‘Everybody gets amped up’: Idaho’s experienced defense gains edge in first scrimmage

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 freshman running back Art Williams, who carried for a short-yardage score.

“That was all offensive line,” Williams said of his touchdown.

“Art really ran well,” Eck said. “He got the offense going.”

After practice, Williams exited the field with Idaho’s daily practice award, the Vandal battle ax.

Overall, however, the defenses prevailed on seven series. The first-team offense scored a pair of touchdowns. The third-team offense accounted for another as redshirt freshman quarterback Nick Josifek capped a 65-yard drive with a 15-yard touchdown pass to freshman wide receiver Tony Harste. The second-team offense got its field goal.

Idaho’s newest player, tight end Mike Martinez, who late last week joined from UCLA following two years out of football, ran with the second-team offense during the scrimmage but was not targeted with any passes

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Senior starting safety Kyrin Beachem returned from a hamstring injury to make an interception in a 7-on-7 session before the scrimmage.

But redshirt junior defensive lineman Aamari Notice sat out practice with an injury. Eck said his return is probably day-to-day.

“We have got some people banged up,” Eck said.