Boise State Roster Countdown 2024: Day 43, Jake Ripp

As the progenitor of the countdown, I’ve taken a looooot of time off from the pursuit of late, but after being an NPC last season as I recuperated from carpal-tunnel, I decided to once more enter the breach to talk about our Broncos. Felt kind of foreign after so much time off, but hopefully I’ve done today’s honoree a service—RS Sophomore ‘backer Jake Ripp

(Please consider a recurring monthly or yearly donation to help us pay for the site and keep our efforts going. Thank you!)

#43, Jake Ripp, RS Soph, LB

Stats

Height: 6-3

Weight: 235 lbs

High School: Los Gatos High School, Los Gatos, CA

How’d he get to The Blue™?

Ripp is more than a great head of hair. At Los Gatos High School (“the cats” to those who habla español) he was a dual threat in that he threatened to beat you deep as a tight end and threatened to compress your spine as a decorated linebacker. Awarded 3 stars by 247Sports and 4 stars by Michelin, Ripp fielded offers from Cal Poly, Sacramento State, San José State, and UC Davis, but ultimately took the GOOD offer.

Nickname

“Jake the Ripper”

Look-alike

Joe Keery of “Stranger Things” fame

Career Highlights

Saw action in all but one game for the Broncos in 2023 and finished with 12 total tackles, including 4 in a game—twice—against New Mexico and Utah State. Academic All-Mountain West in the Fall of 2023.

2024 Prospectus

It was a very “buzzy” spring for the Broncos as they added the former number one recruit in the nation to the QB room and the number one JuCo recruit to the WR room, but beyond that, Ripp was a guy that generated plenty of buzz of his own—earning praise from the coaches and media alike while showing that he’s ready to step into a starting role. In the 2nd (closed) scrimmage of spring camp, Ripp “put on show” like the Three Amigos, leading the team in tackles (6) and adding a QB sack and hurry to his tally. A week later, Ripp posted 4 stops at the Broncos open scrimmage and added another sack to his spring total.

Every indication is that the lanky Ripp is another “sideline to sideline” LB that will smooth over the departure of last year’s animal backer DJ Schramm. Considering that he also seems to have a Toucan Sam-eque nose for the backfield, the blitz packages the Broncos have available this year make the head spin. Remember, the Broncos bring sack machine Ahmed Hassanein back (12.5 sacks in ’23) as well as Andrew Simpson (6.5 sacks in ’23) and will also have Braxton Fely (3), Ty Benefield (3), and Marco Notarainni (3) hoping to pad their numbers. The pressure dialed up by newly-minted DC Erik Chinander could create diamonds, and I expect Ripp to be a big part of that.

Is he on Twitter?

Completely made up fact

Lying in bed recovering from a tonsillectomy at age 8, Jake instructed his tee-ball team to go out and “win just one for the Ripper”. A plaque memorializing the speech now hangs at the tee-ball Hall of Fame in Muncie, Indiana.