It really wouldn’t be Idaho spring football without a quarterback competition. And indeed, for a third consecutive spring there will be competition to be the starting signal caller.
This spring should be especially interesting.
On one end there is the incumbent starter, Chad Chalich, who started seven games last season before being sidelined with a shoulder injury at Arkansas State. He is the local name, having led Coeur D’Alene to a 5A state championships.
On the other end is Matt Linehan, the redshirt freshman who was stellar in Sunday scrimmages and scout team performances last season during his redshirt year. He is, of course, the son of former Idaho quarterback Scott Linehan.
“It’s going to be a good competition,” Petrino said to lead off his meeting with reporters Thursday afternoon. “If Chad wouldn’t have gotten hurt and played the whole year then he probably would have come back as definitely the starter.”
Chalich’s experience means he will get the very first snap of the spring, Petrino said, but repetitions will be split evenly down the middle with both players taking the same amount with the first and second teams.
“We need to get them both to be as good as they can. Obviously we found out last year that you can’t have enough guys ready to play. They both will take exactly the same amount of reps with the ones and the twos and have a great competition and see who the better player is in the spring,” Petrino said.
Petrino touched on Chalich’s health, saying that he is completely healthy and ready to go. Although there may be some fatigue when Chalich starts throwing the ball a considerable amount, so there be a limit on the amount he throws throughout the spring.
The third face in the quarterback picture won’t really be in the quarterback picture. Josh McCain will be moving to wide receiver, though will still be receiving snaps at quarterback in specialized packages.
“He’ll take some snaps but we’re trying really to make him a receiver, we still have to get a package for him at quarterback and he’ll always have a package, similar to when he came in and ran last year. But we’re really going to work hard this spring at making him a receiver but he’ll take some reps at quarterback,” Perino said.
Offensive line competition
Idaho is bringing back nine offensive line who started games last season. So Petrino is excited to add even more bodies to the competition with junior college signees Jeff Travillion and Kato Fawkes.
Offensive line is a position group that Petrino gave a shout out to when talking about the increased competition he expects this spring practice compared to last season.
Petrino said on it: “Biggest thing for me that I’m excited about is we actually have competition across the board,” he said. “There were some positions last year where there was one guy who was a starter and he kind of knew he was the starter and there probably wasn’t anybody with a chance to beat him out.”
Cody Elenz and Jesse Davis will be limited in the spring, Petrino said. He still expects two-deep competition on the offensive line despite those injuries.
“You look at the offensive line there’s competition at every single spot right now between the two people who are fighting for it, and that’s with Jesse Davis being limited this spring and Cody will be a little bit limited,” Petrino said. “Even with those two out we still have guys who are going to battle and compete at each position and that’s how you become great. When you get that at every single position across the board that’s how, they know if they don’t perform well, a guy is going to beat them out.”
Roberto Asencio tryout
Roberto Asencio of the basketball program will be on a 14-day tryout with the football program, Petrino announced. The 6-foot-9 power forward will get his shot at becoming a wide receiver for Petrino. Should he stick with the program, his scholarship will be applied to the football program rather than the basketball program per NCAA rules.
“You don’t see too many 6-9 guys who can run around and run and catch, excited to get him out there and see what he can do,” Petrino said. “Just an athletic guy, some of the best receivers I’ve ever coached were great basketball players who came out and became receivers. I’m excited to get him out there and see what he can do.”
Togetherness
Petrino doesn’t really like the talk of “Robb Akey’s guys” and “Paul Petrino’s guys.” That talk is used with every program that goes through a coaching change, and Petrino said he heard it with his players last season. Though on Tuesday he said he gathered his team together to make sure his team was past that.
“I never really liked that, and unfortunately everybody uses if including some of the players used it last year, your guys, their guys, whoever’s guys. People say it, I know exactly what you’re saying,” Petrino said. “We just had a team meeting two days ago and I told them, we’re all together, we’re all in this thing together, there’s no other people’s guys, my guys, we’re all in this together.”
He continued: “All you guys have been here for a year, you all understand how we do things, you all know how we go about it, we’ve all got to come together. The more that we really can build relationships amongst players, amongst each-other, offense and defense come together, and coaching staff and players have to come together and the stronger that we build those relationships, the better chance you have at winning games in the fourth quarter, the better chance that you have of fighting for eachother when it comes down to it.”
“No question I’m really excited about that because now we’ve all been together longer, and we know eachother better, we’ve built more relationships.”
Team building exercises such as a basketball tournament helped bring the team together, Petrino said.
Senior leadership
If Petrino wants to get rid of the distinction between his guys and Akey’s guys, he made a point when he pointed out Maxx Forde as an obvious player he expects to take a leadership role this season. Forde is a fifth-year senior and expected to start and excel at defensive end this year.
Along with Forde, he named Marboe, Dezmon Epps and junior Marc Millan as leaders.
“I think, it doesn’t need to be seniors but I think we have more leaders now after a year. And it really helps that the whole team knows what to expect, they know how we practice, they know how we’re going to work,” Petrino said. “Everyone who is here by now has been through two off-season workouts, or one if they just got here, but they know how we’re going to grind, they know how we’re going to work, everyone who is here is here, they’ve bought in, so the leadership within is way better.”
Other notes
– Defensive end Quinton Bradley is healthy, and is a player Petrino expects to be a “beast.” Petrino would like him to be tougher about playing through injuries and he said the only player who could stop Bradley is Bradley himself.
– Defensive tackle Glen Antoine is the only early JC addition who will be sidelined for spring practice. He had surgery to repair his shoulder. DB Chris Edwards will join the team in the fall.
– Petrino expects RB Richard Montgomery to expand his role as a receiver. Specifically, two RB packages where he splits out to find mis-matches. Petrino would also like to see Montgomery to get tougher as to not get tackled so easily.
– Petrino would like to put an end to his running back platoon. It’d be preferred if one or two players step up and take the job and make it theirs, Petrino said.
– Quarterbacks won’t be live for tackling in spring practice this year. They were live last season.