‘Through hell and back’: Boise State preps for Georgia weather with ‘inferno’ practices

On Wednesday morning in Boise, the sun was out, the skies were blue and the temperature was a comfortable 70 degrees.

It was the perfect day for football practice as Boise State gets ready for its season opener at Georgia Southern on Aug. 31.

Unfortunately for the Broncos, head coach Spencer Danielson and his staff had something else in mind: an “inferno” workout indoors at the Caven-Williams complex on campus.

“Inferno is like going through hell and back,” sixth-year safety Alexander Teubner said about an hour after Wednesday’s session.

“It’s a struggle. It’s hot in there,” said redshirt junior tight end Matt Lauter.

“It really challenges us mentally more than anything,” redshirt senior safety Rodney Robinson added.

But what is an inferno workout, and what makes them so intimidating to a bunch of strong, in-shape football players?

‘We don’t have control of the climate’

Boise State will be in Statesboro, Georgia, next weekend to face the Eagles.

If there’s a word to describe the typical weather conditions for football in that part of the country in late August, the apt choice would be “unpleasant.” The National Weather Service forecasts a high of 92 degrees on the Saturday afternoon of the game, with 62% humidity.

Kickoff is 4 p.m. Eastern time.

So what’s Boise State’s solution? To practice inside to try to mimic what it will feel like that day. On Wednesday morning, as students enjoyed the leisurely weather during the first week of classes, the football team was powering and sweating through a two-hour inferno practice.

“We want to put our guys in a position to be prepared for whatever the game conditions demand,” BSU director of sports performance Benjamin Hilgart told the Idaho Statesman.

“We don’t have control of the climate here. So it’s just another example of how (Danielson) and our coaching staff and our entire football program are going to turn over every stone, every rock, to try to put our guys in the best position to be prepared for whatever the game requires.”

This wasn’t the first time Boise State started the season with inferno workouts. The Broncos did something very similar in 2021 ahead of their season-opening trip to UCF, a game they lost 36-31 after being outscored 22-7 in the second half.

The difference this year was that they had two such inferno practice days rather than one.

“Everyone’s just shocked how humid it is in there,” Lauter said Wednesday.

He said most guys start to get tired around the halfway mark of practice, which is when the team’s leaders step in. Trying to relate, the coaches endure the practice in black long-sleeve hoodies and pants.

“I’m originally from Gainesville, Florida,” Lauter said, “so I was the guy who was like, ‘Oh yeah, I’m gonna kick butt in this inferno.’ And it didn’t happen. It’s a struggle.”

Preparing off the field as well as on it

The main goal of the inferno practices is to ensure that when the Broncos step on the field in Georgia, the intensity of the high humidity paired with the heat won’t feel overwhelming.

However, coaches want the players to think about how they can prepare for the conditions ahead of game time, too.

“I think there’s a mental component to it,” Hilgart said. “And maybe even more important, the process of, ‘How am I going to hydrate for this? How am I going to hydrate during it?’”

Teubner said players work with the team nutritionists and weight staff to prepare for all games, but especially for inferno practices and high-heat games. One key intake can be adding salt to the water or sports beverage they’re drinking to get extra electrolytes.

Boise State still has a full week before the season opener, but Lautner said Wednesday’s inferno practice kind of felt like the end of fall camp. Now, full preparation for Georgia Southern begins.

The tight end said the team knows conditions will feel even more brutal come game day because, as effective as inferno workouts can be, there’s no way to replicate perfectly the weather conditions on a hot turf field.

“Once that heat comes beaming down, you have to be mentally tough,” Lautner said. “And I think that’s what coach is prepping us for.”