20 weeks later, Vandals kick off another season

Simon Fraser at Idaho, 1 p.m., SWX/ESPN+, 92.5 FM

MOSCOW — Just 140 days after they last took the field, the Idaho Vandals return to the gridiron today, playing host to Simon Fraser of Burnaby, British Columbia today in the season opener at 1 p.m. at the Kibbie Dome.

Idaho went 2-4 in its abbreviated season last spring, postponed from the fall due to COVID-19.

Simon Fraser hasn’t played since 2019, when it went 1-9, including a 70-7 loss to Portland State.

Simon Fraser has since brought in a new coaching staff.

Mike Beaudry, the grad transfer from Connecticut, emerged as the No. 1 quarterback last spring. But CJ Jordan also played, and when all the QBs were sidelined for the game at Eastern Washington, running back Zach Borisch played quarterback. All three could see action.

With wide receiver Jeff Cotton now in the NFL, the Vandals loaded up on transfers at receiver, bringing in Terez Traynor, Mekhi Stevenson and Michael Graves.

“Terez has good hands, a big catch radius, runs hard, he’s a hard guy to tackle,” Idaho coach Paul Petrino said on his radio show earlier this week. “Mekhi is a little older, runs good routes.

Michael Graves is probably the rawest of the three, but he has good speed and good size.”

Defensively, the Vandals return linebacker Tre Walker, who earned several preseason honors, and defensive end Charles Akanno, who Petrino said was one of the best players in the conference two years ago before suffering an Achilles injury. Petrino said Akanno was at less than 100 percent last spring, but is back close to normal now.

Petrino said fullback Logan Kendall will also see action on defense.

“We did it some on short yardage last year,” Petrino said. “He only played on five plays, but all five plays were for negative yardage.”

Petrino also said freshman Colbey Nosworthy, from Coeur d’Alene High, is in the mix for playing time at safety.