role of quarterback Maddux Madsen’s go-to target.
Three of Boise State’s top four wide receivers from last season are gone. The team’s leader in receptions and receiving yards, Cameron Camper, signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars as an undrafted free agent last month. Prince Strachan transferred to USC, and Idaho native Austin Bolt is no longer on the roster, Boise State officials confirmed to multiple outlets on Monday.
That leaves sixth-year senior Latrell Caples, who caught 38 passes last season, and fifth-year senior Chase Penry, who caught 14, as the only returning receivers that hauled in at least 10 passes last fall.
Boise State also returns speedy sophomore Cameron Bates, who caught nine passes and scored a rushing touchdown in 13 games last fall, and redshirt senior Ben Ford, who has four career receptions. Boise State’s wide receivers room also includes former five-star recruit Chris Marshall, who was limited to four games by injuries last season.
The Broncos also signed former Hutchinson Community College wide receiver Demetric Whitlock Jr. last week. The 6-foot, 185-pound native of Monroe, Louisiana, caught three passes in six games for the Blue Dragons in 2023.
