National Letter of Intent day is right around the corner. On Feb. 6, Paul Petrino will officially ink most, if not all, of his first recruiting class as head coach of the Vandals.
The combination of him being in his first few months on the job as well as the fact that Idaho is a mid-major program — and a newly independent one at that — means this class will likely be infused with a number of junior college signees.
When hired, Petrino made it clear he wanted coaches who could hit the Pacific Northwest hard and put Idaho in the conversation at a number of high schools in the area, while being able to then hit California as needed to round out a class.
That might be put on hold for the 2014 signing class.
Still, Petrino and his staff have already hauled in a number of junior college signees and high school commits.
Here are the junior college kids who have already signed Letters of Intent with Idaho:
Anthony Neyer – quarterback – 6-2, 215 pounds – Los Angeles Pierce College (former USC walk-on)
Delency Parham – cornerback – 5-11, 180 pounds – Santa Barbara City College
Juan Martinez – linebacker – 6-3, 235 pounds – City College of San Francisco
Eric Tuipulotu – linebacker – 5-11, 215 pounds – College of San Mateo
Marc Millan – linebacker – 6-1, 215 pounds – Santa Ana College
Kris Olugbode- running back – 5-9, 200 pounds – City College of San Francisco
Jerrel Brown – running back – 6-0, 220 pounds – College of San Mateo
Getting three linebackers isn’t surprising considering Idaho graduated its entire trio of starting linebackers from 2012 and returns only moderate experience at the position with Elan Richard and Jeremiah Walters.
The two running backs will join a backfield consisting of senior James Baker and sophomores Todd Handley and Justin Parkins. Idaho struggled to run the ball with consistency in 2012 and it appears Petrino is hoping for festive competition at the spot in spring practice.
The quarterback is the most surprising signing. Petrino said he wasn’t anticipating on bringing a junior college quarterback in until the start of fall practice, but that was before quarterbacks coach Bryce Erickson made a recruiting trip down to southern California and found Anthony Neyer.
Neyer, who started playing quarterback his junior year of high school, spent two years as a walk-on at USC before transferring to LA Pierce College where he spent a lot of the year in a reserve role.
It’s unknown if Petrino will bring in another junior college quarterback, though he does anticipate bringing in a high school quarterback to redshirt. It’s likely a starter at the position will be decided on at some point during spring practice and heading in to the summer, with Neyer and senior Taylor Davis competing against sophomores Chad Chalich and Austin DeCoud.
On high school recruiting
Currently Idaho has a handful of verbal commitments from high school athletes around the country. It’s important to remember that a verbal commitment is completely non-binding until these athletes sign Letters of Intent on or after Feb. 6.
Jawon Johnson – safety – 6-3, 185 pounds – Jireh Prep (Mathews, NC)
Isaiah Saunders – running back – 5-11, 185 pounds – Pleasant Grove (Elk Grove, Calif.)
Patrick Johnson – offensive guard – 6-4, 285 pounds – Paradise Valley (Phoenix)
Nick Edenfield – offensive guard – 6-4, 275 pounds – Columbia (Nampa)
Reuben Mwehla – defensive back, wide receiver – 5-10, 175 pounds – Bellevue (Wash.)
Trent Cowan – athlete – 6-4, 205 pounds – Vancouver (Wash.)
Craig Scott – wide receiver – 6-0, 170 pounds – Kansas City (Mo.)
Sean Kramer can be reached at [email protected]