The quarterback competition between Matt Linehan and Chad Chalich brings some uncertainty to the Idaho offense. There is, however, one thing for certain — whoever ends up winning the battle will have weapons — lots of them.
The biggest takeaway from the spring practices, so far, is the amount of playmakers the offense has. Whether it’s the big and tall, or short and fast, Idaho coach Paul Petrino certainly has a variety to choose from.
Recently converted quarterback to wide receiver, Joshua McCain, has been a standout in his new position. Last Saturday, at the first spring scrimmage, McCain erupted for 218 yards and five touchdowns on just eight receptions.
McCain is not only deceptively quick, but also at 6-foot-2, 185 pounds, possesses the size to play wide receiver. Topping it all off, the man can catch too. On one of his five touchdowns, McCain was running a fade route to the corner of the end zone — he looked to be covered at first — but in a blink of an eye, McCain leapt over the defender and snatched the ball for a touchdown.
Another wide receiver to watch is sophomore Deon Watson, who at 6-foot-4, 213 pounds, also has great size. He lit up the Vandal defense last Saturday for 199 yards and one touchdown on 11 receptions.
While those two run the deeper routes, taking the top off the defense, running back and wide receiver Richard Montgomery and wide receiver Dezmon Epps will be running underneath routes and getting the ball in space. These two are dangerous and can make the best defenders miss a tackle. I wouldn’t be surprised if Montgomery leads the Sun Belt in all-purpose yards this season.
The backfield, however, is just about as set as the quarterback situation — if not more uncertain. But that’s not for lack of talent. Along with Montgomery, senior Jerrel Brown and junior Kris Olugbode figure to have the upper hand. Brown rushed for 106 yards and four touchdowns on 22 carries, during the scrimmage.
With all of this said, there are a few variables to take into account.
One — Idaho’s defense was ranked near the bottom of every defensive category last season. Petrino and his staff may be tinkering with their defense this spring, moving players and trying new defensive formations. I’ve noticed them lined up in a 4-2-5 formation quite a bit this spring. All the tinkering could lead to holes in the defense, and the offense is getting really good at exploiting them.
Two — How will Idaho’s offensive line hold up? The quarterback will need time to throw the ball to all of these playmakers, time that Idaho quarterbacks didn’t get last season. The Vandal quarterbacks got sacked a combined 53 times last season, a number that will need to decrease if this high-power offense wants to succeed.
In the game of college football, speed kills and this offense has plenty of it. This could potentially be an exciting team to watch.
Korbin McDonald can be reached at [email protected]