Idaho State Journal

April 12, 2021

ISU football position grades against Weber State

By Andrew Houghton ahoughton@journalnet.com

Idaho State football wrapped up a 2-4 spring season with yet another close loss, 20-15, to No. 3 Weber State on Saturday. In this week’s edition of position group grades for the Bengals, we’ll give grades both for Saturday’s performance and for the entire season, as well as pointing out a breakout player for each unit.

Quarterback: A-

Full-season grade: B+

Breakout player: Tyler Vander Waal

The first time Vander Waal tried to throw a ball on the sideline after taking a hard hit from Weber State’s Conner Mortensen that caused him to leave the game, it looked like he was about a whisker away from the hospital as he grimaced, limped over to the bench and hung his head. Not that long after, not only was Vander Waal back in the game, he was leading back-to-back scoring drives that briefly gave ISU a lead over the No. 3 team in the country. The Bengals’ QB didn’t quite get a Hollywood ending, throwing a game-ending pick on ISU’s final drive, and his final line against Weber’s fearsome defense was not all that pretty — 19 for 41 for 268 yards, one touchdown, one interception — but his effort left no doubt that ISU’s coaching staff hit a home run by bringing in the Wyoming transfer. In a way, it was a pretty good microcosm of his full season. He certainly had some issues — a 54.7% completion percentage and 10 interceptions, the most among Big Sky quarterbacks — but in the end, he kept his confidence, moved the ball (309.5 passing yards per game, second in the Big Sky to national POY candidate Eric Barriere), and had a very young Idaho State offense competing in every game except the season opener against Weber. Idaho State hasn’t had an answer at quarterback since Tanner Gueller left after the 2018 season, which doesn’t sound like a long time — but at the most important position in sports, it’s an eternity. With Vander Waal there going into the fall season, the Bengals don’t have to worry about QB anymore.

Running back: C-

Full-season grade: C

Breakout player: Raiden Hunter

The running backs are a prime example of the fallacy of linear improvement, something that might become a bit of a refrain with this young Idaho State team. Development doesn’t always follow a nice, even trajectory, and showing good things at a young age doesn’t always mean that a player will be a star. Malakai Rango, who went over 500 yards, averaged over five yards a carry and had a 142-yard game at BYU as a true freshman in 2019, averaged just 3.9 yards a carry in the spring season. Part of that goes on the ledger of a much more inexperienced offensive line, but Rango rarely looked as explosive and agile as he did on some of his best runs in 2019. That was the case against Weber State, as he put up 52 yards on 14 carries with a long of 14 yards. He still averaged 70.2 yards a game, third in the Big Sky, but every other player in the top seven averaged at least five yards a carry. Of course, if development isn’t always linear, then one down season doesn’t always doom a player, and Rango, who still showed flashes in the spring — check out his two touchdowns against Eastern Washington — could be back better than ever in the fall. Hunter, a redshirt freshman who had just 16 career carries coming into the season, had 35 totes for 130 yards and his first touchdown in the spring season.

Wide receivers: B-

Full-season grade: A

Breakout player: Xavier Guillory

With only three active players on the unit — Tanner Conner, Xavier Guillory and Christian Fredrickson — Saturday was a bit of a slog for the ISU wide receivers. Getting accurate deep balls to Conner was difficult with the wind howling through Stewart Stadium, although with the underneath routes more important, tight end Nate Shubert had his best receiving day of the year with 57 yards. The final interception looked like a miscommunication between Vander Waal and Christian Fredrickson, who continued his route upfield as Vander Waal threw to the sideline. But the spring season as a whole was a resounding success for the passcatchers. Conner looked like a true No. 1, high-volume target, finishing second in the conference in yards with 685. Behind him were four true freshmen, and all looked competent. Guillory gets the breakout nod with 18 catches for 324 yards and a team-high four touchdowns. As the other outside receiver opposite Conner, he saw more difficult coverage than the slot guys.

