Recap of Vandals’ signing day

UPDATED: 10:50 p.m.

Robb Akey walked into the media room at the Kibbie Dome on Wednesday and greeted reporters by blurting out a “Merry Christmas” and a few yelps. Akey was clearly thrilled with his 22-player recruiting class. You can read about it here in our story and capsules of each player.

Read on for more quotes and a conversation with the high school coach of cornerback commit Dion Bass.

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UPDATE: Talking Dion Bass …

Late this evening I spoke with Matt Logan, coach at Centennial High in Corona, Calif., about Dion Bass. The 5-foot-9 cornerback signed with UI today; his brother, Ryan, also graduated from Centennial and will play at Idaho this fall after sitting out as a transfer tailback last year.

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He’s so physically gifted,” Logan said of Dion. “There’s a whole lineage of Bass brothers. All the Bass brothers got a great gene pool.”

In his 14 years at Centennial, Logan has coached five members of the Bass family, four of whom went on to play Division I football. Ryan started his career at Arizona State before transferring to UI last year — and Dion drew interest from Nebraska and others.

Logan said the Cornhuskers came in late on Dion. He wasn’t sure if they offered a scholarship when he visited last weekend. “Dion liked Idaho to begin with so it was going to take a lot,” Logan said.

Logan described Dion, a young senior who’s just 17, as very physical and versatile. “He played corner, could play safety. He returned two kicks for TDs last year.”

Dion and Ryan will be the third and fourth players from Centennial to play for UI in recent years. They join receiver Marcel Posey, who missed last year with a knee injury, and former center Irv Stevens III.

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A few notes: This class will put Idaho close to or at 85 scholarships for the first time in Akey’s tenure … Ron Mallory and Brian Wilson, backup linemen, have left the program, Akey announced. … The Vandals start spring practice on March 24.

Now, here’s Akey a few players and positions:

DEFENSIVE LINE

“We got three guys that I anticipate being able to help us on the defensive line. We brought him in there to compete for starting jobs. … they’re all very good players.”

“That really helps us bolster that defensive line. … Obviously (Michael) Cosgrove is a tremendous player, but I felt like we need to provide him some help. If the young guys are able to go, awesome.”

DONTAE SCOTT

“I’ll tell you what, I like him. Great mobility, strong kid. Played high school ball with Robert Siavii.”

MLB SAM TUALA

“He’ll remind you of Tre’Shawn. I brought him to help Tre’Shawn. He can give us more depth, he’ll compete with Tre’Shawn.”

BRADY LOSOKI

“He’s going to factor in right away — have a chance to anyway.”

On him being originally from Redmond, Wash. “We’re getting stronger in the Northwest, and that’s one of the things I’m also proud of where we’re heading right now … You start being able to get guys closer to home I think that strengthens what you’re doing. I hope it’s an indication anyways that people like the way we’re doing things.”

On Losoki and A.J. Jones: “Those are guys I expect to help us the most immediately.”

DION BASS

“Dion’s fast now. … He can run and he can cover. He was on a recruiting visit to the University of Nebraska last weekend. Those are the kind of people that we’re chasing him also. I’m really excited about him.”

DOMINIQUE BLACKMAN

“The best quarterback we saw happened to be Dominique Blackman. He’ll redshirt this next year. Here’s a guy now that got a canon of an arm. … But he’s got great escapability also. Runs very, very well.”

“I think this fits us very well. That gives us depth at quarterback. … He’s so happy to be here. He’s  so hungry to be here.”

QUINTON BRADLEY

“The first time coach brought his film in, I said, Well we’re not going to knock this guy out of Texas.’ He was the first guy we saw, the first guy we wanted. .. He’s going to be a tremendous player.”

CODY OLENZ

“He’s one of the first guys we saw on the offensive line. I said, ‘Hey, I want that guy here.’ And we were able to get him.”

TODD HANDLEY

“Makes us a faster football team. You’re always looking to improve your speed, and he allows us to do that.”

BRADLEY NJOKU

“We were going to take one safety and first safety we wanted, we went after and we got.”