Anxious Akey shifts focus from links to field
Less than two weeks ago, Robb Akey was on the second-place team in the informal golf outing at the Western Athletic Conference Football Preview in San Jose, Calif.
The next day the enthusiastic first-year Idaho coach faced the media and said, “I’m glad I don’t have to play golf any more.”
The point: It was time to focus on football and the task of rebuilding a roster that had to be retooled by the Vandals’ third head coach in three years.
Then Akey quickly backtracked.
“I did make a mistake,” he said. “I’m playing one more round of golf in McCall at the end of this week. I’m more concerned about other things than playing golf right now.”
That now is today.
After two days of pushing papers, the Vandals hit the field at 2:30 p.m. today to officially kick off Akey’s first season.
“It’s the best time in the world – football season is here,” Akey said. “I’m anxious as heck to find out how this team is going to compete. I like the fact that we had so many rookies report during the summer.”
One decision has been made. Redshirt freshman Nathan Enderle is the No. 1 quarterback heading into camp, with senior Brian Nooy and junior Chris Joseph as backups.
“I expect him to be our guy,” Akey said of Enderle. “I’m excited to see what he can do. What I like about Nate is he has two springs and a fall here. I like the way he ground it out over the course of the spring.”
The biggest concern on offense is finding playmakers at wide receiver. The top returner is sophomore Max Komar, who had 17 catches for 313 yards last season.
The major change on defense is switching to a 3-4 front, mainly out of necessity. The line took a pretty big hit among the 17 players who have left the program since Akey took over.
“Defensively, we have some guys who have proven they can play,” Akey said. “Our linebackers are the strength of the team.”
The Vandals have four days of practice before getting into full pads Tuesday. They practice at least once a day until taking off Aug. 19 and Aug. 20, the first day of school. The season opener is Sept. 1 at USC and the home opener is Sept. 8 against Cal Poly.