When Paul Petrino was hired as head coach at Idaho, he had a large mess of a football team to clean up. Slowly but surely, the team appears to be on the rise as Petrino and his staff are close to finishing up their second recruiting class — this one looking even better than last.
Filled with a plethora of junior college transfers and strong high school talent, the Vandals are quickly looking like they will be one of the stronger teams in the Sun Belt down the road. It obviously takes more than just getting a recruit to campus to win games, but the 2015 class is looking promising so far and Vandal fans should be excited about players coming to campus next fall.
Perhaps the biggest name to watch from this class so far is quarterback Kareem Coles. The San Diego, California native and soon to be Madison High School alum is a 3-star prospect according to 24/7 Sports. At 6-foot-1 and 170 pounds, Coles was a three-year starter at Madison, and led his team to a California Division III State Championship in 2012. He won Western League Offensive Player of the Year his junior season, and his senior year earned First Team All-CIF.
Coles first was committed to Utah State, but on Dec. 12 he decommited and reopened his recruitment. With offers coming from UNLV and Big Sky schools Montana, Montana State, UC Davis and Cal Poly, Coles chose the Vandals. Idaho also gives him a chance to team up with former Madison teammate, wide receiver Michal Garner, who will be coming off his grayshirt this spring.
The quarterback position saw a lot of inconsistency for Idaho last season, and Coles will battle with sophomore Matt Linehan and redshirt freshman Jake Luton for the starting spot. While Coles does certainly have the talent to be a starter year one, it will be interesting to watch if the coaching staff does decide to redshirt him a year or let him see the field his freshman year.
In a conference like the Sun Belt, getting 3-star prospects is critical to be competitive in the conference. Along with Coles, Denzal Brantley is another 3-star prospect that has committed to play for Idaho next season. Brantley is a 6-foot-1, 203-pound outside linebacker from Los Alamitos, California. At Los Alamitos High School, Brantley also played running back. He was named to the 2013 All-Sunset League First Team as a linebacker and running back his junior year, and his senior year won Sunset League MVP as a running back. He was rated as the #26 west coast outside linebacker of the 2015 class by 24/7 Sports.
Brantley comes to Idaho as an outside linebacker, joining a defense that struggled mightily last season. A 3-star talent like Brantley can make an impact in just his first year. With all his success running the football in high school, we could easily see him lining up in the backfield for snaps too. Brantley chose Idaho over offers from Nevada, New Mexico, and Montana State.
Petrino has been busy trying to rebuild his offensive line this recruiting class. While he picked up a couple junior college players, his most promising signing on the offensive line comes from the high school ranks. Zion Dixon, a 3-star prospect from Coeur d’Alene and Lake City High School will join Idaho next year. The 6-foot-4, 290-pound Dixon projects to be an anchor on the offensive line for years to come, as his size and potential give the Vandal offensive line coaches a lot to work with.
Under Petrino, the offensive line has finished last or near the bottom in sacks allowed. Along with Dixon, Idaho will welcome in a lot of offensive line help for next season. Conner Vrba is another in-state commit, as he is from Meridian, Idaho and Rocky Mountain High School. Tanner Mauseth, from Pocatello, Idaho, is a project player who had very little interest outside of Idaho, but at 6-foot-7 he could become an anchor of the offensive line if he adds weight to his 270-pound frame.
Idaho currently has four junior college offensive line commits. One of them is Andrew Erbes, a 6-foot-3, 290-pound guard from Scottsdale, Arizona, attended Mesa College (AZ) where he earned a 3-star rating by Rivals and two stars from Scout. Erbes chose the Vandals over Sun Belt-foe Texas State and Memphis.
In addition to the offensive line improvements, the backfield received a boost in talent as well.
Jack Bamis is a running back out of Gonzaga Prep High School in Spokane, Washington. At 6-foot-2 and 205 pounds, Bamis is a power back that can also turn on the jets, as he runs a reported 4.56 40-yard dash. Due to his size and speed, Bamis projects as a good defensive back as well, possibly seeing some playing time at safety.
At wide receiver, the Vandals currently have commitments from Jante Boston, a 2-star from Jacksonville, Florida and Jean Ribault High School, and Callen Hightower, a 2-star and former Mississippi State walk-on from Loganville, Georgia. Tui Satuala (2-star by 24/7 Sports) is the one tight end in the 2015 class, coming from Snow College in Utah.
On the defensive line, Maxx Forde, Quinton Bradley and Quayshawne Buckley are all gone. Replacing them is an extremely difficult task for Idaho, and while the line has pieces already in place to take over, providing quality depth behind them is key for the Vandals.
Mytrell Denson, a 2-star defensive tackle from Jacksonville and Edward H. White High School is committed to Idaho, and will provide that depth the Vandals need. On the end, both 2-star junior college transfers Leonard Hazewood from Rocklin, California and Sierra College and Kevin White from New Rochelle, New York and Monroe College will join Idaho.
Brantley is arguably the best commitment for Idaho thus far as signing day nears, but he won’t be the only linebacker joining this class. Michael Linehan, son of Vandal legend Scott Linehan and brother of current Vandal quarterback Matt Linehan, will continue the Linehan tradition of playing football for Idaho. Michael plays inside linebacker, and comes from Highland Park High School in Dallas and is a 2-star prospect by Scout.
This past season, the Idaho secondary was exposed many times and gave up a number of momentum-killing big plays to opponents. A good amount of the secondary commits are junior college transfers, including Isaiah Taylor from Sacramento City College and Sacramento, California. Taylor is a 2-star corner with a great build at 6-foot-1 and 180 pounds. Also a 2-star, Willie Fletcher of Cerritos College and Norwalk, California is another big physical corner at 6-foot-3 and 188 pounds. Petrino and the rest of the staff have made it clear they want big physical defensive backs on this roster.
Signing day is coming up on Feb. 4,, and expect more players to commit to Idaho. For now, there are certain players to watch that have Idaho in their final list of schools as we near signing day. Eric Hales, a 6-foot-4, 240 pound defensive tackle from Minneola, Florida, visited the school on the 24th and only holds an offer from the Vandals. Some big name prospects like 3-star junior college defensive tackle Darius Commissiong and end Nathan Mitogs, and 3-star high school seniors running back Milo Hall and wide receiver Cameron Sutton all have Idaho on their final list of schools.
So far it is shaping up as Petrino’s best class so far at Idaho, but with signing day still not here the class is far from final.
Ben Evensen can be reached at [email protected]