If the Idaho Vandal football team repeats its record from last year, it won’t be due to a soft defense. At least that’s what showed on the Kibbie Dome turf during Saturday’s scrimmage, the second of the spring season.
Ilya Pinchuk | Argonaut Sophomore safety Bradley Njoku picks off an errant pass at the Vandals scrimmage Saturday morning in the Kibbie Dome. Idaho's spring season will close with the annual Black and Gold game at 6 p.m. Friday.
A veteran-led defense stopped the Idaho offense throughout the 90-minute scrimmage, keeping them out of the end zone for the first 45 minutes.
In fact, the first score of the game came on an interception return for a touchdown from sophomore safety Bradley Njoku.
Idaho coach Robb Akey said he was impressed with the defensive effort, not only in the scrimmage, but all spring.
“Defensively we had a lot of good things happen today. Obviously that interception return, a few three-and-outs, but I thought we played some things really, really well,” Akey said.
The defense was led by the veteran linebacking corps consisting of seniors Rob Siavii, Homer Mauga, Conrad Scheidt and Sua Tuala, who tallied seven tackles — three for a loss.
Tuala said he was impressed with both sides of the ball in the scrimmage, and can’t wait until the fall season starts to see how the linebackers continue to grow.
“I think we have better chemistry than we did last year. We all hang out after practice as a group and I think that’s important when you’re trying to build a team. We just work well together,” Tuala said.
The defense came away with eight sacks and 12 tackles for a loss.
On the offensive side of the ball, all eyes were on the continuing saga that is the Vandals’ quarterback battle. Dominique Blackman and Taylor Davis, both juniors, had efficient outings, both completing more than half of their passes. Davis, who took the majority of the snaps late in the scrimmage, completed 13 of 20 for 132 yards, one touchdown and the game’s only interception. Davis’ touchdown was also the scrimmage’s only passing score.
Blackman completed 69 percent of his passes, going 11-16 for 83 yards. Both quarterbacks can credit some incompletions to dropped balls off receivers’ hands.
Akey said the drops, along with some misses on the defensive side of the ball were the only dark spots in the scrimmage.
“Disappointment to me were that there were a few missed opportunities to make plays on the ball in the passing game that we didn’t make,” Akey said. “Defensively there were a couple of interceptions that got left on the table out there too, so I’d like to see that get cleaned up and finishing to be better.”
On the receiving end of the two quarterbacks’ throws were the Vandal receivers, led by junior college transfer Najee Lovett, who pulled in a game-high four catches for 72 yards.
Lovett, who took the place of injured senior Justin Veltung, said he has seen the offense go through highs and lows in the first two scrimmages, and is looking for consistency in Friday’s Silver and Gold game.
“We started out good the first drive then we kind of got off what we were doing, started messing up,” Lovett said. “Guys hung their heads but we kept fighting and the second half of the scrimmage we finished good with people making plays so everything started picking up.”
For the second straight scrimmage the running backs have failed to make much noise for the offense, with senior Ryan Bass leading the group with six carries for 27 yards. Junior James Baker and redshirt freshman Justin Parkins each got the ball across the goal line while averaging two or fewer yards per carry.
Other scores came off the foot of senior kicker Trey Farquhar who converted two of his three field goal attempts, hitting from 20 and 42 yards out.
The Vandals practice Tuesday and Thursday and finish spring football with the Silver and Gold scrimmage at 6 p.m. Friday in the Kibbie Dome.
Madison McCord can be reached at [email protected]