BOISE — Like a good poker player, Boise State head coach Chris Petersen held his proverbial cards close to his vest Tuesday afternoon at his final press conference before the Broncos’ season-opener with Virginia Tech on Monday.

If news of who emerged as starters on the Broncos’ depth chart for the first game was a mild surprise, Petersen quickly dismissed any importance of the pecking order, particularly in the backfield.

“My son who is 12 said it best,” Petersen said. “When I walked in the house yesterday, he said, ‘Hey, Dad, I heard Doug Martin is the starter. That’s great. … Oh, yeah, I know what that means. You’re going to play them all. Everybody gets time. Everybody shares the ball.’

“I said, ‘Yeah, it doesn’t take much to figure out how it is around here.’ And that’s really how it is.”

Last season, Avery ran for 1,150 yards and six touchdowns to lead the team in rushing. Then Doug Martin emerged as a threat in the backfield with more than 700 yards rushing after D.J. Harper went down with a season-ending injury early in the season against Fresno State.

So despite the look of Doug Martin and Dan Paul lining up at running back and fullback next to quarterback Kellen Moore, Petersen said it will only be one of many combos the Broncos expect to trot out Monday against the Hokies.

“We love Doug,” Petersen said. “He can play multiple positions for us. D.J. Haper is awesome. I don’t see much difference between those two guys. There there’s Jeremy Avery, who has done so much for us around here. He’s going to be a key factor before it’s all said and done.”

While Petersen declined to get into the specifics of injuries to defensive end Ryan Winterswyk and safety Jeron Johnson that have kept the pair out of practice for a large portion of fall camp, he said he expects both to play Monday.

Petersen also expressed confidence in the debut of new defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski, who is taking over for Justin Wilcox, who left for Tennessee after the season.

“I think Justin would be the first to tell you that there are a lot of good coaches on that side of the ball who have been there for the past four or five years,” Petersen said. “Coach Kwiatkowski and Justin were always in cahoots as the main two bouncing ideas off each other. … When you’re around a guy enough, you know if he can do the job or not — and he can do it.

“Is he going to come up with some magic defense for this game? No, he’s not. It’s not that complicated to figure out what we need to do. It’s hard to execute, but not hard to figure out strategy wise what you’re going to try to do.”