Aug. 8—MOSCOW, Idaho — The hitters were ahead of the pitchers. And the catchers. And the runners.
In Idaho’s first scrimmage at preseason camp Thursday, the Nos. 1, 2 and 3 defenses dominated their counterparts on offense early.
The Vandals’ offense had enough moments later in the 90-plus play scrimmage to assure Idaho’s coach Jason Eck that he has players on both sides of the ball. Sophomore kicker Cameron Pope’s 45-yard field goal to conclude the workout and save his teammates from up-downs suggests the kicking game is in good hands, but this was a day for the black shirts.
The top three defenses all forced three-and-outs on their opening series, “and there was some really good red-zone defense from the ones,” Eck said.
Redshirt freshman Zach Johnson said the defense “was flying around.”
The tackling was live — just ask redshirt freshman receiver Emmerson Cortez-Menjivar, who was hit by freshman and former East Valley High School standout Diezel Wilkinson after catching a pass across the middle from second-team quarterback Jack Wagner and needed attention from the trainers.
Also, officials calling penalties gave the day a game-like feel.
“Everybody gets excited. Everybody gets amped up,” Johnson said. “There was none of this stuff in practice where you can argue about whether something was a play or not.”
Wagner led the No. 2 offense to a 23-yard field goal on a series highlighted by his 48-yard sprint up the middle from his 32-yard line.
“He’s really fast,” Eck said. “He’s probably our fastest quarterback.”
First-team quarterback Jack Layne also connected on a 20-yard reception with redshirt freshman receiver Mark Hamper, who beat single coverage from Andrew Marshall to set up a touchdown. Layne followed with a run up the middle on third down from the 15-yard line to keep the drive alive, and handed off to redshirt…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/everybody-gets-amped-idahos-experienced-035900095.html
Author : The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Wash.
Publish date : 2024-08-09 03:59:00
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