Boise State spring football preview: Is Maddux Madsen the answer at quarterback?

Coming off three straight Mountain West championships, Boise State football is about to enter a new era.

Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State, Utah State and the Broncos are all leaving the MWC for the Pac-12 this summer. The rebuilt eight-team football conference aims to be an annual College Football Playoff participant with the five MWC schools, current members Oregon State and Washington State and fellow newcomer Texas State of the Sun Belt.

Boise State returns multiple impact players on both sides of the ball and expects to compete for a Pac-12 title in Year 1.

With spring football just around the corner, Boise State Broncos on SI is taking a position-by-position look at head coach Spencer Danielson’s roster heading into the 2026 season.

To kick off the series, we’ll start with the quarterback room.

Quarterbacks

Quarterback is one of the few positions Boise State has ignored during the 2026 winter transfer portal cycle.

The Broncos are returning their top three quarterbacks from last season: Starter Maddux Madsen, backup Max Cutforth and third-string QB Zeke Martinez.

Madsen’s numbers dipped across the board in his second year as the full-time starter. He finished his junior season 176 of 302 passing (58 percent) for 2,334 yards with 18 touchdowns and nine interceptions.

Madsen missed the final three games of the regular season with a lower leg injury but returned for the MWC championship game and the LA Bowl.

Cutforth, a junior-to-be, played well at times in relief of Madsen, completing 95 of 167 passes (57 percent) for 1,059 yards with four touchdowns and five picks. Three of the interceptions came in the second half of the LA Bowl, a 38-10 Washington victory.

Martinez joined the Broncos as a walk-on last spring but quickly moved up the depth chart. He received praise from Danielson throughout the season.

Boise State also signed a pair of California prep quarterbacks in Cash Herrera (The Bishop’s School) and Jackson Taylor (Thousand Oaks High School).

Fourth-string quarterback Kaleb Annett hit the transfer portal and landed with UCF.

During his season wrap-up press conference, Danielson identified three areas where the quarterbacks—and the offense as a whole—must improve moving forward.

“A year ago, we were more successful offensively,” Danielson said. “Obviously you had Ashton (Jeanty), but I think our running backs did a really good job this year. The three stats that I look at offensively that if we grow these we will be much better are: (one), the turnovers were much higher than they were a year ago. (Two), the penalties were much higher than a year ago. And (three), the sacks. … If we can deplete those numbers, we’re going to be much more successful offensively.

“Does Maddux have a part of that? He absolutely does. Does Max have a part of that? He absolutely does. Do our coaches? They absolutely do. But is it on one position? No. It’s on us holistically.”