It was sunny with a nice breeze. Attendance was solid. Idaho's offense started to click. Everything was rolling for the Vandals this morning, as receiver Justin Veltung put it afterward. But there was one downer in the Silver and Gold game.

We've got details below.

*****

Before I get to notes and more on Robert Siavii's knee injury, here's the story I filed:

By Josh Wright
Correspondent

MOSCOW, Idaho – Finally, for the first time during the Idaho football team’s trying spring, things started to come together Saturday morning.

The injury-ravaged offense cranked out big pass plays and one sustained drive. The defense still showed a dominant touch at times. And after five weeks of mostly crummy weather, the Vandals played the Silver and Gold game at their outdoor field in near-perfect, sunny conditions.

“Today we got things rolling,” wide receiver Justin Veltung said. “It’s just been hard. We’ve had so many players down that we’re just trying to get everybody together. Today it was a nice, beautiful day. … It was just a good practice, a good scrimmage.”

Yet not all the developments were rosy. Starting linebacker Robert Siavii, last year’s leading tackler, went down early in the final of 15 spring sessions with a right knee injury that had yet to be fully assessed when coach Robb Akey addressed the media. Siavii left the field and returned to the sideline with crutches.

Even without knowing all the details, Akey was clearly irritated by yet another injury to an integral player. Last week possible starting safety Thaad Thompson was lost for the 2011 season with a torn ACL.

“I thought we had a good scrimmage today,” Akey said. “The only thing I didn’t like was another damn injury.”

Siavii collided with running back Ryan Bass and defensive end Benson Mayowa, who was also banged up on the play, after Bass had reeled in a screen pass. Mayowa was up quickly, but Siavii – a senior-to-be from Hawaii – lingered on the ground.

“They said I might have torn some ligaments,” he said, “but hopefully that is not the case. Hopefully it’s a meniscus sprain and I’ll be back in a couple weeks. But if worst comes to worst, I’ll take my redshirt year and I’ll make sure I take advantage of that year I have off to just work.”

The Vandals’ enhanced depth has been tested all spring, and it showed Saturday in front of several hundred fans with a few previously inexperienced players stepping up.

Michael LaGrone, filling in as the starting tight end for Taylor Elmo (knee), paced the club with three catches for 50 yards. Linebacker Jeffrey Bediako, originally from The Netherlands, saw a bit more action because of Siavii’s injury and registered a sack.

“Our depth has improved all over the place,” Akey said. “We’ve got more defensive linemen than we’ve ever had. We’ve got more at most of the positions. That’s a good thing, a step in the right direction.”

One position untouched by injuries during the spring was quarterback, and starter Brian Reader saved his sharpest outing for the finale. He was 11-of-17 passing for 93 yards and led a 15-play touchdown drive – “kind of the highlight of our spring there,” he said.

Bass, a transfer from Arizona State, got the most looks at running back. After a slow start, the junior-to-be had 45 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries. First-team tailback Princeton McCarty generated a net of just 4 yards on four carries.

Meanwhile, middle linebacker Tre’Shawn Robinson said the defense “has developed immensely this spring.” He was one of six Vandals with four tackles while Mayowa had five.
 
“Everybody has done a real good job,” Robinson said. “Everybody knows what they’re doing. Everybody’s running to the ball full speed. … There’s no hesitation.”

******

On his way to sign autographs afterward, Siavii was fairly upbeat about his injury. He was quickly back on the sideline after it happened, supporting the defense and trying to help. "The knee is all right, getting better," he said.

Then he talked about how it happened.

"I remember I was just running. I was just playing full speed. I felt like if I didn’t play full speed, I wasn’t going to be there in time. Just playing full speed (and) getting there on time, that might have caused my injury. But at least I know getting injured that way is the way I’m going out instead of playing half (speed)."

From Tre'Shawn Robinson's perspective, Siavii's injury didn't look too serious. Robinson told reporters that it's frustrating to see another player go down. "But injuries happen. He’s going to be able to bounce back from it. It’s a minor setback. He’ll be fine. He’ll be good."

******

Here are a few quotes from Robb Akey:

On Reader … "I saw him run the offense well. I saw him drive the car well. I saw him make some big plays. There was some third down conversion plays. Parts are coming together. I thought he handled it well."

On Bass … "Ryan is coming along. He’s got a lot of talent. And as we get all of our linemen playing together, I think that will open some things for him and all of our running game more. And it will help with our protection as well."

On the defense … "I saw the defense swarming to the football today. I saw them make a lot of good plays. And they’re wasn’t a whole lot of blitzing going on. I like the way our defense is developing."

On airing it out to start the scrimmage (the first six plays were passes) ... "Well, we wanted to get the thing going a little bit. And it’s all part of what we’re going to do. I think Ax (offensive coordinator Steve Axman) jumped into that. That’s what his desire a little bit. I liked the way I saw (the offense) making things happen. And I also liked the way the defense made plays. And I thought Mark (Criner, UI's defensive coordinator) did a nice job of letting them play football. You know, not relying on the blitz and things like that to make things happen. I thought they handled that well."

On switching Sam Tupua and Mike Marboe at center (Marboe started at center Saturday) ... "We’re going to get that figured out because they’re both capable there. They’re both fighting. When Marbs was done, we really got a good chance to see Sam play center. And that’s one of the reasons we brought him here. He was an all-conference center in junior college and played both spots."

"Those are two great candidates. Sam had a great spring, and Marbs has a lot in front of him. He’s growing up and coming along. We’ve had a good spring there. Cleveland was playing his tail off. Novikoff has had a great spring. He’s really come a long ways. He’s having some fun playing the game and he’s displaying some leadership too, which has been awesome."

That's it for me for now. If you want more updates (including pictures posted earlier from the scrimmage), feel free to follow my Twitter feed (@SR_JoshWright).





 

---

---