THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: Next man up for Vandals, who have some pretty good ones back — and coming in

One look at the Idaho Vandals in their spring football game last week, and this year’s Vandals look much like last year’s Vandals — the ones that reached the FCS playoffs in first-year coach Jason Eck’s 7-5 breakthrough season.

Pretty solid defense.

Efficient offense.

Not a lot of mistakes.

In last Friday’s spring game, Idaho’s No. 1 offense moved the ball OK against the Vandals’ No. 1 defense, but scored just one TD until the last drive, which was against essentially Idaho’s No. 2 defense.

But Idaho’s offense didn’t do much in last year’s spring game either, and the Vandals eventually produced the Jerry Rice Award winner for the top freshman in FCS (quarterback Gevani McCoy) and one of the top receivers in FCS (Hayden Hatten).

Both are back this season, which is not a given anymore, given the new college “free agency” officially known as the transfer portal.

Some other thoughts, with the season opener Aug. 31 at Lamar just 116 days away …

LAYIN’ IT ON THE LINE

Eck, an offensive lineman during his playing days at Wisconsin, challenged the Vandals to get better on the offensive and defensive lines this year.

After the spring game, he said he thinks the Vandals have solidified their top five on the O-line, with returner Ayden Knapik at right tackle, Tigana Cisse at right guard, Elijah Sanchez at center, Nate Azzopardi at left guard and Terrian Rainey at left tackle.

On the D-line, he said Malakai Williams “really had a great spring at defensive end; I think he can be an all-conference type of player.”

And nose guard Jahkari Larmond, who spent the last two seasons at Division II Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Mo., “is a big guy that adds a different dimension than we’ve had.”

“Happy with the improvement at the line of scrimmage, which I knew we had to make this offseason,” Eck said.

Elsewhere on defense, the Vandals are experienced in the secondary with Tommy McCormick, Murvin Kenion III and Marcus Harris back. Mathias Bertram was moved from safety to nickel back, and Cam Stephens, who played two seasons at Nevada before spending last year at Victor Valley Community College in California, “did a good job as the new guy on the corner,” Eck said.

“Defense had a good spring, and I’m excited to watch them continue to grow and develop,” Eck said.

“We pride ourselves on being an aggressive defense, and getting off the field on third down, eliminating big plays,” Harris said.

COMING AND GOING

The Vandals were not left unscathed by the transfer portal.

Defensive end Kemari Bailey, who had five sacks last year, transferred to Fresno State.

Linebacker Paul Moala, who transferred from Notre Dame to Idaho last year and had two sacks and three interceptions last year, entered the portal again this year.

That opened up an opportunity for a guy like Williams at defensive end, and led to some other shuffling on defense, including moving Sully Shannon to middle linebacker for Moala.

“That’s part of it; we have to have the next man ready to go,” Eck said. “Football is a game where you have to evolve your roster, you have to evolve your coaching staff, the team is bigger than any one person. So whether you have injuries, whether you have the portal, whether you have coaches leave for other jobs, that’s part of it, man. You have to adjust, and move … part of our next project is, we have a few spots to fill. We might have a few guys we can add here in the transfer portal. We have a great freshman class; we have 24 scholarship freshmen coming on in the fall, and 14 new walk-on freshmen coming in.”

Among those freshmen are linebacker Zach Johnson (Lake City), offensive lineman Alex Green (Lake City), and defensive ends Trevor Miller (Post Falls) and Matyus McLain (Priest River).

Vandal fans have been starved for a winning football program for years; and if local kids can be major factors in that winning program … even better.

Two locals who got a lot of run in spring ball were wide receiver Tommy Hauser (Post Falls) and running back Trent Elstad (Coeur d’Alene).

WELCOME BACK, NICK

After seeing the field a fair amount under the previous coaching staff, Nick Romano (from Rocky Mountain High in Meridian) saw his playing time limited last year, as Eck went more with “power backs.”

This year, with most of those backs now gone, Romano has made the most of his opportunities and “entrenched himself” as Idaho’s No. 1 running back, Eck said, behind sophomore Anthony Woods.

