THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: Locals could make bigger impact on Idaho football this fall

Zach Johnson had a pretty productive football season last year that officially didn’t “count.”

The former Lake City High star saw action in six games last season for the Idaho Vandals — and, thanks to the new redshirt rules, was able to count it as a redshirt season.

“We’re very excited about Zach Johnson. I think Zach Johnson is going to have a heckuva chance to be a starter for us this year,” Idaho coach Jason Eck said recently, while in Coeur d’Alene for a booster function at The Coeur d’Alene Resort.

“He redshirted, but because of these new rules, he played in six games. The rule is you can play in four games and still redshirt, and they came out this year and said playoff games don’t count toward that. So we saved him at the end … he’d already played in four games going into the Idaho State game, so we did not play him at all in the Idaho State game. But he played in both the playoff games. So, you talk about getting a lot of experience in a redshirt year — he did.”

JOHNSON, A linebacker/receiver at Lake City, played mostly on special teams last season for Idaho, which reached the quarterfinals of the FCS playoffs for the first time since 1993. He played on punt return, kickoff return and kickoff teams. 

He also played a few snaps on defense as well.

“We had some injuries at defensive end this year; our two starting defensive ends both had injuries that required surgeries,” Eck said. “Zach kinda became a situational pass-rusher too, and played some defensive end. He did a good job on special teams. He probably played more on defense at defensive end than he did at linebacker. He’s playing Will (weakside) linebacker right now, but I do think he’s got some ability to rush the passer, so he might be a guy that, on first and second down, plays linebacker, and if it’s third and seven, sub him down to edge rush. I like that model.”

ECK ALSO had encouraging words for four other local players who were part of the 2023 signing class — Alex Green and Wayne Queen of Lake City, Trevor Miller of Post Falls and Matyus McLain of Priest River.

Green, Eck said, was on scout team mostly last year as an offensive lineman, and it “will be a big evaluation time to see him on the offensive line this spring.”

Idaho’s spring football practices are scheduled to begin March 26, with the spring game set for April 26 at the Kibbie Dome in Moscow.

Queen, a linebacker, was also on scout team, and is “a very athletic, talented young man,” Eck said.

Miller, a terror as an edge rusher at Post Falls, also practiced all year on the scout team.

“Trevor did a great job … worked hard, ended up traveling to a game or two this last year,” Eck said.

As for McLain, a defensive lineman, “he had a bad case of mono that really set him back; missed about a month of the season,” Eck said. “He’s having a good offseason — fired up to see him progress.”

ONE LOCAL player from Idaho’s 2024 recruiting class who could make an impact this fall is Owen Forsman, a kicker from Lakeland High.

“I like Owen a lot. He’s got a very strong leg, he really impressed us at our camp last summer,” Eck said. “We saw him both ways. One, he was at our individual camp, and we saw him kick, and he has a very, very strong leg. I think he can be a guy on kickoffs who’s consistently going to be able to kick it out (of the end zone), and they have no chance to return it.”

What Eck also liked was Forsman playing defensive back for the Hawks when they attended Idaho’s team camp.

“He’s got some toughness; he’s a physical guy, he wasn’t one of those guys who was only a kicker in high school,” Eck said. “Really, probably the best kicker I’ve ever been around in all my years of college coaching was a guy like that, who was a real good high school safety, just like Owen, and that guy ended up playing in the NFL for a long time (Mason Crosby), when I was a grad assistant at Colorado.”

Also, Forsman was able to graduate from Lakeland a semester early, allowing him to enroll at Idaho in January, and go through winter conditioning with the team, and participate in spring ball. 

“So it gives us a chance to evaluate him, get him a little more maturity of being around the team, rather than just bringing him in in the fall. Give him every opportunity to win the job. Then we’re going to add a walk-on from Montana (Owen Adams), and see what he can do in the fall.”

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 X (formerly Twitter) @CdAPressSports.