Maddux Madsen didn’t need a statue to remind him what Boise State has asked its quarterbacks to chase. He already got the message from Kellen Moore in a text.
Less than 24 hours before the Broncos opened their season on the road against No. 2 Oregon, Boise State’s flight to Eugene was turned around by weather and rerouted to Portland, about 120 miles away. While the team bus wound through the dark western Oregon countryside, Madsen was on his phone when a message from an unfamiliar number appeared.
It was Moore.
“I saw my parents at the hotel at family time, and I told my dad, and my dad’s like, ‘Go away!’ ” Madsen recalled to journalists Tuesday afternoon. “He was just about as excited as I was.”
The message was short, but it carried weight. Moore wished Madsen luck for the season and let him know the line was open if he ever needed anything. Madsen hasn’t taken him up on it yet, but the note landed the way it was meant to: as a reminder of the standard waiting at Boise State.
Moore’s run in Boise is still the kind of thing that hangs over the program. From 2008 to 2011, he went 50-3 as the Broncos’ starting quarterback, led the team to a 14-0 season in 2009, beat No. 3 TCU in the Fiesta Bowl to finish that perfect year, and finished in the top 10 in Heisman Trophy voting three straight times, including a finalist finish in 2010.
Nearly 15 years after his college career ended, Moore still sits third in NCAA history in career passing touchdowns with 142, 15th in passing efficiency at 169 and 10th in passing yardage with 14,667.
“What he’s done for this program, it’s still talked about to this day,” Madsen said. “… Especially as a quarterback, that’s something you’re always trying to chase. Obviously, that legacy is very challenging to chase, but it’s awesome that you get to chase it here.”
That legacy is about to have a bronze form outside Albertsons Stadium. At halftime of Saturday night’s game against Texas State, Boise State will unveil an 11-foot statue of Moore at the stadium’s northeast corner. It will be the first statue of a former student-athlete ever erected by the university, and it will stand near the entrance of the Bleymaier Football Center, where the current Broncos pass through every day.
Boise State quarterback Brett Rypien once joked in 2016 that he had stepped out of his uncle Mark Rypien’s shadow and into Moore’s after arriving in Boise. Madsen knows he’s in that same line of succession now, only with a far more visible marker waiting outside.
“For a long time ahead, any quarterback that plays here will be compared to Kellen and what he’s done,” Madsen said. “… It’s awesome to be able to be compared to these people, and obviously there’s a tradition of excellence in that room.”
Through three full seasons as Boise State’s starter, Madsen has already built a résumé that fits that environment. With half a season left in his college career, he ranks seventh in school history in passing yards with 8,031 and could climb as high as fourth. He’s sixth in passing touchdowns with 64 and seventh in completion percentage at 61.7% among quarterbacks with at least 470 attempts.
Moore, meanwhile, is now the head coach of the New Orleans Saints, a job he took ahead of the 2025 season. The Saints are 2-5 and on a bye this weekend. Boise State said there were no plans for Moore to attend the statue ceremony, though it isn’t completely off the table.
If he does show up, it would be the first time Madsen gets to meet him in person. And the quarterback said he wouldn’t mind borrowing Moore’s signature finger gun celebration against Texas State if the moment calls for it.
“The text alone was awesome,” Madsen said, “but to be able to stand to him face to face and shake his hand would be awesome.”
No. 20 Boise State hosts Texas State at 8 p.m.
Saturday at Albertsons Stadium. Boise State is 6-1 and 3-0 in the Pac-12, while Texas State is 4-3 and 2-1.
It’s the first meeting between the teams. Boise State is a 11.5-point favorite.
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