Evaluating the evolving Vandals

It was telling that the teams Idaho was more competitive with last year in football were the more physical, ground-and-pound teams.

Like Portland State, Montana State, Southern Utah, North Dakota ...

And the teams the Vandals struggled with — like Eastern Washington, UC Davis, Idaho State and, to a degree, Montana — were more athletic and featured playmakers.

“Probably because our team was built that way a little more over the years,” Idaho coach Paul Petrino said recently. “It probably wasn’t a coincidence. The Sun Belt was a little more bigger, physical, and the Big Sky is a little more spread out, and guys making plays in space.”

AFTER FOUR seasons in the more physical Sun Belt Conference, Idaho transitioned to more wide-open Big Sky last season, finishing 3-5 in conference, 4-7 overall.

Petrino said he knew that going into the season, from watching tape. Still, it was something he felt he needed to address in recruiting this year’s class.

“We had to find more guys defensively (since it’s more spread out in the Big Sky) that could tackle in space, and run, as opposed to more of a downhill, pounding league (in the Sun Belt),” Petrino said. “But you’re still going to try to go out and sign the very best players you can. ... We just had needs that we had to fill, and we went out and got the best players that we could at those needs.”

He said in his evaluation of his team last season, “The two biggest things were, we’ve got to tackle better in space, and we’ve got to make more big plays after the catch,” Petrino said. “We had a lot of catches — we’ve got to get more yards after them. And a lot of that was, we had some young guys, and just continue to recruit more guys that can make plays after the catch, and develop the ones we have into making more plays after the catch.”

Petrino said of the returning receivers, guys like Jeff Cotton, Cuttrell Haywood and D.J. Lee have a chance to develop into those types of playmakers.

And as for this year’s recruiting class...

“I think we’ve got a couple of guys that have a chance to be playmakers,” Petrino said.

IN A recent visit to Coeur d’Alene, prior to a booster function at The Coeur d’Alene Resort, Petrino, who is preparing for his seventh season as Vandals head coach, touched on several other topics related to Vandal football, including:

North Idaho players expected to make an impact this fall.

Almost immediately, Petrino offered Noah Gunn, an offensive tackle from Coeur d’Alene, who signed with Air Force Academy out of high school in 2018, then transferred to Idaho.

“We’re really excited about him,” Petrino said. “We really tried to recruit him hard out of high school. We’ve got a lot of experience coming back on the O-line, and it’s the most experienced O-line we’ll have since the bowl team, and if he can step in and be as good as we think he is, I think that could make us really good up front — that’s where everything starts. We’re counting on him battling to be a starter.”

Petrino said “it’ll be a big spring” for linebacker Ross Chadderdon of Coeur d’Alene, who redshirted last fall.

It will also be a big spring, Petrino said, for former Post Falls Trojans Nate DeGraw and Brad Noesen, both redshirt sophomore defensive linemen. DeGraw played some on special teams last year.

“I think they’re both hard workers, tough kids that continue to get better,” Petrino said. “They’ll both get a lot of reps this spring.”

Same with a couple of former Sandpoint Bulldogs — Carlos Collado, who has played some O-line and fullback at Idaho, and linebacker Kyle Perry.

“Kyle Perry was maybe one of our best players on special teams last year,” Petrino said. “He had a really good year last year on special teams — special teams player of the week a couple of times. I think this will be a huge spring for him, competing to be a starting linebacker, for sure.

The new recruiting cycle, which now includes a three-day “early” signing period in December, followed by the traditional signing period beginning the first Wednesday in February:

“I think the early one’s always great, because you know where you’re at, especially with the guys you’ve been working on hard throughout the summer,” Petrino said. “It’s really no different for the junior college guys — you were going to sign them early, or not. But for the high school kids, it lets you know at the mid-year, if those guys are committed, or acting like they’re committed, if you’re really going to get them or not. Then you know at that point what you still need to get, and what guys are out there that other people maybe didn’t go on.”

Idaho signed 13 players in the December early signing period, and 14 more (including three JC players in January) during the signing period that started in early February.

Many of the FBS schools, like Washington State and Boise State, signed the bulk of their players in December, and only a couple in February.

“At that level it’s looking like most people fill up, with the exception of about 2 or 3,” Petrino said. “Then some of those guys that are left over, that lets us know who’s still out there that we can try to get.”

Does the early signing period maybe help the FCS schools?

“I think sometimes it does,” Petrino said. “And also when they (the bigger FBS schools) are filled up, you don’t get as many guys stolen at the end as you used to. You’ll still lose maybe one guy, or two guys right at the end, but you won’t lose as many because they’re already filled up so they don’t have a bunch of guys left to steal.”

Getting five players in this class to leave sunny Arizona and come to Idaho:

“We’ve been doing a good job in Arizona lately,” Petrino said. “Sometimes you know you’re doing a good job when you come in second on a lot of guys, but you get in the schools, and get a chance.

“(Assistant) Coach Troy Purcell was in Arizona, and when he left, we promoted Steve Oliver, and Steve’s from Arizona, so we kinda already had our foot in the door on a lot of those schools, and Steve did a great job down there. Sometimes it just takes to get one of them. And if you can get one of them to commit early, then a lot of them come together. I think they were communicating with each other, and I think it helped that they all knew each other.”

I think Roshaun Johnson (a redshirt sophomore running back), who we signed a couple years ago from Arizona, and then Dalton Cash (a sophomore tight end), who we signed from Arizona, they both did a great job hosting kids when they came on their visit, and that really helped us get the Arizona kids.”

“Sully (Shannon, a linebacker) and (wide receiver Deseau) Puffer were probably the first two to commit, then the two brothers committed (twins Hayden and Hogan Hatten, a tight end and linebacker, respectively), and that helped us get the last one (defensive back David Eppinger).”

On the quarterback situation. Last season, then-sophomore Colton Richardson and then-junior Mason Petrino went into the season basically sharing the job. Partly through play and partly through injury to Richardson, Petrino emerged as the starter.

Naturally, asked who will be the starter heading into spring ball, Paul Petrino, the head coach and Mason’s father, played it coy.

“I think they’ll all battle, they’ll all compete ... we’ve got to get all three of them (including sophomore Nikhil Nayar) to be as good as they can,” Petrino said. “Idaho State and Montana, they’re the only two (in the Big Sky) that played with one quarterback (last season). Everybody else had guys that got banged up, and had to play a couple guys.”

Petrino also signed a high school quarterback from Tennessee, Nate Cisco, in December.

On what a Vandal Kind of Guy is:

Years ago, Chris Petersen coined the phrase “OKG” at Boise State, for Our Kind of Guy. More recently, Aaron Best at Eastern Washington is looking for an “EKG” (Eagle Kind of Guy). So what exactly would a “VKG” (Vandal Kind of Guy) be?

“I think the biggest thing you’ve got to be in our program is a worker,” Petrino said. “You’ve got to be able to work hard, get up and grind and work hard every day, and be a tough, physical football player. I’d say that’s our kind of guy.”

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter@CdAPressSports.