Idaho football enters 2019 with renewed hopes of success for the upcoming year

The bright lights are back on in the Kibbie Dome in preparation for Vandal football’s anticipated journey to becoming Big Sky champions.

As the process continues during Idaho’s second season back in the conference, the Vandals are gearing up for the grind with a strong fall camp performance.

With many new faces on this year’s squad, the Idaho defense looks to become one of the most dominant in the Big Sky behind a possibly impenetrable defensive line.

It starts with two of the biggest defensive tackles in the conference — redshirt sophomore Noah Elliss and junior Jonah Kim.

Kim enters the year at 6-foot-3, 353 pounds while Elliss, possibly the next great Idaho standout from the family, sits at 6-foot-4, 347 pounds. The two linemen could possibly become the brick wall Idaho needs on their defensive front, as well as the leadership and speed redshirt junior Rahsaan Crawford brings throughout the defensive tackle rotation.

Sophomore linebacker Tre Walker continues his strong growth with dominant play through fall camp. Walker finished Wednesday’s mock game with dominating tackles on Idaho running backs while bulldozing through the line of scrimmage to give the offense negative yards on the play.

The combination of Walker and junior linebacker Christian Elliss could be a deadly duo for the Vandal linebacking core, which over the past few seasons has always been one of the standout position groups for Idaho football.

The secondary for the Vandals will continue to be the biggest question on the defensive side of the ball, but vast improvements have been made.

Senior defensive back Lloyd Hightower leads the Idaho secondary after finishing last year in the top ten of the FCS in defensive pass breakups.

A newly made safety duo of transfers can help control the field for the Vandals this coming year as well.

Junior safety Satchel Escalante carries his hardworking play from spring football into the fall with high hopes of being one of the best safeties in the Big Sky while redshirt senior Davontae Ginwright brings more experience to the Idaho secondary.

Ginwright was a part of Western Michigan’s magical 13-1 season a few years ago, hoping to bring along the winning attitude to the Vandal defense.

Overall, it seems that Idaho will be led by another dominant defense. But can the Idaho offense finally provide some firepower that was missing from last season?

The conversation continues with junior quarterback Colton Richardson and senior Mason Petrino vying for the starting job.

It seems that the battle will once again continue through the start of the season, but the question lingers if head coach Paul Petrino will commit to the stability of a single quarterback system.

Petrino showed confidence in the pocket during the mock game, stepping through strong throws, including a perfect back shoulder pass to redshirt senior Jeff Cotton in the back of the Idaho endzone for a touchdown.

The confidence isn’t shown just within the pocket but the huddle as well, making it a possibility that this will be a Petrino led offense during his final season.

The senior quarterback will once again have many weapons to play with. Wideouts Cotton and redshirt sophomore Cutrell Haywood look to continue the explosive play that Vandal fans became familiar with last season. Redshirt senior Jante Boston makes the change over to wide receiver this season after playing defensive back, with redshirt sophomore DJ Lee returning to the wide receiver core, set to be a potential slot receiver threat downfield.

The battle for the starting running back position remains a competitive one going into the final week preparations for the opener against Penn State.

Freshman Nick Romano looks to be the favorite, but depth is evident in the position group with freshman Kiahn Martinez and redshirt sophomore Roshaun Johnson also making big plays throughout fall camp.

The list can continue at the running back position for Idaho with the Vandals having five players who can perform at a high level in the backfield.

Vandal football looks to lead the offense through the trenches with a sturdy and disciplined Idaho offensive line this upcoming season.

Senior Noah Johnson seems to be the outright leader of not only the line but possibly the whole offense. Redshirt junior Conner Vrba looks to be the man at center, with freshman Noah Gunn adding tenacity to a solid offensive line finished out by sophomores Logan Floyd and Matthew Faupusa.

Last but not least, there is the man, myth and legend himself — redshirt junior Cade Coffey. The Rathdrum native aims to have another dominating performance for the Idaho special teams unit.

If one word can describe the current Idaho squad it has to be depth. The Vandals look to have a deep enough roster at almost every position to carry Idaho through another daunting Big Sky schedule.

With fall camp quickly coming to a close, all that is left is for the results to be played out on the field when Idaho travels to take on the Penn State Nittany Lions Aug. 31.

Chris Deremer can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @chris_DEREMER