Erickson welcomes butterflies

Dennis Erickson has been through more than 30 training/fall camps, but this one brings its own special appeal.

Erickson wasn’t on the sidelines last season, taking a one-year hiatus after he was fired by the San Francisco 49ers. He has joked that his golf game didn’t get any better and he spent a good chunk of his time watching football games on television.

Now back in the game at the University of Idaho, Erickson knows it’s football season again because the twinge in his stomach tells him so.

“It’s been a year since I was able to do this,” said Erickson, who will direct Idaho’s opening practice today at 3. “It’s exciting for me to get back into coaching and get out there with the players, spend time with them and coach. That’s what I like to do.

“There’s been a lot of camps over the years, believe me, probably 35 as a coach, and if you don’t have that excitement you shouldn’t be coaching. You always have butterflies. That’s how the energy comes and goes.”

Some of his nervous energy is perhaps the result of losing a couple of players late this summer. Two-year starting safety Dan Dykes elected to transfer and kicker/punter Mike Barrow went down with a torn ACL.

Finding replacements for those two and identifying some dependable receivers is probably tops on Erickson’s to-do list over the next couple of weeks.

“When we lost Dykes, it hurt our depth at safety,” Erickson said. “JC walk-on Chris Smith is a guy we’re counting on and we have Lee Jones and Jevon Butler. We’ve got some veterans, but they’re guys that really haven’t played in a while.”

Four kickers are in the mix, including J.C. transfers Tino Amancio and Vincente Rico.

After Barrow’s injury, Erickson worked the phones to beef up the position.

Elsewhere, Erickson will keep a close eye on the backup quarterback race, which has four candidates (Brian Nooy, Chris Joseph, Jon Tobin and Nathan Enderle). Running back will be another interesting position, with Jayson Bird returning after an injury-shortened 2005 campaign to compete against JC transfer Brian Flowers and California prep standout Andre Harris.

Erickson anticipates perfect attendance on opening day.

The team is essentially injury-free and Erickson said the academic picture looks good. Summer school ends today, so he’ll know more by early next week.

“It’ll be interesting to look at the young guys who we haven’t seen on the field,” Erickson said. “We need to find out what they retained (from spring football). I know there will be a great deal of enthusiasm, there always is early. (Today) is an exciting day. Ask them a week from now when they’ve gone through two-a-days four or five times.”

Idaho opens on the road against Michigan State on Sept. 2.