Idaho’s Emmerson Cortez-Menjivar, Michael Graves step up to lead wide receivers group

MOSCOW, Idaho – Based on its two spring scrimmages, the calling card of Idaho’s offense this season might be Emmerson Cortez-Menjivar running deep.

In the first scrimmage, quarterback Jack Wagner launched a 60-yard pass that Cortez-Menjivar took to the 10-yard line. Wagner said he saw the safety come off Cortez-Menjivar, and he let it fly.

A week later, with Nick Josifek running the first series, Cortez-Menjivar was the target again, this time on the first play. It went for 20 yards.

“Same thing,” Cortez-Menjivar said. “I was left 1-on-1.”

The 6-foot-1, 192-pound redshirt sophomore played in 14 games last year and caught 14 passes for 200 yards and four touchdowns. His role is expanding.

Last season, Cortez-Menjivar was often a decoy used to lure defensive backs and open other targets.

“Now I am working my butt off to fill the role as the top wide receiver,” he said.

He is joined as the top of Idaho’s depth chart this spring by several players, including sophomore Tony Harste and redshirt senior Michael Graves.

A year ago, Graves (6-3, 212) was considered to be Idaho’s go-to guy early on. He suffered a back injury in the opening game against Oregon that required surgery and cost him the rest of the year.

“It has really felt good working back into it after my surgery,” Graves said.

Before the game against the Ducks, Vandals receivers were anticipating a breakout season, Graves said. Idaho still finished 10-4 overall and reached the quarterfinals of the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs.

Wide receivers Jordan Dwyer and Mark Hamper stepped up to become Idaho’s top wideouts, but both have moved on.

Dwyer went to Texas Christian after making 78 receptions for 1,192 yards and 12 touchdowns last season. Hamper went to Wisconsin for a brief stop before re-entering the transfer portal. Hamper made 49 catches for 961 yards and six touchdowns in his year as a starter for Idaho.

Those two fulfilled the standard of elite pass catching set in 2023 by All-America Hayden Hatten, now with the British Columbia Lions of the Canadian Football League, and Jermaine Jackson, who made the NFL New Orleans Saints’ roster last season, first on the practice squad, before being activated Oct. 17.

“They set an example in the receiver room,” Cortez-Menjivar said of Hatten and Jackson. “They had an unstoppable mindset. Any ball in the air, they were going to go get it.”

Cortez-Menjivar is using Hatten, Jackson, Dwyer and Hamper as examples.

“I have got to do better in everything,” Cortez-Menjivar said, including being a more vocal leader.

The Vandals were rocked by the abrupt departure of coach Jason Eck to New Mexico after last season.

Cortez-Menjivar said “everybody was brokenhearted over the whole Eck thing,” but the team has regrouped under new coach Thomas Ford and his staff.

“I am really loving this staff,” Graves said. “… they want to keep everyone happy.”

Vandals receivers are bolstered by the fact their former receivers coach, Matt Linehan, is now Idaho’s offensive coordinator. The continuity is important, Graves said, and he has an ongoing good-natured banter with Linehan about getting him the ball.

While Cortez-Menjivar had the better season last year, Graves said he is looking to resume a role as the team’s influential veteran.

“Last year (before the injury), I was the oldest guy,” he said. “J.D. and Mark took over the role. … This year, I’m the head chop.”

That apparently involves being free with advice to Cortez-Menjivar.

In practice Thursday, Linehan made a point that on a red-zone pass play, wideout routes need not be run at maximum speed off the line of scrimmage but should let the play develop. In the manner of an older player talking to a younger one, Graves – who alternates with Cortez-Menjivar at split end and in the slot – said, “I need him to be on the ball. He wants to be shot out of a cannon.”

While Idaho’s defense has mostly dominated this spring, the offense is showing its capabilities.

For Graves, who spent a couple of years at junior college getting his academics in order before getting a chance with the Vandals, the opportunity for him, Cortez-Menjivar and others to extend the legacy of Hatten, Jackson, Dwyer and Hamper is something to relish in his senior year.

“It has been a long journey,” he said. “But love the Vandals.”