Renewed hope
Casey Kline reacts to the return of Mountain West football.
The waiting game appears to be over for Casey Kline and his Boise State Bronco football teammates.
Last week, the Mountain West Conference announced a condensed conference season is slated to begin on October 24th.
The news couldn't have come at a better time for Kline.
"It's kind of been for the last three weeks when we started to hear some noise, like around the country that conferences were coming back. So, we were kind of hoping it would happen. Our coach sent out a text to all of us with a football emoji and the screen shot of a the Mountain West announcement. So, we were all really excited. So, were just kind of ready to get it going."
The journey for Kline and his teammates has been a drawn out one.
Since the Coronavirus Pandemic shut down virtually every sport back in March, the wait has been on since then to determine when a season might be played.
Back in August, the MWC initially announced that a season would not be considered until next Spring.
But since the Big 10 Conference made it's decision to return to the field within the last month, the dominoes have fallen for the opportunity for other NCAA conferences to open back up; including the MWC.
Despite some concerns about season preparation time being less than a month, Kline believes he and his teammates have been ready for the start of play for a long time.
He especially sees this opening as an opportunity to shine in the months ahead.
"I'm really excited about what we've done. And then this long month ahead of us in camp is going to get us even that much better. So, I'm feeling really confident about it. No one really like having the time off, but it was pretty huge for me. I know that from the time in March till now, I'm about 17 pounds heavier. Which is really nice. I've put myself in a pretty good position leading into camp. So, I just gotta kind of keep the ball rolling and continue to perform and make plays for this next month and I'm excited to see where that leads me."
Kline is vying for a starting linebacking position with Boise State.
Kline and the Broncos open up conference play as they take on Air Force on the road come October 24th.
