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When the season finished Nov. 29, Idaho didn’t have a single recruit committed to its football program. Now, just over two months later, Idaho coach Paul Petrino added a total of 27 players for his second recruiting class as the Vandals’ head coach.
After he witnessed his team constantly get beat in the speed department, Petrino said one of his main focuses for this recruiting class was to improve the overall team speed.
“This day and age in football, you got to get speed and we really improved our speed,” he said. “We really got faster in the back end of the defense and that’s something we all knew we had to do.”
Of the 11 junior college players who signed in December during the early signing period for J.C. players, four were defensive backs.
With the four already en route to Moscow, Petrino didn’t place a huge emphasis on recruiting high school defensive backs. He did, however, sign an impressive safety out of Jacksonville, Florida’s Bolles High School.
At 6-foot and 211 pounds, Trenton McGhee was selected to the 4A all-state second-team. Petrino said early in the recruiting process, Ohio State and Louisville were going after McGhee the hardest, but let up as signing day approached.
“I think that scared some (teams) off,” he said.
Petrino credits his relationship with McGhee’s head coach at Bolles, Corky Rogers, as the main reason why the safety chose Idaho.
“On defense, they don’t come any better there,” Petrino said of McGhee. “Trent started four years at Bolles … That’s a big time school in the state of Florida — he played in four state championships. Trent is going to be a special, special player for us.”
McGhee isn’t the only high school recruit Petrino expects to make an early impact next season for the Vandals. He mentioned Denzal Brantley, a running back from Los Alamitos High School in California, as a player who will contribute to whichever position will get him on the field the fastest.
“I would not see him redshirting,” Petrino said of Brantley. “Wherever he can get on the field the soonest. If that’s running back he’ll be there and if it’s not, it will be somewhere else.”
While most recruiting websites projected Brantley to play outside linebacker at the college level, Petrino said he’s coming to Idaho as a running back.
The position makes sense, because the 6-foot, 207-pound Brantley was his league’s best player as he earned the honor of being named the Sunset League Most Valuable Player. He finished his senior season with 1,036 yards and 10 touchdowns on 148 carries.
“He’s just a great downhill runner,” Petrino said. “He’s got really good vision, he can get in and out of the breaks. When he came out on his visit, he just had a great time … very happy to have him.”
Another emphasis Petrino had with this recruiting class was to keep the local Idaho and Eastern Washington players close to home.
With four players from the state of Idaho and two from Spokane, Petrino was pleased with the quality talent he was able to find close to Moscow.
“It’s a good thing — we need to keep that going and continue to do that every year,” Petrino said of recruiting around the Northwest.
Of the four Idaho products, three play along the offensive line — Tanner Mauseth from Pocatello, Zion Dixon from Coeur d’Alene and Conner Vrba from Meridian –which was a need for the Vandals after they lost three starters to graduation last season.
At 6-foot-8 and 264 pounds, Petrino said Mauseth has a high ceiling and has the potential to play at the next level in the NFL.
“He’s so flexible, and I think he’s going to be a big time player,” Petrino said. “He is the most athletic offensive lineman I’ve had since I’ve been here.”
Along with his talents on the field, Mauseth also excels in the classroom as he currently has a 4.0 GPA in AP classes at Pocatello’s Century High School.
Petrino said he doesn’t expect to sign any more players in the coming weeks and the class will be finished at 27 players.
With the signing class all wrapped up, the Vandals added (including the junior college players) one quarterback, four running backs, one fullback, two wide receivers, one tight end, six offensive linemen, four defensive linemen, two linebackers, five defensive backs and one kicker.
Korbin McDonald can be reached at [email protected]