Blog matters

Spring football is over for the Idaho Vandals, and overall coach Paul Petrino said it was a success. His quarterbacks stayed healthy – despite taking a constant beating – and the same players on offense and defense stepped up over 15 sessions. But he was most impressed by how his team got tougher, something he could see in the way players got themselves off the turf after getting hit.

Petrino’s overall thoughts: “You saw some of the same guys on defense that had been dominating did it again today. Seemed like Chad (Chalich) had a big game. … It’s too bad that Kris (Ologbode) had such a great spring and played hard all spring – kind of sad that he wasn’t out there today. Took a beating as the spring went on.

“I just think overall we got better. Overall we kept improving. We got tougher, and I felt like we improved.”

Petrino on what impressed him about Chalich: “Just his ability to keep fighting, his ability to extend plays and run hard. He’s just got to continue to play hard and improve.

“Probably one of the hardest things for him right now is calling plays in the huddle. All high school he was shotgun, no-huddle. So that’s just something we’ve got to keep working on. Having command in the huddle. Calling the plays. Being confident in how he calls them. And just continuing to work on his reads and going through his progression.”

From Wednesday’s live chat with Christian Caple on Sportslink:

Q: Removing the experience factor from the equation (if that’s possible), who do you like – Apodaca or Halliday?

A: I think Halliday has been more consistent. And like you said, I don’t think you can completely remove the experience factor. That’s big, especially for a quarterback.

Q: Running backs? Who are they? The depth chart is confusing.

A: Teondray Caldwell, Marcus Mason and Theron West have gotten the bulk of the reps. I don’t think anyone has really seized that position yet, but I’d say Caldwell has the best chance at starting.