Analysis: Idaho football attempting to embrace new normal as 7 starters, 2 coaches depart

LEWISTON – The Idaho football program has been ransacked over the past 11 days, losing seven starters to the transfer portal and two members of its coaching staff.

Former Vandals’ defensive coordinator Rob Aurich landed a new gig coaching edge rushers at San Diego State. And on Monday, former running backs coach Thomas Ford left for Oregon State.

Ford and Aurich will both receive a hefty pay raise at their new locations.

The seven departing players should also see a financial benefit by getting paid through their name, image and likeness (NIL).

Since the Vandals 30-22 loss to Albany in the quarterfinals of the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs on Dec. 9, they’ve lost two starting corners (Marcus Harris, Ormanie Arnold), a starting safety (Murvin Kenion), their third-leading receiver in Terez Traynor, starting quarterback Gevani McCoy, leading rusher Anthony Woods and starting right guard Tigana Cisse.

In addition to the portal losses, All-American wide receiver Hayden Hatten declared for the NFL draft, forgoing his final season of eligibility.

“I expected that we’d have some movement, for sure,” Idaho football coach Jason Eck said. “That’s the way it is. I don’t know if anybody was extremely shocked. Most of the players entered the portal early, and a few of them are trickling in now. We encouraged them that if they wanted to go in, they would go in earlier instead of later.”

Idaho’s two corners, Harris (California) and Arnold (Cincinnati) have found new homes. Arnold’s jump from the Big Sky to the Big 12 came as a shock.

The redshirt freshman finished with 33 tackles, two interceptions and five pass breakups.

“I think everything has a market rate,” Eck said. “He’s going to get $150,000 to go (to Cincinnati), and we recommended that for him. … I was surprised that was the rate for a guy who wasn’t all-conference and didn’t even get enough votes to be an honorable mention. I think he is a very good football player, and we’re just going to have to navigate this whole new world with the transfer portal and NIL. Money seems to have been the leading factor.”

Although the almighty dollar has gutted his team nonstop the past two weeks, Eck doesn’t hold any animosity for his former players chasing a check.

“I want to support them so they can make life-changing money,” he said. “A lot of these guys aren’t guaranteed draft picks, so if they can make multithousands of dollars now, it’s a good opportunity.”

Eck, a perennial glass-half-full kind of guy, looks at this movement as leverage for future recruits.

For example, Arnold had no offers prior to UI, but he’s getting paid big bucks to play in the Big 12. The same applies to running back Woods, who only had two offers out of high school. After two years at Idaho, the Palmdale, California, native now has committed to Utah.

“We helped develop these guys to get to that stage,” Eck said. “They weren’t turning down (those types of) opportunities when they got here. That speaks volumes about the development of our program and how we help our guys improve their game.”

UI will be dabbling a bit in the transfer portal, but its approach won’t change.

The Vandals will only look to address positions of need, which as of now are wide receiver and cornerback.

“We will target some guys the first week of January, right when school starts,” Eck said. “We want to build a majority through high school players. … We’re not going to force the portal. Corner is a little bit of a need when you lose Marcus and Ormanie. Receiver is a need when you lose two guys to graduation and the third-leading guy to the transfer portal.”

Outside of the portal, Eck is hoping those with ample game experience will step up and help the secondary flourish, such as junior safeties Tommy McCormick and Kyrin Beachem. He also mentioned guys like freshmen Dwayne McDougle and Andrew Marshall, who saw the field quite a bit in 2023.

Other players, such as freshmen Hayden John and Drew Faulkner, who didn’t see the field much last season, will have an opportunity to climb the depth chart.

The Vandals won’t be searching for a new quarterback or running back through the portal, however.

Idaho has a lot of faith in sophomore quarterback Jack Layne.

“Our best offensive game last year was the game he started,” Eck said. “We didn’t score over 50 points in any other game this season. I have a lot of confidence in him, and Jack Wager is a really good player, too.”

Idaho is also pretty set with its running backs, as junior Eli Cummings is set to return to the field in 2024. Cummings had 599 all-purpose yards in 2022 and will be backed up by freshmen Deshaun Buchanan, Art Williams and Carlos Matheney.

“We expect him (Cummings) back, and I expect him to have a tremendous role,” Eck said. “I thought (Deshaun) Buchanan looked good in practice as well. We just have to keep getting better and developing guys.”

As for the staff, Eck is looking for someone he trusts to coordinate the defense. He didn’t rule out the possibility of elevating someone on the current staff.

“As for who will be coordinating on defense, it could be one of our current coaches,” Eck said. “I don’t want drastic schematic changes. As for the running back hire, coach Ford wore a couple of hats, so that will be the top priority.”