Heading into the 2024 season, opposition pass protectors had their eyes primarily on one guy for Boise State: senior defensive end Ahmed Hassanein.
Hassanein led the Broncos with 12.5 sacks last season, with no other defender tallying more than 6.5 takedowns of the quarterback. He came into the season with plans of outdoing his total from last year, and there's still a good chance he'll surpass it.
Not because Hassanein has turned into an unstoppable force (although he does have a team-high seven sacks through seven games), but because another Boise State defender has emerged as a significant pass-rushing threat: redshirt sophomore edge Jayden Virgin-Morgan.
Virgin-Morgan is right behind Hassanein this season with 6.5 sacks, already tying the Broncos' second-best total from last season, recorded by redshirt junior linebacker Andrew Simpson.
Simpson, who has two sacks this season, has noticed the jump Virgin-Morgan has made between 2023 and 2024. Last year, Virgin-Morgan didn't record a single sack. Now he's one of the reasons Boise State leads the country.
"I was joking with (edge coach) Jabril (Frazier) ... we were watching the UNLV game from last year, and I was like, those are two very different players out there," Simpson said about Virgin-Morgan. "He got a good amount of snaps that game, too, and he just plays so much faster, so much more confident, and he's a leader, he makes plays."
In Boise State's 29-24 victory over UNLV last week, Virgin-Morgan recorded 1.5 sacks and three tackles for loss. He was instrumental in putting immediate pressure on UNLV quarterback Hajj-Malik Wiliams on a double-pass play in which the Rebels otherwise could have had an easy touchdown.
Boise State head coach Spencer Danielson called Virgin-Morgan a "super savvy player" when recalling the play.
"The offensive tackle tried to cut, and then I saw the quarterback cross my face and knew that wasn't normal," Virgin-Morgan said Tuesday. "So I decided to just go after the quarterback because I wasn't going to make the play on the backside, so I thought that was the best option."
Virgin-Morgan said something seemed to click for him once he recorded his first career sack against Georgia Southern in the season opener. He wouldn't get another sack until recording 1.5 at Washington State, but he's been a menace to offenses since then.
He's recorded at least one sack in four of Boise State's seven games this season, including a career-high 2.5 against Hawaii.
The emergence of Virgin-Morgan alongside Hassanein has helped Boise State record 35 sacks already, tops in FBS and just one away from last season's final total.
"Being able to split the attention between both of us gives one of us an opportunity to get a sack," Virgin-Morgan said. "And it's not only us, but the defensive linemen on the inside and then the safeties on the outside when they come, too."
Offensive lines have been giving more attention to Virgin-Morgan, and that might increase double-teams on him and provide fewer sack opportunities. But he's taking it in stride.
"I feel like it's making me a lot better," he said. "Being able to know that I can get past two blocks makes me way more confident to get past one block when I do get my one-on-one."