“Improvement” is a word thrown around casually during the spring football season. While it may be tough for Paul Petrino to truly gauge his team’s improvement until the Vandals open up their regular season, Saturday’s spring scrimmage served as an eye-opening checkpoint for Idaho’s first-year headman.
The Vandals’ three-hour session saw a little more of everything, primarily due to the increased number of offensive series played. Either way, improvement was evident on both sides of the ball and the offense made its way into the end zones 10 times while the defense shocked its offensive counterparts, scoring on three turnovers.
“There was some real good things,” Petrino said. “The most exciting thing was that there were guys flying around, there was good hitting going on. I thought the defense made some big strides in that from last weekend.”
“Steal from the rich, give to the poor” was the mantra Petrino followed Saturday, as a depleted Vandal secondary welcomed the athleticism of quarterback Austin DeCoud, who sported the white No. 21 jersey and gave the shorthanded safety unit much-needed breathers on a few different occasions.
Four series in, Idaho’s offense and defense were tied at two scores a piece, meaning Petrino would steal from the defense, gifting the offensive line with defensive tackle Jesse Davis.
The Asotin, Wash., native hadn’t played on the other side of the ball since 2009, and it proved to be a demanding transition.
“It was difficult, a lot harder, a lot more technique into it than the d-line,” Davis said. “I’ve just got to get into the film room and study up.”
Petrino’s tactics, unorthodox but effective, saw DeCoud break up one pass and rack up four tackles while Davis preserved exhaustion on the o-line, all while accumulating four more tackles on the defensive side of the ball.
“We’ve had a couple injuries so right now guys are making amazing efforts, I mean unbelievable,” offensive line coach Jon Carvin said. “We had a couple of guys last week play over 100 plays in a scrimmage. This week I’m sure we also had the same thing.”
And if the offensive line accomplished anything, it was opening holes for Idaho’s brand new junior college transfer tailbacks.
Kris Olugbode increased his spring scrimmage touchdown tally to eight overall while Jerrel Brown is up to five. The duo combined for 381 yards, and it was redshirt freshman Andrew Williams who broke off for the Vandals’ long touchdown run of the afternoon, a 62-yard sprint that became the offense’s fifth score.
While Idaho’s backfield thrived, neither quarterback lobbying for the starting position did much to separate himself from the other.
Chad Chalich, who attempted 14 more passes than to-be senior Taylor Davis, threw three interceptions and was forced into a trio of fumbles. The redshirt freshman from Coeur d’Alene was 21-of-32 with one touchdown while Davis was 15-of-31 with one touchdown and one fumble.
“I think I was kind of upset with them, I thought they took a step back,” Petrino said. “I thought they played a lot better last weekend, really made strides during the week and really took a step back.”
Idaho’s quarterbacks will have two more opportunities to earn the starting role before junior college transfer Josh McCain is thrown into the mix in August.
For the moment, Idaho is without much of a special teams unit, as kicker Jace Johnson has left the program. With the departure of senior punter Bobby Cowan, the Vandals have also been without a punter, and will await the arrival of Spokane native Austin Rehkow, who could fill both voids.
“(Johnson) decided he didn’t want to play anymore,” Petrino said. “You’ve just got to deal with whatever cards you got so we’ve just got to keep grinding.”
The Vandals will be back at it Saturday for their third spring scrimmage. The spring season will conclude April 19, when the team meets for the annual Silver and Gold Scrimmage. The game will be played at 6 p.m inside the Kibbie Dome.