EARLY SIGNING PERIOD: Johnson, Green, Miller among 39 Idaho signees, 13 from Idaho

By MARK NELKE

Sports editor

Jason Eck shopped local, shopped in bulk, and focused on offensive and defensive linemen in his first full recruiting season as head coach of the Idaho Vandals.

The Vandals announced the signing of 39 players to letters of intent on Wednesday, the first day of the three-day early signing period.

Of those, 13 are from Idaho, including six from North Idaho.

They are: linebacker Zach Johnson and offensive lineman Alex Green of Lake City High; defensive lineman Trevor Miller of Post Falls; defensive lineman Matyus McLain of Priest River and tight end James White and safety Brayden Rice of Lewiston.

Eck, who spent six seasons as an assistant coach at South Dakota State before taking over at Idaho this past season, noted that three of the four teams in the FCS semifinals — South Dakota State, North Dakota State and Montana State — “have a lot of kids from their home states, and all of those states have less population than the state of Idaho.”

“People can say in the past, there’s not a lot of players in Idaho, but there are,” Eck said. “There’s guys being developed that are really good players.”

Johnson, who starred at linebacker and receiver at Lake City, also had an offer from Montana.

“Zach Johnson, in our opinion, was probably the best football player in the state of Idaho,” Eck said. “He's big, he’s fast, sometimes you scratch your head and say, ‘Why doesn’t this guy have four Mountain West offers, because he’s almost 6-3, and runs a 4.5, and he’s long. He reminds me of the kid from Montana State (linebacker Troy Andersen) that got drafted In the second round by the Falcons. He’s an athletic kid who’s played well on both sides of the ball. He’s a good basketball player on one of the best basketball teams in the state. Thankfully he didn’t have those offers. I think he’s a special player.

“A Pac-12 coach told me when he committed to us, ‘I that guy’s a steal. He’s a guy I brought up in our staff room that I thought we should take, but we couldn’t get him through. Other guys liked other guys better.’ And I'm glad, because we love him.”

Green played left tackle at Lake City.

“I thought he was the best O-lineman on tape of any O-lineman I saw in the state,” said Eck, who played on the offensive line at Wisconsin. “He’s long and athletic; I thought he was a steal for us.”

Miller made such an impact as an edge rusher for the Trojans that coaches voted him MVP of the 5A Inland Empire League.

“Trevor Miller could really be a sleeper in this class,” Eck said. “He’s really a good football player, is physical, is long, and has some polished pass rush moves. He could end up a gem in this class, wasn’t heavily recruited but is a really good football player.”

He’ll be joined on the D-line by McLain, a standout from 2A Priest River.

“That’s my message to all the small-school kids in Idaho; if you can play, and come to our camps and kick butt, you can play for us,” said Eck, who noted 70 percent of the Vandals’ signees in this year’s class attended one of Idaho’s camps. “He did a great job at our camp … he’s big and athletic.”

The other high school signees were running back Art Williams and offensive lineman Zach Penner of Rocky Mountain, who played against Miller and Post Falls in the state 5A quarterfinals; linebackers Ethan Beard (Meridian) and Ryder Bordner (Bishop Kelly), defensive backs Lincoln Gee (Cole Valley Christian) and Payton Gunter (Nampa); and offensive lineman Kiegan Henson (Mountain View). Williams could get a first look on defense, Eck said.

Idaho, coming off a 7-5 season capped by the Vandals’ first FCS playoff appearance since 1995, signed seven offensive linemen and eight defensive linemen.

“We definitely had an emphasis on the line of scrimmage,” Eck said. “We have to be more physical and better up front.”

All but three of the signees were high school players.

Five players will join the Vandals in January, three of them transfers — offensive lineman Jaxin McCallum (South Dakota School of Mines), defensive back Cam Stevens (Victor Valley Community College of Victorville, Calif.) and grad transfer linebacker Tre Thomas (South Dakota). The others are defensive lineman Malakai Railton-Stewart from Australia, who spent last summer attending roughly a dozen college camps, including one at Idaho; and linebacker Jaxton Eck, Jason’s son.

The full list of signees can be found at govandals.com

Washington State: The Cougars signed 22 players, including quarterback Jaxon Potter from Huntington Beach, Calif.

Eastern Washington: The Eagles signed 19 players, including four quarterbacks — two of them junior college transfers.

Boise State: The Broncos signed 22 players, including quarterback CJ Tiller from Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., and transfers Titus Toler (Wisconsin) and Chase Penry (Colorado).