Young Vandals pad optimism

MOSCOW, Idaho – Adam Korby may have an upside-down view of things, but he’s at the perfect position to assess the progress of the Idaho football team.

Korby, the junior center from Fort Collins, Colo., has a close working relationship with untested redshirt freshman quarterback Nathan Enderle and the unproven wide receivers plus the thin defensive line. But he didn’t sound too concerned Tuesday morning at the conclusion of the Vandals’ first day of practice in full pads.

“I’ve been around a long time and this is the closest-knit group I’ve been with so far,” said the offensive captain. “Everything is clicking pretty well. We’re all trying to help each other out, which is going to help us that much more in accomplishing the goals we need.”

First-year head coach Robb Akey certainly felt the Vandals made progress in pads.

“I like ‘em better today,” he said. “When you finally get the first day of full pads, you could get anything out here. We got better work done today than we did yesterday. I was happy with that. They did a nice job of being physical against each other. Things were pretty clean in regards to assignments and that kind of stuff. I think we gained some ground today.”

Korby centered the first team that included Enderle, redshirt freshman Deonte Jackson at running back and junior Lee Smith and sophomores Raymond Fry and Max Komar at wide receiver.

“I’m confident in (Enderle) right now,” Korby said. “He’s doing very well for himself. We just need to keep that confidence factor up.”

The offensive line that has the task of keeping all the youngsters confident – and they’re not exactly graybeards – included junior tackles Billy Bates and Kris Anderson, and junior Mike Iupati and sophomore Adam Juratovac at guards. The second-team line, from the left, was freshman Kellen Beam, junior Brandon Schulte, sophomore center Irvin Stevens III, senior Marcis Fennell and sophomore Bryce Sinclair.

“There’s definitely a little pressure (on the linemen) – it’s always in the back of our minds,” Korby said.

As for the defensive line, Korby is seeing progress.

“During the spring ball we had a bunch of D-linemen bumped and bruised up,” he said. “They’re getting healthy finally and they’re doing well for themselves.”

The Vandals have the first of four two-a-day practices today, at 9 a.m. and 7 p.m.