The picture is finally coming together for the Vandals football team as they inch closer to their Sept. 1 matchup with Fresno State.
Midway through fall camp more questions are being answered through strong play on the practice field, but some mysteries still remain — specifically the battle at quarterback.
One pleasant surprise this season is the depth of talent at almost every position this season — a great problem for Idaho to have.
One of the biggest storylines coming into the season was the starting quarterback battle between sophomore Colton Richardson and junior Mason Petrino.
By the end of last year, it seemed that Richardson could be the front runner after a sharp performance to end the season at Georgia State. A lot has changed since then and it is now unclear who the starting quarterback will be for the Vandals on Saturdays.
With Richardson sitting out of the first Vandal scrimmage this past weekend, a window opened for Mason to test his team-leading skills. The younger Petrino looked poised and confident running the offense, proving himself to the team that he deserves to be the starting quarterback.
Both quarterbacks have looked sharp, utilizing two different playing styles for the Vandals. Richardson is more of a typical pocket passer — he is hard to take down and has a cannon for an arm. Mason relies more on his feet to roll out of the pocket and find open spots in the field, but he also isn’t afraid to sling it 50 yards for a score. Both bring different assets to the team, and both definitely look prepared to win the job.
The battle at quarterback is at a coin flip of a decision at this point through camp and will be the biggest storyline for Idaho leading up to the first game of the season.
One of the biggest stress points this camp has been focusing on red zone opportunities on both sides of the ball.
Idaho head coach Paul Petrino said he wants to see improvements on offense and defense when the team gets into red zone territory.
“I like to scrimmage red zone a lot because that is usually what comes down to in the games, the offense has to score touchdowns or settle for field goals or the defense has to make them settle for field goals,” Paul said. “But that is how you win games.”
When it comes down to special teams play, Paul said he loves what he is seeing out of his star sophomore kicker Cade Coffey.
“Cade has been strong, his punts have been unbelievable,” Paul said.
Consistency on both sides of the ball is what Paul hopes the team can maintain throughout the season. Paul hopes to build that consistency and cut down the errors after last Saturday’s scrimmage.
“Both sides of the ball have to quit giving up too many big plays,” Paul said. “Offense made too many big plays and the defense gave up too many tackles for loss or sacks.”
Overall, Paul believes there were many great takeaways from the team finally getting to get some real reps in.
“I thought there were many positives from the scrimmage on both sides of the ball. I think the offense had the most big plays in a scrimmage since I’ve been here, and the defensive line made a lot of plays and got at us,” Paul said. “It was kind of up and down, but that’s what you want as a head coach.”
Chris Deremer can be reached at [email protected]