Burpees, muscle-ups and sacks. How CrossFit sparked this Boise State lineman’s career

Boise State defensive lineman Ahmed Hassanein didn’t do anything that would show up on a stat sheet the first time he got into a game this season, but he did make a statement.

Hassanein subbed in at defensive tackle early in the Broncos’ win over New Mexico in September. When the ball was snapped, he drove the guard assigned to block him straight into the backfield.

“His bull rush move is his calling card,” Hassanein’s brother, Cory Besch, told the Idaho Statesman. “He has the leverage and the power, and he’s freakishly strong.”

Hassanein was light on football experience when he joined the Broncos last year. He had played the sport for only four years after moving to the United States from Egypt when he was 16.

Where he wasn’t lacking was in the power and athleticism department, Boise State defensive line coach Frank Maile said.

“You could kind of see it in walk-throughs and practices early on, but it was blatant when we put pads on,” Maile said. “He’s still learning the finer points of the game, but with the aggression he explodes off the ball with, his future is extremely bright.”

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Hassanein was born in the U.S. but moved to Egypt with his father when he was 6. His impressive power comes from years of competing on the international CrossFit circuit. He joined the circuit when he was 14, and it wasn’t long before he was ranked No. 1 in Egypt and top 10 in Africa in his age group.

CrossFit is a form of high-intensity interval training that includes weightlifting, traditional exercises like pull-ups and less traditional workouts such as muscle-ups, which is when an athlete does a pull-up but continues the motion and lifts their upper body over the bar.

Hassanein said he weighed about 210 pounds at the height of his CrossFit career, but he can still do a muscle-up to this day — even at 290 pounds.

“I still love the challenge that CrossFit offers,” said Hassanein, who also competed in boxing, wrestling, judo, jujitsu and even ping pong in Egypt. “There’s just something about figuring out how to push yourself past your limits. Once you do that, anything is possible.”

Hassanein’s challenge now is to beat the offensive lineman in front of him and get to the quarterback. He recorded the first sack and forced fumble of his college career against UT Martin and has two sacks this season. He’ll be chasing quarterbacks again at Wyoming on Saturday (5 p.m., CBS Sports Network).

“His get-off is impressive,” Boise State coach Andy Avalos said. “That first move is important for a defensive lineman, and his is one of the more impressive ones that I’ve seen.”

Judging by how far he has come in just two years at Boise State, the sky is the limit for the 6-foot-3 sophomore, defensive coordinator Spencer Danielson said.

“Ahmed is going to be a great player for us for a long time, no doubt,” Danielson said. “He has the kind of explosiveness that you can’t coach. He has a desire to be great, and he’s willing to put in the work to get there. You really can’t ask for much more.”

Besch, who is 14 years older than his brother, convinced their father to let him bring Hassanein to California for high school. He enrolled at Loara High, where Besch was teaching and serving as offensive coordinator for the football team.

Hassanein joined the team and almost immediately stood out as one of its most athletic players, but there was one problem: He didn’t understand English.

Hassanein spent a decade speaking mostly Arabic in Egypt. He and Besch developed hand signals that would help him understand what was going on during games, and the brothers spent many an hour working to acclimate Hassanein to his new environment.

“It was difficult bringing a teenage boy who hasn’t had a lot of guidance into our home,” Besch said. “The language barrier was enough of a challenge, but even asking him to do basic chores around the house was tough at first. I had to earn his trust, but it was a blessing and I think God brought us back together to reignite our relationship.”

Hassanein didn’t grow up watching football in Egypt. He said everything he knew about the sport was from clips of violent collisions on YouTube.

He had no idea about the rules of the game when he arrived at Loara, which meant he had no compulsion about tripping a player or dragging a ball carrier to the ground by the facemask, former Loara football coach Mitch Olson said.

“He was real raw, but he had size, speed and strength, and he has a desire that is unbelievable,” Olson said. “The guy is old-school tenacious. He would go up against anybody, anytime, any place.”

Hassanein flourished on the football field once he realized he fit best on the defensive line.

“First we tried wide receiver and I couldn’t catch, and then we tried linebacker, but there was too much going on,” Hassanein said. “So they put me on the line and said, ‘Go get the guy who has the ball.’”

Hassanein has been trying to do that ever since. He did it well enough that he caught Danielson’s eye at a camp in the summer of 2020. Danielson saw videos of Hassanein’s performance on Twitter and knew he had to reach out.

“I had no idea who he was at the time, but I saw this big athlete running circles around offensive linemen, and I was like, I’ve got to get to know this guy,” said Danielson, who was college teammates with Besch at Azusa Pacific University in California — but didn’t know he was Hassanein’s brother until well into the recruiting process.

Danielson reached out the following day, and Hassanein signed with the Broncos in December 2020. He also had scholarship offers from Duke, Colorado, Fresno State, Northern Colorado and Kansas, which came in with an offer after he already committed to Boise State.

“It’s all God’s plan,” Hassanein said. “Nobody knew me, but I knew if I just kept working, good things would happen.”

Hassanein said he will always be thankful to Besch for bringing him to the U.S. and pushing him to be great.

“My brother has guided me and taught me everything I know about football and life,” Hassanein said. “He’s still teaching me, and I wouldn’t be where I am without him.”

Hassanein’s first exposure to football in America was watching the Los Angeles Rams. He, of course, gravitated toward defensive lineman Aaron Donald. A dream was born while he watched Donald dominate offensive linemen. Now Hassanein is chasing that dream.

“He told me he was going to make the NFL and be like Aaron Donald, and I kind of giggled at first,” said Besch, who recently moved to Boise to be closer to his brother. “But as I’ve watched him grow, I’m convinced he can be whatever he wants and he might even be better than Donald one day.”

BOISE STATE AT WYOMING

When: 5 p.m. Saturday

Where: War Memorial Stadium (29,181), Laramie, Wyoming

TV: CBS Sports Network (Rich Waltz, Aaron Taylor, Sherree Burress)

Radio: KBOI 670 AM/93.1 FM (Bob Behler, Pete Cavender)

Records: Boise State 7-3, 6-0 MW; Wyoming 7-3, 5-1 MW

Series: Boise State is 15-1 all-time against Wyoming, including five consecutive victories.

Vegas line: Boise State by 14

Weather: 22 degrees at kickoff, 1% chance of rain, 10 mph wind