Whatever the 2013 version of Idaho football will look like in the fall, it started to come to fruition Friday evening at the Kibbie Dome when the Vandals concluded spring practices with the annual 2013 Silver and Gold game.
Ilya Pinchuk | Courtesy
Chad Chalich completes a pass during Idaho’s Silver and Gold scrimmage Friday in the Kibbie Dome. Chalich was 24-of-45 with 332 yards and three touchdowns while rushing for 102 more.
The last three weeks have featured a distinctly different Idaho team than the one that ended the 2012 campaign with a 45-9 loss at Utah State. Through a number of defections and a multitude of junior college additions, the team has taken a new identity and look under Paul Petrino, one fans finally got a first hand look at Friday.
The read-option offense took center stage with redshirt freshman quarterback Chad Chalich dazzling with his legs en route to a five-touchdown day — two with his legs.
The Coeur d’Alene product rushed for 102 yards and threw for 352 working with the ‘Gold’ first-team offense. Although most of that production came against
Idaho’s reserve defense, he impressed with his ability to command Idaho’s new read-option both running the ball and standing in the pocket to move the chains.
Petrino was non-committal in naming a No. 1 quarterback heading into the summer, but Chalich‘s performance has him standing out.
“I came out, did my best, I thought I was more confident in the pocket throwing the ball. There’s always areas to improve on and I’m going to watch film and see areas that I need to improve on,” Chalich said.
Senior Taylor Davis ran as the second team quarterback with the Gold team most of the day and faced an onslaught from the Silver team defensive line spurred by defensive ends Quinton Bradley and Maxx Forde. Davis was sacked four times while taking snaps for the Gold team. All but three of his attempts came with the Gold team — he completed 50 percent of his passes for 165 yards and no touchdowns.
“Being out there and feeling it, it looked like Chad had a better day today. There’s a lot of time left, there’s all summer, guys can get better, guys can compete,” Petrino said. “If we had to go off the last couple of scrimmages, I would say Chad would be a little bit ahead but there’s a lot of time. Guys can really improve in the summer.”
Throughout spring practice Idaho has established an identity working its offense through the ground, and on Friday displayed what could be a three-pronged rushing attack with senior James Baker and juniors Kris Olugbode and Jerrel Brown. Olugbode took most of the Silver and Gold game off due to being worked a lot through the spring, so Baker took full advantage of the reps he was given.
Baker broke the plane on short yardage touchdowns three times, and averaged 6.7 yards-per-carry.
“We all bring power and speed, we’re actually pretty similar backs…the whole trio we have going on, we love it, we’re just trying to expand it and be the best running back trio we can,” Brown said.
Brown and Baker combined for over 250 yards of offense on the ground on an average of well over six yards-per-carry, effectively hitting the holes in between the tackles, hitting the edges and converting in short yardage situations.
Petrino said prior to spring practice that running backs were a need he wanted to address immediately when he got here, and it seems like he’s done just that with the production from Friday’s game.
“We’ve all been learning from each other, it’s a new offense for all three of us. So we’ve been helping each other out, encouraging each other,” Brown said.
Of course, those backs going against the second-team defense seemed to help. The Silver defense didn’t give up a run of more than six yards from a running back, stymying the Gold attack for less than 30 rushing yards. Idaho’s trio of new junior college linebackers in Marc Millan, Juan Martinez and Eric Tuipulotu may have had something to do with that.
“A lot of those guys have come in and done great things in practice, actually also been leaders on defense vocally and with their play flying around, so it’s good to see a lot of those new faces making good things happen, it’s been a good experience,” Forde said.
Idaho will get fall practices underway sometime in August, when it anticipates the arrival of players such as linebacker Broc Westlake, quarterback Josh McCain and defensive back Delancy Parham, who could all come in and contribute right away.
Sean Kramer can be reached at [email protected]