Here are some notes and quotes from Monday’s scrimmage, which was the Vandals’ third scrimmage of the spring.
Notes
- The offensive play of the day came from senior wide receiver Dezmon Epps. After running a 10-yard dig route, Epps caught a pass from freshman quarterback Jake Luton — and from there he was off. Epps darted across the field and made multiple defenders miss. Then on the far sideline, junior cornerback Jayshawn Jordan and two other defenders appeared to push Epps out of bounds on the 10-yard line — instead, Epps walked the tightrope and wrestled his way into the end zone. The end result was a 57-yard touchdown reception.
- Epps finished the day with 14 receptions for 273 yards and two touchdowns.
- Jacob Sannon continues to impress. The junior wide receiver finished with seven receptions for 143 yards and two touchdowns. He looks to have locked up that No. 2 receiver role behind Epps.
- The defense had two plays of the day with two interceptions returned for touchdowns. The first was from Isaiah Taylor, who simply stepped in front of a Luton pass and trotted 53 yards down the sideline for six. The second was from Dorian Clark, who intercepted a Matt Linehan pass after it bounced off the hands of a receiver. Linehan ran stride-for-stride with Clark, but in the end, Clark took the ball 83 yards for the score.
- QB Stats: Linehan: 21/36 for 329 yards, three touchdowns and one interception. Luton: 20-of-44 for 295 yards, three touchdowns and one interception.
- Ed Hall, a redshirt freshman linebacker from Chugiak, Alaska, filled in for Broc Westlake who was nursing a minor injury (Petrino expects him to be back this week). Hall racked up 13 tackles, which led the defense. He appeared to be a solid player who was consistently where he was supposed to be. This Vandal front seven is extremely deep and most players can play multiple positions.
- The defense also appeared to be trying out different players with all the different packages. The first, second and even third team players were in constant rotation for all of the positions. It looked like new defensive coordinator Mike Breske, was trying to see which players worked best for different packages — run stop, pass rush, etc.
- Senior running back Elijhaa Penny went down with an apparent knee injury on his first run of the scrimmage. Petrino said he was relieved when he found out the injury wasn’t serious.
- The Penny injury gave more reps to Aaron Duckworth and Isaiah Saunders. Duckworth looked impressive and finished with 96 yards and two touchdowns on 24 carries. While Saunders only racked up 49 yards on 15 carries, the freshman found the end zone twice — he looks like a shorter version of Penny with a very physical running style.
QUOTES
Paul Petrino — Idaho head coach
On Linehan
“I think he had a real good day. You know, he had a couple things that maybe could’ve done things better, but he made a lot of big plays.”
On Luton
“He’s really improved … Jake has made huge strides the last two weeks.”
On the heavy defensive rotation
“They were just trying to keep people fresh. Defensive guys like to do that.”
On running backs with Penny sitting out
“It was good. You never wanna see anyone ever go out, but I thought as the day went on, both Duck and Saunders ran really hard and got better and better. You don’t wanna see Penny go out, but now that we found out he’s OK, it was a good thing because those two actually got a bunch of reps and actually played well.”
On how the spring has been overall
“It’s been a really good spring. It’s by far the best we’ve played since I’ve been here and we just gotta keep improving. Get better Wednesday and have a good Friday night and have an unbelievable summer and start preparing to beat Ohio.”
On the secondary
“I think they’re just really battling, and I think it’s a good thing. I think there’s a lot of competition. The guy that was playing the best wasn’t out there today, Russell, because you know, he’ll take a couple days before he’s back.”
Matt Linehan — sophomore quarterback
On Epps
“That kid is always open — he tells me that every play — so I’m pretty sure I’m aware Dez is open. But hey, the kid is a playmaker and I trust him every play he’s in no matter what he’s running … He’s just one of those kids whose a gamer. He’s gonna come out and play 100 percent every play, and that’s why I love the kid to death.”
On the defense
“I’m excited about our defense, because they’re way better than they’ve ever been since I’ve been here. I think there’s plenty of playmakers to step up.”
On coach being hard on him
“I’m expecting that. It’s who he is and he told me he’s going to do that just to kinda get me ready — preparing mentally. It’s not always great when games happen, I learned that last year, it’s not always going to be perfect. I gotta be ready to move on, you know accept the coaching point, embrace it and move to the next play.”
On Luton
“Oh, he’s way better … with how many reps we get, you’re gonna get better. With how much he sees, he’s checking things — kinda how I progressed in my first year in the offense.”
“We’ve made each other better, and I think that’s what’s been great about having him. He’s continued to push me.”
On the team’s attitude and change of culture
“We say this every year ‘oh it’s way better, there’s a different culture in the locker room’ — well it is, it is a different culture in the locker room.”
“We’re gonna get more kids in the summer — Michael Linehan, just to put that one out there, he’s gonna be really good. We got great kids coming in and already got great kids now … I think the relationships that we have on this team are just outstanding.”
On his blazing speed (with a very sarcastic tone)
“I consider myself the fastest kid on the team … if I ran a 40, I’d say around a 4.3, 4.2 maybe. Still, I think if we go out there I’d beat everybody in a race and fully confident in my ability about that.”
Quinton Bradley — senior defensive end
On Kaden Ellis and Ed Hall
“Great things. All they gotta do is get stronger, get in the playbook more and they going to be a dominate force.”
On quarterbacks
“I don’t know if him or Jake are starting — it’s up in the air to me, I don’t know. It’s up to coach Petrino.”
On the two interceptions for touchdowns
“That was nice, we had two of them today. Dorrian and Isaiah. That’s what we need, we need big plays from the cornerbacks and safeties. They coming along great, too.”