When Michael LaGrone pulled in Idaho’s first touchdown of the 2011 season, fellow tight end Taylor Elmo watched with pride, not jealousy. Rather than fuming he wasn’t the one that would help the Vandals to an early 7-0 lead against Bowling Green, Elmo stood on the sidelines.
Idaho’s tight ends share a brotherly love they carry into their junior seasons at Idaho.
File Photo by Ilya Pinchuk | Argonaut Tight end Michael LaGrone has the ball knocked out of the air April 2 in the Kibbie Dome. LaGrone and fellow tight end Taylor Elmo have become good teammates and friends.
Elmo and LaGrone came to Idaho prior to the 2009 fall season, which they redshirted. While each saw valuable field time during fall 2010, they served primarily as back-ups to current Minnesota Vikings tight end Daniel Hardy.
As the Vandals prepare for the upcoming fall season, Elmo and LaGrone are primed to be Idaho’s top two tight ends and unlike the ongoing quarterback battle between Dominique Blackman and Taylor Davis, the tight ends recognize their roles as separate but equal.
“It’s not really a fight,” LaGrone said. “What it comes down to is, whoever is on the field you cheer the other one on. Truth is it pushes me even more because when both of us are on the field, we’re both fighting for the same position … Either way it’s no love lost, the battle is a battle of friendship.”
Elmo, a Yakima, Wash., native, and LaGrone, who hails from Reno, differ in age by just three months. The two have played the same number of games and while LaGrone has a 4-2 advantage in touchdowns, Elmo has one more reception than his companion.
A slight statistical advantage might not faze them, but Elmo and LaGrone have become competitive with each other since meeting in Moscow three years ago.
“We’re both competitive guys. Everyone on this team is competitive and we have our unique kind of battle between ourselves,” Elmo said. “Whether it’s between basketball or anything, cards — we’re competing. We have that chemistry — that bond — to where he does something good, I’m going to cheer him on.”
As juniors, the two have acquired leadership roles and begun to mentor younger tight ends and help acquaint them with the offense, similar to what Hardy did for the two just three years ago.
Tight ends coach and ex-San Diego Charger Al Pupunu finds it important that Elmo and LaGrone assist up-and-coming players.
“Especially for the younger guys that come in, they help those guys out, stay after at practice sometimes and help them with their technique. So that’s a positive and especially getting these guys back for their third year, these guys are pumped up and excited for the season,” Pupunu said.
LaGrone is in the final stages of recovering from a concussion and Saturday’s scrimmage marked his return to full contact. Pupunu believes both will be assets to Idaho’s passing game this fall and said Elmo has come a long way in the run-blocking game, as well as his route running.
The tight end corps will be in good hands though, if injury strikes Elmo or LaGrone. Clayton Homme enters his third season as a Vandal and the Kennewick, Wash., native has appeared in 19 games for Idaho. Not to mention that incoming freshman Eric Lemke was the nation’s No. 53 tight end during his high school in Issaquah, Wash. Lemke, according to ESPN.com, had been in contact with Washington State, Boise State and Oregon State before signing with Idaho.
Still, LaGrone and Elmo anchor the tight end group as a double-threat to the new-look WAC this fall.
The two have a difficult time reminiscing on a less than satisfactory 2011 season but understand the impact they have on one another has become vital to the team’s success.
“When one of us was down, the other one stepped up that’s all it came to,” LaGrone said. “As long as one of us is doing well, helping our team that’s all that matters to me because when it comes down to it he’s my brother and we’re not going to be selfish either way.”
The bond they share makes relying on each other that much easier, Elmo said.
“Say if I make a mistake and know my head’s just not in it I’ll say ‘Mike get in here,’ and I know he’ll be like ‘I know he needs a break to get his mind right’,” Elmo said. “If he’s not doing too hot he’ll say ‘Hey Elmo come get me real quick,’ so I feel like we have the camaraderie between ourselves that it just meshes.”
Theo Lawson can be reached at [email protected]