With spring sports canceled and no Boise State games or practices to write about, the Idaho Press is using this time to check in with former Boise State athletes. This is another entry in our series called ‘Where are they now’.

Ben Weaver ranks No. 11 on Boise State’s all-time tackles list with 327 career tackles. He started 43 games for the Broncos from 2013-16 and had at least 60 tackles in each of his four seasons.

He was named second-team All-Mountain West as a senior after finishing with 108 tackles. He had three interceptions and two fumble recoveries while recording 68 tackles as a junior in 2015. Weaver also was a key member of the 2014 Fiesta Bowl team as a sophomore, and had 16 tackles in the Mountain West championship game win over Fresno State and eight tackles and a sack in the win over Arizona in the Fiesta Bowl.

Idaho Press: It’s been three years since your career at Boise State ended in 2016. What have you been up to since?

Ben Weaver: Well, first of all, when I was thinking about being part of this series when you asked, I said ‘man, I guess in order to do this people must not know what I’m doing, which means I didn’t make the NFL.’ So this is a good thing that you asked, but it’s also kind of not because it means I didn’t make it. I studied finance in college and wanted to do something in the field after Boise State, so I moved back to Dallas and did some investment banking which is a pretty similar speed to kind of what you deal with as an athlete in terms of long hours, pretty strenuous and demanding work. It was kind of like a two-year fall camp essentially, with 18- to 20-hour days Monday through Thursday and not really much sleep, but the goal is basically you do two years and then you can move into a investment firm, or a hedge fund, a private equity of some sort. So I did that for two years, finished that last summer and then moved to Austin last year to work at an investment manager called Gida Capital. I basically work at a $4.5 billion alternative asset manager, and we basically buy and aggregate different assets and invest in different assets on behalf of LPs, who are just investors within the firm. I’m part of our special situations group, and I’ve been doing that for about nine months.

IP: Did you try to keep playing after your Boise State career ended?

BW: I tried. I went to a rookie minicamp tryout with the Saints, but I didn’t make it after that. I was just there for the weekend. It was obviously extremely fun. Anytime you dedicate 15 or so years of your life to something it was definitely worth the six to nine months of putting in an effort to try. I think it would have been a mistake to not at least try to get on a team and compete. It was a very good experience to go out there with guys from teams all across the country and compete with them for a weekend. There is so much that goes into making a team and I won’t make any excuses, but it was definitely a hard way to try and get in there. I was glad I could at least try and compete with some guys that got drafted or were free agents.

IP: What thoughts or memories come to mind when you look back on your time at Boise State?

BW: I think the month of December in 2014 when we won the Mountain West Championship game and then the Fiesta Bowl was probably the greatest month of my whole life. I remember the Mountain West game like it was yesterday, and I remember waking up and having the big watch party up in the sky box with the whole team and seeing we were going to the Fiesta Bowl. And then obviously that whole experience at the Fiesta Bowl, there was nothing like it. The whole team coming together and being on that big stage and taking it very seriously and to come out with the win the way we did, we started off hot that game and then Arizona came back a little bit and then it ended in that very exciting ending with them on the 15-yard line running out of time. That was by far the coolest, fun experience of my life for sure.

IP: What do you hope fans remember about your career or think about when they see your name on an old roster?

BW: I hope they just think of me as kind of a leader on the team and someone that set an example and was just a consistent player, day in and day out. When we would talk to the younger guys, as a captain and a leader on the team, you wanted to leave the team with guys that you raised below you and trained to take over those roles, and I was pretty excited with our seniors and our leaders and how we left the team for the next year.

IP: Leighton Vander Esch had his breakout 2017 the year after you had graduated. Do you deserve some credit for that?

BW: You should ask him that. I’d like to think I played somewhat of a role, but obviously we know Leighton is an incredible athlete and continues to be. It’s been exciting to watch and think about your times as a Bronco with those guys like Leighton and Tanner Vallejo and guys in our room that I spent a lot of time with that are now in the NFL. It means a lot to see those guys out there representing the Broncos.

IP: Do you still follow the Broncos and stay in contact with old teammates?

BW: Of course. The longer you’re away the less contact you have with guys still in the locker room, but those guys from the teams I played on are still my best friends today. I was just in Idaho about a month ago with my core group of guys — Sam McCaskill, Alex Dhaenens, Steven Baggett, Kellen Buhr, Jake Roh, Charles Bertoli, Taylor Pope, pretty much my house and our neighboring house from college. We did a skiing trip up in Sun Valley and that was a lot of fun to get back together and relive some of the glory days. I’ve been back for a few games, but it’s been great to watch the games on TV. I’ll be honest, though, it gets harder not knowing the scheme or what the play calls are going to be now. Sometimes it can be frustrating not knowing what the call is or having known so much to know so little is different.

IP: What was your overall experience like in Boise and at Boise State and what would you say to Bronco Nation?

BW: Once a Bronco always a Bronco, and that’s very true. I definitely thank the city and Bronco Nation for the experience. Boise State is a different culture and a different breed and the things you learn in the classroom and on the field set you up for life and I believe that wholeheartedly. I think those lessons we learned from the coaches, staff, teachers, have made a difference in my development and with what I’ve been able to do since leaving.”

Check BlueTurfSports.com for a longer story with additional questions and responses from Weaver.