Idaho Lands Ucla Qb Ryan Fien Decides To Take His Final Year Of Eligibility To Moscow With The Vandals

It isn’t college football season - not even time for spring football yet - but Idaho already has an interesting situation developing at quarterback.

UCLA’s Ryan Fien is now Idaho’s Ryan Fien. He has transferred to Idaho and will begin the new semester on Tuesday. Fien will have one year of eligibility. He cannot redshirt.

Idaho’s quarterback had been expected to be junior-to-be Brian Brennan or sophomore-to-be Robert Scott.

However, the picture muddled when Brennan had shoulder surgery three weeks ago. He will miss spring practice. No decision has been made on whether Scott will be at wide receiver or quarterback. He was an outstanding receiver last season as a freshman.

Enter Fien, though UI coaches can only guarantee him a chance to compete for the starting spot.

“This is just a great opportunity for me,” said Fien, 6-foot-4 and 215 pounds. He was 36 of 63 for 421 yards in six games this season, three as a starter.

Fien fell out of favor with then-UCLA coach Terry Donahue near midseason.

“He (Donahue) had gone to a rotating quarterback system one game and I just questioned him a little bit, nothing dramatic, and he took that to heart and it (the relationship) was never the same,” Fien said. “I told my high school coach I wanted to look for something else and I felt very comfortable here.”

Fien lost his job to UCLA freshman Cade McNown. Fien’s prospects for reclaiming the job probably didn’t appear promising as UCLA recently promoted Bob Toledo from offensive coordinator to head coach following Donahue’s resignation.

“Toledo contacted me and tried to change my mind, but my decision was already made before the coaching change,” Fien said.

Idaho coach Chris Tormey, then an assistant at Washington, had recruited Fien out of Royal High School in Simi Valley, Calif., in 1991. In fact, Fien would have signed at UW had the Huskies not landed Damon Huard the previous year.

“I felt very comfortable with him (Tormey) and my parents really liked him,” said Fien, who had narrowed his choices to Idaho and Northern Arizona.

Brennan is expected to be healthy for fall practices. “I think it looks good for fall and the doctor thinks it looks good, but there’s no way to know for sure,” Tormey said.

“They tightened up the (right shoulder) joint, but it’s a little tricky. They have to tighten it enough so there’s not a reoccurrence of sublexation, but it has to be flexible enough to throw,” Tormey said.

Brennan, who started several games before losing the job to senior Eric Hisaw, complained of an ailing arm last season, but played through the pain.

Tormey said the injury affected Brennan’s play, but “he’s really a tough kid.”

The athletically gifted Scott auditioned at quarterback last year against Brennan and Hisaw, but was moved to wide receiver, as much out of that position’s shortage of players.

At the time, Tormey told Scott he’d have an opportunity to return to quarterback if he so desired.

That statement still stands, Tormey said. “I don’t know what Robert wants to do. This (Fien’s arrival) doesn’t change things, but obviously if he goes back to quarterback, he’ll have to compete with Ryan.”

The only other quarterback in the program is Post Falls High graduate Darick Pope, a freshman redshirt last year. At wide receiver, Idaho graduated its top player, Dwight McKinzie, and Scott was No. 2.

Tormey, facing obvious uncertainties at quarterback, felt compelled to shore up the position. “Ryan’s a classic drop-back style quarterback, a good athlete who can avoid the rush,” Tormey said.

“(Quarterback) is the one position you can’t afford to have a prospect. If we wouldn’t have had Ryan fall out of the sky, then we would have been forced to move Robert Scott back. With Ryan here, we aren’t forced to do that.”

In other news, Idaho has signed a couple of junior-college transfers, but Tormey won’t release the names until the February signing period for high school athletes.

Tormey said that wide receiver/defensive back Kahlid Hurst, who signed last year, has passed the ACT test and will enroll at UI this fall. Hurst has been a part-time student at Santa Barbara City College.

Tormey is looking at several players from the defunct Pacific program and he should know by next week if they will be UI-bound.

, DataTimes MEMO: Cut in the Spokane edition.

This sidebar appeared with the story: UI FILLS SCHEDULE Idaho has completed its 1996 football schedule with the addition of home games against Eastern Washington and Saint Mary’s. The Vandals were left with a nine-game schedule when University of the Pacific dropped football last month. Pacific was to have been UI’s homecoming opponent and also its inaugural game as a member of the Big West Conference. With EWU and Saint Mary’s, two Division I-AA foes, Idaho has five home games and six road games. UI’s 1995 schedule had four home games and six on the road. Saint Mary’s, of Moraga, Calif., will visit in September, which also helps cure Idaho’s road-heavy early season schedule. EWU comes to Moscow in November. UI athletic director Pete Liske wouldn’t confirm the addition of EWU and Saint Mary’s. “We’re still waiting on signed contracts,” he said. However, an Idaho source confirmed the completed schedule. Here’s a look at the schedule: at Wyoming, at San Diego State, home vs. Saint Mary’s, at Southwest Texas State, home vs. Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, home vs. Nevada, at Utah State, home vs. Eastern Washington, home vs. New Mexico State, at North Texas and at Boise State.