The versatile Romano can also return kicks, and is working on improving as a pass catcher out of the backfield.

“I was proud of him, because he’s a guy that’s really persevered,” Eck said. “Last year he was like our fifth back, and sometimes when guys get in that position, they give up on it … he’s graduating in May, it would be real easy for a guys to say ‘Ah, I’ll just finish up school and move on with life,’ but he stuck with it, he kept working. Really a good example of grit and he’s put himself in position for some playing time next year.”

MORE THAN A MAMA’S BOY

Freshman linebacker Jaxton Eck was born in Moscow when his dad, Jason, was a Vandal assistant back in the day.

When Jason took the Idaho job last year, Jaxton finished up his high school career in Brookings, S.D., home of South Dakota State, where Jason was an assistant for six seasons before returning to Moscow.

Jaxton (6-0, 215) graduated from Brookings High at semester so he could participate in spring practice with the Vandals this year.

“It’s been great,” Jason said. “Probably his mom (Kimberly) is the happiest one he’s here. I think he’s acquitted himself. He’s done a good job, working hard, and has earned the respect of his teammates. There’s always a few guys that look at you when you’re the coach’s kid … ‘He’s just here because he’s the coach’s kid.’ I think he proved he belonged in the spring. He’s still got some areas he’s got to get better at; he’s more of a mike (middle) linebacker but he played a little will (weak side) today where he was on the outside and he got lined up against one of the receivers, which wasn’t a great matchup for him and the receiver hit him for a big play. He’s still got stuff he’s got to work on and get better on. But for an 18-year-old kid who should have been going to prom this weekend, he’s doing all right, going through spring practice, and graduating early.”

QUARTERBACKS (PLURAL)

Under the previous regime, the Vandals had to start a running back at quarterback a few times because of a lack of available signal-callers.

Even as recently as a year ago, Idaho wasn’t sure who would start at quarterback.

But McCoy, then a redshirt freshman, emerged in the fall. And true freshman Jack Layne proved a suitable backup.

Vandal coaches have challenged McCoy to be more of a leader this year, and Eck said he could see that improvement in the spring game, standing behind the huddle, watching McCoy command the huddle.

In addition to working on his leadership ability, McCoy said he’s also working on his running/scrambling ability, to help keep plays alive, and to give the defense something else to prepare for.

He can do that this year because of Layne; last year, the Vandals had to be more careful.

But now …

“Jack Layne is one of our best backups,” Eck said. “And he’s got to be ready; again ‘Vani’s a tremendous quarterback, and when he got hurt in the Davis game and couldn’t play against Idaho State, if that happens, we have all the confidence in the world in Jack. It might allow us to use Gevani a little more in the running game, knowing that you have a great backup there. You don’t want to go crazy with that, but it’s a good situation to have.

“Last year, we weren’t sure if we had any quarterbacks; now we have two,” Eck added. “So credit to Gevani for getting better since last spring, and credit to Jack for coming in and having a great freshman year and earning a scholarship.”

COMING UP …

The Vandals are on a football break right now, scheduled to return May 31 for summer workouts.

Then there’s fall camp, preparing for another run at an FCS playoff berth.

Idaho sent a message early last year it could be a playoff contender, playing FBS schools Washington State and Indiana tough in defeat, then beating Montana in Missoula.

The Vandals won’t surprise anybody this year.

In previous years, Idaho may have hovered close to the fringe of making the FCS playoffs, but then would lose a game the Vandals needed to win to take that next step.

Last year, Idaho won those games for the most part, and made the FCS playoffs for the first time since 1995 — the Vandals’ last year at that level before moving up to FBS for the next 22 seasons, a stretch which produced just three bowl appearances (albeit, all victories).

This year, Idaho again has two FBS road games (at Nevada and California), and just four home games. Idaho plays host to Montana State and at Weber State, two playoff teams from last season that the Vandals did not play. So the margin for error is slim, as the rule of thumb is at least seven Division I victories are needed to be considered for the playoffs.

“We know what we’re capable of, and we know we have to put in the work,” McCoy said. “We’re all just very hungry, and we’re all very excited for the season.”

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 208-664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter @CdAPressSports.