Aug. 10—MOSCOW — For the first week of Idaho fall football camp, the offense won just about every day. This week has been the polar opposite, even during the scrimmage. The defense has looked massively improved just a week later.
Part of the reason for the recent defensive success may be because the Vandals are starting to catch up with learning a new and challenging defense. According to defensive coordinator Cort Dennison, he was throwing a lot at the players early and often.
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“Our whole philosophy on defense is to try and get as much in as we can as fast as we can,” Dennison said. “You don’t want to throw everything in, but you want to see essentially how fast these kids can learn. … So we’ve thrown a lot at them. They’ve done a great job.”
How it went down for the defense
The defense forced multiple turnovers and got to the quarterback numerous times on Saturday at the P1FCU Kibbie Dome.
During the first 11-on-11 portion of practice, sophomore quarterback Joshua Wood was driving the offense down the field. He had multiple completions for short or medium gains, but as the offense got into the red zone the defense started to clamp up the receivers.
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On a third-and-4, the pass was knocked down and the offense decided to stay out and go for it on fourth down. Wood threw a ball to the middle of the field only for it to be deflected by sophomore safety Brayden Rice of Lewiston High.
On the next possession, sophomore quarterback Nick Josifek replaced Wood. The Vandals again went for it on fourth down, this time a fourth-and-1. As soon as the play started, it ended as fifth-year edge Sam Brown got to Josifek in the backfield before he could even hand the ball off to sophomore running back Art Williams.
A few plays later, Josifek threw the ball toward the outside of the field, targeting a receiver on a dig route only for it to be intercepted by freshman safety Brody Michael who took the ball back to the end zone for a pick-6.
Dennison said that the leadership on the defensive side is clearly showing. He said that the defense has leaders on all three layers of the field.
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“I think the whole unit is doing a really good job,” Dennison said. “We have the approach on defense (that) is ‘We is greater than me.’ I think every position group has a couple guys (who are) doing a really good job with those leadership roles.”
During the second 11-on-11 portion, Wood targeted wideout Emmerson Cortez-Menjivar on a slant route but overthrew the ball and it landed into the arms of redshirt freshman Aaron Kinsey of Rogers High School in Spokane.
Sophomore quarterback Jack Wagner entered and in back-to-back plays Donovan Parham, a fifth-year transfer from Mississippi Valley State, ended the encounter. The senior edge blew up a jet sweep and was promptly high-fived by head coach Thomas Ford Jr.
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He then earned half of a simulated sack on Jack Wagner, which he split with junior linebacker Dylan Layne.
Parham won the day’s Battle Axe award. The defensive lineman is the first two-time winner of the axe throughout fall camp.
Offensive performance
The offense could not get much going for most of the practice, although the quarterbacks did mostly succeed on some of the short and medium throws.
During 7-on-7, Wood completed a pass to redshirt freshman Ryan Jezioro for 20 yards down the seam. Jezioro would have likely been popped by the safety if it was live action, but that does not mean he does not come down with the grab.
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Redshirt freshman QB Holden Bea completed an impressive pass to redshirt freshman receiver Kage Repenn. It was a 25-yard pass in which he threw the receiver open.
In 11-on-11, Wood showed his running ability on multiple option plays in which he kept the ball and scampered for first downs.
The offensive line showed it may be a weak point on the Vandals and constantly allowed the defensive line to cause issues for the quarterbacks on Saturday.
The last portion of the practice was red zone practice. The ball was placed at the 4-yard line and the offense had four plays to try to score.
With Wood in at quarterback, the offense stalled four straight times.
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Then Josifek entered and threw two touchdowns. On the first TD, he found Gabe Hoffmann, a sophomore transfer tight end from Eastern Michigan. Hoffmann beat the coverage and was open in the middle of the end zone for an easy catch.
The second touchdown was to an extremely wide open Williams on a wheel route from the backfield.
In the battle for back-up quarterback, Josifek has a large lead over Wagner and Bea.
Junt can be reached at 208-848-2258, tjunt@lmtribune.com or on X (formerly Twitter) @TrevorJunt.
