Layne makes debut as Vandals' No. 1 QB in his home state
Today, Idaho at Oregon, 4:30 p.m., BTN
By MARK NELKE
Sports editor
Idaho has nine players from Oregon on its roster, which makes today’s season opener at No. 3 Oregon even more meaningful to them.
One of them is redshirt sophomore quarterback Jack Layne, the Gatorade Washington Player of the Year as a senior at Lake Oswego High, outside Portland.
“We got on him late,” Idaho coach Jason Eck said Monday, in his weekly meeting with area media. “An old Vandal in Oregon reached out.”
So offensive coordinator Luke Schleusner went to Oregon and saw Jack Layne and his twin brother, Dylan.
A quarterback had already signed with Idaho in the early signing period, before Eck and his staff was hired.
Idaho gave Dylan Layne, a linebacker, a scholarship, and got Jack to walk on.
Jack was part of the competition for starting quarterback in fall 2022, a job eventually won by Gevani McCoy, and eventually was put on scholarship. McCoy started the last two years. Layne played in three games in 2022, and in eight in 2023. Both years, he started vs. Idaho State when McCoy was injured. He won both games, passing for six touchdowns in last year’s romp.
(Ironically McCoy, who transferred to Oregon State this year and earned the starting job, makes his Beavers debut today against ... Idaho State.)
Now, Jack Layne is the No. 1 QB.
“I think Jack always prepared himself as if he was the starter, and he earned the trust of the players,” Eck said. “I think he’s elevated his game from this spring to this fall.”
Eck said Dylan Layne (hamstring) is questionable for today, but another Oregon native who figures to see action is Mark Hamper, a redshirt sophomore wide receiver from West Linn.
“All of our guys from Oregon weren’t recruited seriously by Oregon,” Eck said. “I think that adds something special.”
Other than the $675,000 check Idaho is receiving from Oregon, Eck said another nice thing is it’s a regional game, in a state the Vandals recruit.
Idaho is 44 ½-point underdogs, so ...
“We have to play very well,” Eck said. “When you play a team like this, you probably need them to give you some help as well. We’ve got to focus, more than anything, on how we play, make sure we don't play sloppy, make sure we don’t make foolish, unforced errors. If we’re in the right spots and they make plays ... that happens in games like this.”
Also, it’s a chance for the Vandals to get noticed by scouts, who will be there watching Oregon anyway.
“These games are big for guys hoping to play at the next level,” Eck said.
Oregon’s quarterback, Dillon Gabriel, played the last two seasons at Oklahoma, after starting his career at the University of Central Florida.
He replaces the Ducks’ last transfer portal QB, Bo Nix, recently named starter for the Denver Broncos.
“I think he likes to run a little bit more than Nix did, particularly down in the red zone,” Eck said. “He's won at two other college programs, and I’m sure he’s going to win at this place too. Usually when you lose a starting NFL quarterback you have a big dropoff, and I don’t think they’ll have a big dropoff. I think he’ll be excellent in their offense.”
Vandal-izers: Oregon, one of 10 schools to flee the Pac-12 after the last school year, is making its debut as a Big Ten school — hence, the game being televised by the Big Ten Network ... Idaho did recruit one of Oregon’s players — Kenyon Sadiq, a sophomore tight end from Skyline High in Idaho Falls ... Since Oregon announced it won’t release its depth chart until today, Idaho did not release a two-deep ... Eck said he wasn’t surprised to hear McCoy had been named the starter in Corvallis in his first year there. “He’s a competitor; he won our quarterback competition when he wasn’t the leading competitor coming in. I’ve seen him win a quarterback competition, so it’s not surprising to see him win another one.”