Madison McCord
Argonaut
Ilya Pinchuk | Argonaut
Junior wide reciever Najee Lovett brings down a pass from quarterback Taylor Davis Saturday afternoon in the Kibbie Dome. The Vandals held their first scrimmage of the season on Saturday and coach Robb Akey said he was impressed with his squad despite a limited offensive showing.
With only five practices under their belt, the Idaho Vandal football team took the field Saturday for their first scrimmage of the spring season.
Questions coming into the game surrounding the quarterback battle, inexperienced offensive line and defensive secondary were all addressed on the field in the scrimmage, but it’s still too soon for any concrete answers.
Idaho coach Robb Akey said he was happy with how the scrimmage ended, but things can always get better.
“I think on both sides of the ball I saw some good things happening, I saw opportunity for both sides and I saw some people take advantage of that opportunity and in other cases that faded away,” Akey said.
The biggest question on fans minds coming into the spring season is who will be the Vandals’ signal caller this fall. Akey gave the first nod to junior Taylor Davis, who led the first team offense.
Akey said he would be looking to see big plays and a few fireworks in the scrimmage – he didn’t have to wait long for the opening show. In only the third play of the scrimmage, Davis found senior receiver Mike Scott for a 51-yard pass that brought the ball down to the seven yard line. Scott blew past senior cornerback Aaron Grymes on the play, but Grymes was able to recover and stop Scott from reaching the end zone. Three plays later, Davis thought he had the first touchdown of the game, finding junior tight end Taylor Elmo wide open on a broken screen play, but the score was pulled back due to a penalty. Senior kicker Trey Farquhar then missed a 42-yard field goal attempt.
Akey said he saw a lot of chances go to the wayside on both sides of the ball, especially in the red zone.
“We had red zone situations down here and defensively we had a chance to get ‘em stopped and we had a third down pass interference, and that’s a drive stop play right there.” Akey said. “In that same situation on the other side we have two touchdowns pulled off the board with two penalties, so we need some more discipline there.”
Scott said that finishing was a bit of a problem in the scrimmage, but it’s the main goal of the team for the spring season.
“What we had a problem doing last year was finishing, especially when some of those games came down to the last few minutes, so this year the big emphasis is to finish,” Scott said. “We’re trying not to start off slow, we try not to have slumps in the middle, but the one thing we try to focus on his finishing.”
After that drive though, things slowed down for the Idaho offensive units, as the defense held strong for the better part of 20 minutes, only allowing two field goals from Farquhar.
Led by captain Rob Siavii, the Idaho defense played much the same as they did throughout the majority of last season, making opposing offenses work hard for any score outside of a field goal.
Along with a strong individual performance from Siavii, the defense was led by linebacker Conrad Scheidt and defensive end Vince Keener, who each tallied five tackles on the day. Six Vandals broke up passes, and four players recorded at least one sack, while defensive end Quinton Bradley racked up three.
The second drive featured the other contender for the starting quarterback position, junior Dominique Blackman. The 6’5″ quarterback from Carson, Calif. completed a short pass on his first play, but lost a fumble on a broken exchange between him and the center on his second snap.
Despite Blackman’s slow start, he started to catch fire in the last 30 minutes of the scrimmage, stringing together short passes, working the run game with backs Ryan Bass and James Baker, and throwing an accurate long ball.
Baker, a junior college transfer from Florida said that he is more a reserved person off the field, but his running style is quite the opposite.
“I would say I’m a total downhill runner. I like to run between the tackles and get that tough yardage,” Baker said.
Blackman’s first big play of the day came on a 24-yard pass into the end zone where a wide-open Marquan Major reeled in the first score of the game for the offense. Major, a sophomore receiver from Las Vegas, pulled in a total of two balls for 42 combined yards and one touchdown.
Akey said that the battle between Blackman and Davis is still being evaluated, but he is seeing growth on and off the field.
“They’re gaining knowledge right now. I’m in the meeting room with these guys and we’re going through the play and I’m telling ‘em that they’re more than wondering what you’re going to do with the ball,” Akey said. “They’re getting a good feel for it and they’re starting to drive the trucks and make some plays out there today.”
Blackman wasn’t done with only one score though. After a Davis three-and-out, which led to another missed Farquhar field goal, Blackman came on and with his first snap threw a pin-point 20 yard strike into the hands of junior receiver Najee Lovett. The catch was the only one in the scrimmage for Lovett, a transfer from Contra Costa College in San Pablo, Calif.
In the running game, the Vandals — for the first time since 2009 — showed signs of life as four backs had opportunities in the game. Led by Bass, Baker, junior Donovan Cunningham and Moscow-native Justin Parkins, the corps showed the ability to take a hit and stay on their feet, in addition to burst through holes. The four also opened up a large bag of tricks in the juke department.
Blackman finished the game with the better stat line of the two quarterbacks, going 8-11 through the air for 108 yards and two touchdowns. Davis finished 6-14 with 88 yards and no touchdowns, and senior Logan Bushnell finished 2-4 for 22 yards. Parkins led the backs in rushing yards with 22, while Bass led the team with eight carries. In the receiving game, junior Blake Bledsoe had four catches, but Scott led the team with 62 receiving yards on two catches. In the kicking game, Farquhar went 5-7 with makes from as short at 27 yards out to as far as 49 yards.
The Vandals will practice at 10 a.m. Tuesday and Thursday this week, with their second scrimmage scheduled at 10 a.m. next Saturday.