The Boise State Broncos land another QB

Rocklin High quarterback Jimmy Laughrea, who will be a senior in the fall, has given a verbal commitment to attend Boise State on a football scholarship.

Laughrea will follow the path of Rocklin High graduates Chase Baker and Holden Huff. Baker is a junior that starts on the defensive line and Huff, a tight end who graduated from Rocklin this year, will also play for the Broncos.

Boise State, which has established itself as a powerhouse in football in recent seasons, went 14-0 last season.

Although he can’t officially sign yet and his commitment is only verbal, Laughrea says it’s for sure that he will be attending Boise State.

“I’m not changing my mind,” said Laughrea, 6-foot-2 and 185 pounds. “That was the dream plan – get (picking a college) out of the way before the season. I didn’t even think I would get it out of the way before the summer. I’m set and it’s an awesome feeling.”

Laughrea was Rocklin’s starting quarterback during his sophomore and juniors seasons. Rocklin went 14-1 last season but Laughrea wasn’t able to play in the Division II state bowl game in Carson because of a broken, non-throwing arm suffered in the previous game.

He broke the same arm again about three months ago but he says he is healthy now.

“I got cleared to start lifting and the plate couldn’t handle the weight I was lifting and it just snapped,” said Laughrea about the second break. “I didn’t even notice. It just kept bending and the doctor said the plate is broke and that I have to redo the surgery.”

Laughrea had to sit out the baseball season because of the injury.

“I’ve been cleared for a month and a half now to do everything – the main thing is flexibility and weights,” Laughrea said.

Laughrea completed 157-of-287 passes for 2,635 yards, 22 touchdowns and nine interceptions last season. He also rushed 43 times for 383 yards and six scores.

Laughrea was the MVP for the quarterbacks at the Stanford Nike Combine in mid May.

“The first day was the combine. They invited you to the second day if you did good on the first day,” Laughrea said. “I went there last year as a sophomore and was watching. They split up the kids into groups and last year I was with the young kids and I remember watching (BYU’s) Jake Heaps and he got the (quarterback) MVP. And I was hoping that I would be that good next year. And I guess I could be that good.”

Laughrea visited Boise State May 28 and 29 and gave his oral commitment on May 30. He says that the Boise State coaches have told him that he will be the only quarterback they recruit from the class of 2011.

“For quarterbacks they are done (recruiting for 2011) – I’m the one quarterback,” Laughrea said. “And I’m going to red-shirt (delay his freshman season by one year) because (Boise State starting quarterback) Kellen (Moore) will be a senior so when I get there I can hopefully learn a lot from him. And that will be great for me. And right now I’m just working to get bigger, stronger and faster.”

Not playing football right away at Boise State is the same path that Rocklin graduates Baker and Huff chose.

Baker, a 2007 Rocklin graduate, sat out one season before joining the team as a red-shirt freshman for the 2008 campaign. Huff says he may delay his freshman season by two years. He says he is probably going to gray shirt instead of start at Boise State right away. He plans to attend Sierra College for one semester (less than 12 units) and then start at Boise State during the spring semester of 2011.

Laughrea says he is very close with Huff but that he doesn’t really know Baker.

That will change this weekend.

“I don’t know (Baker) very well but I will be spending the night at his house on Friday because I’m going up there for their camp,” Laughrea said.

Huff was the reason that Boise State first found out about Laughrea.

“They started talking to Holden a little bit during my sophomore year so I talked with (Boise State special teams/linebacker) coach (Jeff) Choate and then we played my junior season and after that a bunch of schools started talking to me including (Boise State),” Laughrea said. “(Boise State) coach (Bryan) Harsin, the quarterback coach (and offensive coordinator), started getting to know me and then I also got a call from (head) coach (Chris) Petersen about a month and a half ago and that was pretty cool. And I’ve been talking to him a little bit.”

Along with Boise State, Laughrea also had scholarship offers from Washington State, Wyoming, Utah State, San Jose State and Sacramento State.

“We are excited about Jimmy signing with Boise,” Rocklin varsity football coach Greg Benzel said. “We feel we have developed a connection with Boise (with Huff and Baker). I have been impressed with how Jimmy has handled this whole process. His desire to get better is still as strong as ever.”

Laughrea was 100-for-203 passing for 1,522 yards, 12 touchdowns and eight interceptions for the 4-6 Thunder as a sophomore. He also rushed for two scores.

Laughrea was Granite Bay’s starting quarterback on the freshmen team in 2007. Laughrea has always lived in Rocklin but he started high school at Granite Bay as his father was employed there. Laughrea battled injuries throughout his freshman season and it eventually ended early because of a broken collarbone.