BOISE — Maddux Madsen has been through just about all the peaks and valleys of emotions one could experience as a starting quarterback at Boise State.

From taking over as the starter midway through his redshirt freshman season in 2023 only to suffer an ACL injury late in the first half of his first start, to a 2024 College Football Playoff run, to a 2025 season hampered by more injuries, to three straight Mountain West Championships in that time frame, the senior has been through it all.

As he enters the spring preparing for his final season as a Bronco, he’s able to look back and appreciate all that he’s been through and the knowledge that he has one final chance to leave a lasting legacy on the program.

“I think it’s a huge deal to be here for five years, especially playing at the same place, college football, for five years,” Madsen said. “You don’t see that very often and I’ve taken a lot of pride in that. With everything that I want to give to this program, hopefully I go out with a bang.”

Madsen will be entering his third year as the full-time starter for the Broncos, a reign that has been sometimes criticized by some of the more vocal fans via social media. He’s learned to shut out the negative and focus on everything he’s got on 2026 to try and make sure he is remembered by fans for all the right reasons.

“I would like to think that I’ve done a lot here,” Madsen said. “But I want to leave absolutely no regrets for what I’ve done in this program. You talk about the tradition of excellence this place has, especially in the quarterback room — Kellen (Moore), Brett (Rypien), Grant Hedrick, all those guys — I want to be in consideration with those kind of names.”

The easiest way to do that, he knows, is to win games, especially as Boise State starts a new era in the Pac-12. Of course, he’s done a lot of that in his time at Boise State, with Boise State holding a 20-6 record in games that he’s started.

But detractors will point to his record against Power 4 opponents. They’ll bring up his nine interceptions he had last season, up from six in 2024.

Madsen said he’s insulated from a lot of that by his new wife KarLei — the couple was recently married with Boise State coach Spencer Danielson officiating the wedding — who serves as his de facto social media manager.

“She’s also pretty good about not getting into it, but it does frustrate her a little bit,” Madsen said. “I feel like it’s the same thing with my family, my family gets extremely frustrated. But I have to remind them constantly that’s the joyous part of being in the position that I’m in. I embrace every little bit of it as much as they should.”

As he enters his final season, he also looks to bounce back from a late-season ankle injury that derailed his year and caused him to miss the final three regular season games. Madsen returned to lead Boise State to a victory in the Mountain West Championship game — and earned offensive MVP honors — but looked off in an LA Bowl loss to Washington, a game he left at halftime due to injury.

Madsen confirmed Tuesday that his LA Bowl injury was a reaggravation of the one that made him miss three games.

“Honestly after the conference championship, I was brutally sore and battled that one through,” Madsen said. “But, yeah, the LA Bowl was the same thing.”

Madsen admits that in the aftermath of his 2023 ACL injury, his confidence was at the lowest it has ever been. The injury caused him to miss the entire spring, and he found himself battling for the starting job with transfer Malachi Nelson in the fall.

Looking back, he realizes that he shouldn’t have ever lost that confidence. He knew what he did in his redshirt freshman season prior to the injury.

He credits that clarity to helping him come into this season with a refreshed look, one where he hopes to be able to leave his mark and stay healthy for the entire year.

“I always joke I’m getting old, but I’m one of the oldest in here,” he said. “This game wears and tears on the body, so I have to be super intentional with how I’m taking care of my body, whether that’s certain resources I’m using. But it’s definitely something I’ve tried to take a stride in, for sure.”