A week off after 11 straight games seems to paying dividends for the Idaho football team. Starting quarterback Nathan Enderle (shoulder) is expected to play Saturday against Utah State, coach Robb Akey said this morning. The junior missed the last two games -- both losses -- before the bye week.

Read on for more comments from Akey.

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Akey said Enderle is getting better every day and that safety Jeromy Jones (collarbone) should play as well. The Vandals were off Sunday through Wednesday, then practiced Thursday and Friday before taking a long weekend. They'll be back in action Tuesday.

Here are some other comments from the coach:

• On his thoughts about potential job offers coming his way: "The most important thing to me is us getting this week taken care of. We came here to do a job, and that was to build a winning program. We got things turned around and I’m excited about that. If people do start talking about us, I look at it being a good thing because that means they’re saying, ‘Hey, the Idaho staff is doing a good job.’ I think it’s a great positive for our program. But the important is us making sure we take care of business."
• On Utah State QB Diondre Borel: "He’s a great athlete first of all. That’s the thing that stands out to you. And I watch him, people look like they have him bottled up at points in time and he can get himself out of a mess. He’ll still look to be able to throw the ball. If it’s a passing play that’s the case. If it’s a broken run play, he finds a way to be able to get himself out, make some big things happen. If you keep him in front of you and keep things flattening out, I think that’s a very important thing and keep his jail-break plays to a minimum is going to be an important thing in this ballgame."
• On bumping up the salaries of his staff: "... Certainly there’s a need to take care of a couple of my assistant coaches. With the success that we’re having, I’m having a hard time keeping those guys around here very long if they’re going to the lowest-paid guys and they can go some place else at a similar level and take better care of their families, it’s going to be hard to keep guys around. So we need to step up some things around here in that respect to keep some of these guys around here that are doing a good job. 
• On whether he'll be around to see goals come to fruition: "I’ll tell you what: we came here for a reason. We came here to make something happen. I think we’ve proven that we’ve got things headed in the right direction, I think we’ve got it turned. I think you’re always working on building the kind of program that you want to build. And that’s what is important to me. And I’ve always believed, and my career backs this up too, I’ve not jumped around a lot. I’ve been able to climb up in the places that I’ve been, and that’s always the desire — to me, that’s the best way to go about it. I would certainly like to think they are happy with what’s going on here and they will want to make things better for us."
  
  

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