Brett Rypien is leader in Boise State quarterback competition

Boise State head coach Bryan Harsin is doing all he can to make sure that their is competition at the quarterback between Brett Rypien who took over the starting job when Ryan Finley broke his ankle early in the 2015 season.

Rypien, a true freshman, performed very well by throwing 20 touchdowns to just eight interceptions and 3,350 yards, and thus made a competition a moot point. However, that is not the case.

@MWCConnection for some reason Harsin wants an entire team competition in spring too! Coaching 101 boys!

— Coach Bryan Harsin (@bryanharsin) December 20, 2015

Competition is great and does help the team get better with depth because just look at last year when Rypien had to step in for Finley. However, there was little doubt that Rypien would not be the starter.

Boise State is wrapping up spring ball and Harsin has not officially named Rypien a starter but he is clearly leaning that way heading up to Saturday's spring game.

"Ryp' has done really well," Harsin said after Wednesday's practice. "Yeah, 'Ryp' has had a really good spring. He's much stronger and a lot better with a lot of the situational stuff. I think he's practicing really well. 'Fin' is still kind of getting back into it a little bit, but I think he's gotten better.

"Right now, 'Ryp' has really been playing well, has been studying well and he's one of those guys that every day is competitive," Harsin said. "Every single day it's a competition, every single day is two hours on the field of improvement. He's a very focused individual. And those guys that do that, and we have a handful of them that do that every single day, those are the guys that we hope rub off on everyone else."

A strong endorsement without naming Rypien as the starter, but would Harsin bench the 2015 first-team all-Mountain West quarterback? He also led the league in passing yards, total offense and those 20 touchdown passes were second in the league as was his 63.6 percent completion percentage.

Finley shown that he is an above average quarterback and could be the starter for Boise State and have a similar record as Rypien, but the season that Rypien had as a true freshman is too hard to ignore and not play him.

When the Broncos open up next year with Louisiana-Lafayette on Sept. 3 anyone other than Rypien being under center would be a shock.