Mid-week practice report: Depth chart position battles

As of Wednesday the Vandals have only had one full-pad practice. By Saturday’s 10 a.m. scrimmage they will have had three of them, and that is when Idaho coach Paul Petrino says to look for movement in the depth chart.

We have mad Instagram skills. Follow us: @TheVandalNation

It makes sense. New freshman and junior college additions are battling for key spots on the depth chart at nearly every position, if not starting jobs. As is the case with most first year head coaches throughout the country, very few “returning starters” are safe, and many of his recruits will get fair opportunities to play.

“A lot of guys are working with both groups, for a lot of guys right now there really is nobody on ones or twos, they’re just going to battle with both groups and get a lot of reps and we’ll see who ends up being the starters,” Petrino said.

Petrino said it’s his philosophy to give his freshmen an opportunity to battle it out for spots to play, preferring not to tell a kid coming in that he’s going to redshirt. That certainly seems like it will be the case this fall, with true freshmen looking for playing time at running back, wide receiver, defensive back, special teams and back-up spots on the offensive and defensive lines.

“I think it’s first of all, are they mentally tough enough to be able to play as a freshman, and are they mentally sharp enough to be able to play. And then obviously the second thing is do they have enough talent to play? And we have some that do,” Petrino said. “…there’s definitely some freshmen in this class that will definitely play for us.”

Here are some of the trends we’ve seen:

– On the offensive line it’s senior Nick Van Rotz battling for the starting right guard position. Dallas Sandberg is entrenched at left guard and Mike Marboe is at center. Something interesting to note is the tackles — Petrino said Idaho doesn’t do a straight left and right tackle. Instead, Jesse Davis follows the tight end around the formation and will always line up on the strong side of the line, with Cody Elenz on the weak side of the line.

– Jerrell Brown and Kris Olugbode are still the guys at running back. But watch out for freshman Richard Montgomery, who is getting touches and looks fast on his outside runs. “He’s definitely a guy you got to get the ball in his hands, some touches every game and give him a chance to make plays for you,” Petrino said.

– Najee Lovett and Roman Runner are the main two on the outside at wide receiver right now, no surprise. JC transfer Dezmon Epps is fast, and could be a dangerous inside receiver once he gets more comfortable with the offense. The Saturday scrimmage will be big for the other competitors such as Deon Watson, Maurice Trotter and freshmen Jacob Sannon, Trent Cowan and Rueben Mwehla.

– It’s way too early to figure out what’s going on at tight end, except than that Michael LaGrone will definitely play.

– Quayshawne Buckley is working with the second team defensive line, with Ryan Edwards taking his place on the first time. But that goes back to what Petrino said about guys working with both teams. Buckley still has catching up to do with Ronnie Lee’s new defense. Maxx Forde, Quinton Bradley and Vince Keener man the rest of the first team defensive line. Freshmen Will Schmidt and Zach Cable seem to be getting opportunities on the two-deep. Keep an eye out on junior college defensive end Anthony Rice, Saturday’s scrimmage will be big for him.

– Broc Westlake is trying to work himself into the first team picture at Mike linebacker, but that’s Juan Martinez’s job for now. Petrino said, like Buckley, it’s because he missed spring and that he just has to get himself into the speed of things. As mentioned before, another one of those working with both the ones and twos situations. As was the case in the spring, Eric Tuipulotu and Marc Millan are also featured heavily on the first team.

– The secondary is probably going to take the longest for coaches to get a feel for. Freshmen Armond Hawkins and Desmond Banks figure to factor into the picture at cornerback, but haven’t yet. Sophomores Solomon Dixon and Jayshawn Jordan are getting a lot of play right now. Bradley Njoku and Tom Hennessey are the featured safeties. Trey Williams figures to be in the picture at safety, but is out at the moment with an undisclosed injury.

– Walk-on kicker Ryan Bordner is getting kicking reps with Rehkow, with Will Schmidt backing Rehkow up on punting duties. Rehkow is in the lead for both, we’d assume.

– And, of course, quarterback. With pads on we were able to see some of the elusiveness in the pocket that made Josh McCain so coveted by the Idaho coaching staff. Granted, it was essentially two hand touch but I can’t imagine that was a lot of fun for the pass rushers to get to him. He still struggles with touch and accuracy. He’s a work in progress, but it seemed like saw more snaps than he did the first couple of days.

Again, these are preliminary observations and comments from coach Petrino. The three scrimmages in the fall figure to play much more heavily into the eventual depth chart formation than the first few days of practice.