3 things to watch for at Idaho spring football camp
Apr. 9—VANDAL NOTES
Idaho spring football camp began last week and practices are set to take place every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday of April until the conclusion of the spring portion of the football offseason, with the spring game taking place on May 1.
Here are three things to keep track of and watch as they develop in spring camp.
A whole new offense
The Vandals brought in a new offensive coordinator Ian Shoemaker in late December. Shoemaker is known for developing quarterbacks and has built high-scoring offenses nearly every place he's coached at during his long career of nearly 30 years in the FBS, FCS and Division II levels.
Last season, the offense ranked No. 9 in the Big Sky Conference in passing, with 2,421 passing yards, 19 touchdowns and eight interceptions.
Starting junior quarterback Joshua Wood missed multiple games due to injury and finished with 1,898 passing yards, 14 touchdowns and five interceptions. He also led Idaho with 589 rushing yards and seven rushing touchdowns on 86 carries.
With Shoemaker, expect the offense to create more explosive plays and have a faster tempo.
There will be some growing pains in getting used to running an offense that spreads the defense from sideline to sideline and takes calculated shots over the top, but if done correctly, the payoff could be huge for the Vandals.
The offense will do its best to keep the defense on its heels, running up to the line of scrimmage quickly to call a play on the fly and then attack it in a multitude of ways — whether that be inside or outside runs, medium passes or deep shots.
Defensive changes
Lee Stalker, Idaho's new defensive coordinator, was brought in after previous DC Cort Dennison became the co-defensive coordinator at Oregon State.
Stalker most recently had a three-year stint at Iowa State where he served as a defensive assistant for quality control and a pass-rush specialist.
Stalker's defense will be a "multiple system." He said he's worked in a variety of defenses in the past, including a 3-3-5 (three defensive linemen, three linebackers and five defensive backs), a 3-4 and a 4-2-5.
The reason behind the multiple system is to cause as much trouble for opposing offensive coordinators as possible, making it very difficult to call plays when they don't know how the defense will look.
The Vandals struggled mightily with their pass rush last season, finishing dead last in the Big Sky with 15 sacks through 12 games.
And the most productive rusher, Matyus McLain — who totaled 4 1/2 sacks — transferred over the border to Washington State.
Rushing the passer will be a focus for Stalker and the defense, with twin brother senior transfers Javen and Jamarion Augustus being a potential focal point of the pass rush.
The defense was a solid unit last year and Stalker said in his opening news conference that he wants to build on the previous success.
Early in camp, the defense usually wins the battles because defensive schemes are usually easier to install than offensive schemes.
The Idaho defense will need to look dominant in this first month of practice, or at least have chunks of great play to bring hope for the Vandals heading into next season.
New and younger skill players to watch for
There were a few wide receivers who showed flashes last season, including rising sophomores Ryan Jezioro and Marquawn McCraney and junior Tony Harste — although each of their seasons was shortened due to injury.
Jezioro led Idaho with 27 catches for 347 yards and four touchdowns, McCraney had 22 catches for 306 yards and two TDs and Harste had 11 catches for 178 yards.
These players may look more valuable in a more pass-heavy offense.
In spring camp, it will be important to show each of them is valuable in different ways: Jezioro as a possession receiver, McCraney tracking the rock on deep balls and Harste working inside routes.
It is hard to evaluate running backs without full contact, but junior running back Art Williams is back from his injury that ended his season after Week 4 last season.
Junior running back Carlos Matheney will have a larger role with the loss of Elisha Cummings and Nate Thomas to graduation.
With junior transfers Ferrari Miller and Damonte Bias working their way more into the game plan and the addition of explosive freshman Kenny Golston, Idaho should create a balanced run-by-committee attack for the Vandal offense.
Junt can be reached at 208-848-2258, tjunt@lmtribune.com or on X @TrevorJunt.
