Spotlight will be on Vandals’ other receivers against New Mexico State

Four catches seems like modest production for any FBS receiver, but for Idaho sophomore Reuben Mwehla, his stat line last Saturday against Louisiana Monroe is a foundation for the future excellence he envisions for himself.

Mwehla, a Bellevue product, will start on Saturday at New Mexico State with the absences of Dezmon Epps, Jacob Sannon and David Ungerer.

Epps is indefinitely suspended from the program after he allegedly slapped his girlfriend early Sunday morning.

Mwehla will go into Saturday with 12 of the 51 catches made this season by receivers other than Epps, who has 61.

“I see it as a starting point for myself,” Mwehla said of his four-catch performance. “I have high expectations for myself, so I’ll get better as the weeks go by.”

Mwehla, who redshirted his first season on campus, is a 5-foot-10 speedster who specialized in yards after the catch while at Bellevue. His transition to outside receiver has been slow, but opportunities will be plenty for him in Las Cruces.

“Really, really proud of Reuben,” said Idaho receivers coach Charley Molnar. “His performance was understated because he didn’t have a huge catch or a touchdown but he blocked very well, he played almost the entire game without a break.

“He’s on special teams and just really stepped up and made some key catches for us throughout the course of the afternoon.”

Two of Mwehla’s catches came on heads-up plays with Matt Linehan outside of the pocket. Twice, Mwehla ran his route then noticed his quarterback escaping pressure, so he adjusted and found a zone near the sideline to give Linehan an outlet.

“First, I ran my route as expected, then as I saw him break the pocket, that’s when I adjusted a little bit,” Mwehla said.

Callen Hightower (19 catches) will be Idaho’s No. 1 receiver Saturday. Hightower sat out of Idaho’s 19-16 win at Troy due to a coach’s decision and only played 10 snaps last week against ULM.

He’ll see a significant number of snaps Saturday.

“I expect him to start and I told him that,” said Molnar. “I said ‘This is your opportunity and you have to practice hard this week,’” Molnar said. “Right now he’s got a real hold on that position so I think he should have it on Saturday.”

Freshman Jante Boston, a late addition to the fall camp roster, will round out Idaho’s top three. Boston hauled in three catches against ULM for 33 yards in his second start of the season. Boston nabbed two catches at Troy.

“Night-and-day difference from the first game and the second game with the way he performed,” Molnar said. “Again, he had a couple of catches but really the big thing with Jante is just the fact that he looks like he belongs out there. He blocks well, he plays hard, he’s fairly assignment-sound for such a young guy. He can tell you what’s going on with the defense. I think he has a chance before the year’s out to really help this football team.”

The unit will receive support from tight end Deon Watson. Both Watson and Trent Cowan made the transition to tight end from receiver this season, so while Cowan occupies defenses from within the formation, Watson will flex out wide or occupy the slot as a receiver despite mostly working with the tight ends in meetings and practice.

Watson hauled in two touchdowns against ULM, both on the same route streaking down the sideline wide open.

“I played receiver for two years so I feel pretty comfortable with that,” Watson said. “Every now and again they have to get the rust off of me, remind me of a few plays, but I feel pretty natural at wide receiver. Tight end, obviously still working on that. I feel pretty good there.”