The Vandals finished day 2 in shorts Tuesday at the SprinTurf, with Idaho coach Paul Petrino a little more pleased with his team’s execution than he was the first day.
There’s little to report in terms of position battles and the way the depth chart has worked itself out, but I’ll delve a little bit into what I observed and what it could mean for the rest of fall camp.
First, some comments on the quarterback battle.
Reps are generally being evenly split, with Chad Chalich and Taylor Davis operating most of the playbook while Josh McCain is being worked along. Chalich once again looked good, making quick reads and knowing when to take off with the ball. McCain has the most powerful ball of the three, but will be a work in progress throughout the spring in terms of timing and making intermediate throws. Accuracy was an issue for him in junior college. Likely-to-redshirt freshman Matthew Linehan looked impressive as well, his frame is great for a quarterback.
The biggest thing when it comes to the competition is that all three players bring something different to the table in terms of skill set and their abilities throwing the ball.
“We have a big enough menu in our offense, we have quite a bit of stuff. You just find out what they do best and when that guy is in there that’s kind of what you do,” Petrino said.
Petrino mentioned a situation at Louisville when the mobile Stefan Lefours was the starting quarterback, while freshman Brian Brohm would come in during second quarters and operate the offense from the pocket. The point isn’t that Idaho will operate a multi-quarterback system, but that the playbook is versatile to suit whoever lines up under center.
“The bottom line is they all have things they do well, and it’s whoever gets us in the endzone the most. Like I’ve said a couple times, that’s who’s going to be our quarterback.”
We also had a chance to speak with quarterbacks coach Bryce Erickson, who couldn’t stress enough the word “competition.”
“Anytime you have competition and the position, it just makes you better. It comes down to who’s the toughest, mentally and physically, and who’s the most consistent, and that’s who’s going to be the quarterback of this football team,” he said. “I think they all have their strengths and weaknesses, they’re all very smart, they all have great work ethic.”
Some other notes and observations:
– Nick Van Rotz is playing the first team right guard spot. He played reserve right tackle last season. The rest of the offensive line remains intact from last spring, from left to right: Cody Elenz, Dallas Sandberg, Mike Marboe and Jesse Davis at right tackle.
– Running back hasn’t changed from the spring. A heavy dose of Jerrell Brown and Kris Olugbode with some James Baker sprinkled in. Veteran wide receivers Najee Lovett and Roman Runner are leading the way at that position.
– Freshman defensive lineman Will Schmidt did indeed do some punting, as Petrino suggested would happen. Freshman Austin Rehkow was still handling both kicking and punting duties, with walk-on Ryan Bordner also getting some kicks in.
Some other roster notes:
– Freshman signees Tony Lashley and Isaiah Saunders are absent from the roster. It’s unsure why they didn’t end up in Moscow. Every other freshman signee is accounted for and participating.
One more note — I ran into Aaron Grymes at practice, who is visiting Moscow during the bye week of his CFL team Edmonton. He said he’s kept in contact with his old teammates and is hearing good stuff about the new coaching staff and the environment. “I heard they’re out there flying around. Everybody looks like they want to play,” he said.
We talked a little about his time with the Edmonton Eskimos, and how that opportunity came about. “The CFL kind of had been knocking on the door…so as soon as things didn’t work out down here I didn’t want to sit around and wait too much,” he said. “Their season was right around the corner up there so I made it just in time for training camp and they gave me the opportunity to come in and play right away so I can’t complain.”
And on the former Vandals in the Canadian Football league: “It’s really good, I know Rolly Lumbala with BC and so is Cosgrove, I saw both of them when we played them in BC. We played Montreal about two weeks ago, so I saw Aaron Lavarias out there with Montreal, it’s really good, it’s some good opportunity to get some more film and play everybody, you can’t complain. I get to wake up everyday and still play football.”
Our next practice report will go a lot more in depth with the personnel. Stay tuned.