BOISE — Get ready for seven months of speculation about Boise State’s quarterback battle.

Coach Bryan Harsin and offensive coordinator Zak Hill met with the media Wednesday for the first time since the end of last season and made it clear no replacement for Brett Rypien will be chosen anytime soon.

In fact, don’t expect to know anything about who will start for the Broncos against Florida State on Aug. 31 until the middle to later stages of fall camp.

“We’re going to let these guys compete,” Harsin said. “We will not have a starter out of spring ball, I’ll tell you that right now. We won’t have a starter going into fall camp. We’ll have a starter about 10 days out from when we play against Florida State. We might have two guys that I would tell you might rotate and play that game a little bit, but once we decide you guys will know.”

There’s no denying that the replacement for Rypien is the biggest offseason storyline concerning the Broncos. At Wednesday’s National Signing Day press conference to talk about the 2019 signing class, the first question to Hill was not about the news of the day. It was instead about the quarterback race for next season.

“We’ve got six guys in that room and they are all hungry,” Hill said. “Whether it’s meetings or on their own or watching film or morning runs, stuff like that, everybody is getting after it. There’s a good vibe in that room and everybody is hungry.”

Rypien was slated to redshirt in 2015 before an injury to Ryan Finley opened the door for him to start nine games as a true freshman. He went on to start 49 games for the Broncos over his four years and went 37-12, finishing second only to Kellen Moore’s 50 wins for most by a quarterback in school history.

He led the Broncos to three straight 10-win seasons, two bowl wins and the 2017 Mountain West Championship. He ranks second in school history for career passing yards (13,581), completions (1,036), attempts (1,618) and touchdowns (90) and has the second-lowest interception ratio (.0179).

And that makes finding his replacement that much more important — and more difficult.

Redshirt sophomore Chase Cord likely would have had a leg up on the spot had he not suffered a torn ACL midway during the 2018 season. He’s expected to be cleared for full participation no earlier than the start of fall camp, but will have to watch as others take their first shot at the spot during spring practices.

Redshirt freshman Riley Smith and true freshmen Hank Bachmeier and Kaiden Bennett are the three primary contenders heading into spring practices with former junior college transfer Jaylon Henderson also in the mix. Walk-on Zach Matlock enters his second year with the program and was also named as a candidate by coaches Wednesday.

“Scary,” Harsin said of the scenario of trying to replace Rypien with an inexperienced and unproven quarterback. “Our quarterbacks are competitors and I don’t know what’s going to happen, but there’s only one guy back there pulling the trigger and only one football on the field. ... We have good depth. We have competition. We’re just young.”

The most hype probably surrounds Bachmeier, who has drawn comparisons to Rypien as a possible immediate starter as a true freshman. The four-star prospect had numerous offers from Power Five schools before signing with the Broncos and was ranked as a Top 10 pro-style quarterback nationally.

Harsin seemed to try and lower expectations for Bachmeier, saying “he’s in there grinding away but he doesn’t know anything. Everything is a surprise to him. Kaiden is the same way.”

Both Bachmeier and Bennett put up monster numbers in high school and enrolled in January to participate in spring practices and enhance their chances of winning the job. They will get valuable reps in the spring with Cord out.

“It’s great for them,” Hill said. “It’s awesome for those two young guys to be able to get on campus and get a head start going into spring ball and get those 15 practices. ... Both Hank and Kaiden are very smart guys and they are learning the offense. They both have their different specialties in what they are good at so it’s going to be fun to see what and how that works out for spring ball and who makes good plays and good decisions and who figures it out the quickest. It’s nice having those two guys in here early.”

But Harsin cautioned not to forget Cord, who played in four games last season as a mobile option in short yardage situations as a redshirt freshman. He had eight rushes for 109 yards and a touchdown and was 6-for-9 passing for 67 yards and a touchdown before suffering the ACL injury in practice.

“One guy I think people are leaving out because he’s injured is Chase Cord,” Harsin said. “Chase Cord is a good player. He’s a young guy and it’s unfortunate because Chase was doing so well. He’s doing everything he can as a quarterback right now with a bum knee that he’s trying to get healthy.”

Making things even tougher for the Broncos is that they also must replace 1,000-yard rusher Alexander Mattison at running back and their top two receivers in Sean Modster and A.J. Richardson.

Nothing will be decided anytime soon, but the intrigue on offense — and particularly at quarterback — should make for an interesting and compelling next seven months.

“It’s an exciting time for sure,” Hill said.

THREE SIGN AS EXPECTED

Boise State added three players as expected Wednesday in wide receiver DK Blaylock (New Deal, Texas), linebacker Lolani Langi (South Jordan, Utah) and kicker/punter Gavin Wale (Henderson, Nevada). All three were announced by Boise State prior to 8:30 a.m.

There were no other surprise additions for the Broncos, who signed 18 players for the 2019 recruiting class. The other 15 players signed during the early signing period in December.

BRONCO BITS

Harsin said the Broncos still have two scholarships available. They could elect to add a transfer or give the scholarships to walk-ons currently on the roster. ... Skyview’s Tyler Crowe announced Wednesday he will join the Broncos as a preferred walk-on. Coaches are not allowed to discuss walk-on’s until they enroll in classes and arrive on campus, but Harsin noted his excitement for the talented local players joining the program. ... Nearly 70 football players were honored at halftime of the Boise State basketball game against UNLV Wednesday night for having at least a 3.0 grade-point average.