Fredrickson, who finished second on the team with 20 catches, or Jalen Henderson, who had the biggest single-game impact with 168 yards out of the slot against Eastern Washington, could have also gotten the nod. Jeff Harris, the fourth freshman, and Shubert both averaged over 30 receiving yards a game. With DeMonte Horton, Isaiah Walter and Isaiah Brimmer all potentially coming back to join this group in the fall, they’ll just get more potent.

Offensive line: B-

Full-season grade: C+

Breakout player: Jacob Angel

It’s tough to grade a unit that has so much impact on everything that happens on one side of the ball. Despite not having stats of their own, the O-line’s play is seen in the stat lines of every other player on ISU’s offense. Against Weber State’s defensive line, probably the best in the conference, ISU gave up just one sack on Saturday, and that was with backup quarterback Sagan Gronauer in the game. But Vander Waal took plenty of hits, including the one that forced him to leave the game, and had to scramble on several other plays, and the running game never really got going. In fact, it’s probably the failures of the running game (ISU averaged just 3.2 yards a carry, sixth among the eight Big Sky teams that tried to play a full schedule) more than the sacks allowed (19, seventh) that ISU’s coaches will want to fix. Keeping the same group together all season, which Idaho State did, will help going into the fall. Angel was solid at left tackle. Just a sophomore, he’s an under-the-radar potential all-conference player this fall.

Defensive line: A-

Full-season grade: C+

Breakout player: Terrance Jones

ISU sacked Weber State quarterback Bronson Barron three times on Saturday and hurried him a couple other times. The Wildcats averaged just 3.3 yards per carry. Kainoa Fuiava had two tackles for loss, Terrance Jones had one, as did rotation defensive end David Rowe. All in all, it was the best game of the season for ISU’s defensive line, a unit that dealt with quite a bit in the spring. Presumed starting nose tackle T.J. Togiai opted out of the season, as did depth pieces Garrett Crane and Hunter Eborn. Position coach Lei Talamaivao resigned midway through the season after the Bengals gave up 46 points against Eastern Washington. But with Raemo Trevino taking over the majority of the reps at nose tackle, the unit looked better over the back half of the season. ISU had just 10 sacks in six games, and only 4 1/2 of those were by a defensive lineman. The Bengals also gave up 161.8 rushing yards a game, seventh among the eight Big Sky teams. But that latter number is mostly due to a 289-yard performance on the ground by Weber State in the season opener. In the rematch against the Wildcats on Saturday — albeit with All-American running back Josh Davis not playing for Weber — ISU gave up just 129 yards on the ground, the second-fewest the Bengals allowed all season. Jones, a converted linebacker getting his first real run at defensive end, finished second among ISU D-linemen with 22 tackles and 1 1/2 sacks, and tied Fuiava for the lead with four tackles for loss.

Linebackers: B

Full-season grade: A-

Breakout player: Oshea Trujillo

The linebackers continued to get production from just about everybody on Saturday. Connor Wills had eight tackles and a forced fumble, Darian Green had a sack (his team-leading second) and Oshea Trujillo had a TFL. The impact wasn’t quite there as much as it has been in some other games, which speaks to the high level this unit has been at more than any particular failings on Saturday. It was clear the linebackers had talent coming into the season, but what’s been encouraging is how well everybody has fit their role. Wills finished with 60 tackles in six games, far and away a team-high, perfect in the middle linebacker role. Trujillo was the playmaking demon on the weak side, with 34 tackles (second on the team), 2 1/2 TFLs (tied for third), nine pass breakups (first) and five quarterback hurries (first). A good player in 2019, he was one of the best defensive players in the Big Sky in the spring. That’s a harder jump to make than going from backup to starter, or starter to good player, and says quite a bit about Trujillo’s talent. Darian Green and Kennon Smith split time at strong-side linebacker. Green led the team with 4 1/2 tackles for loss and two sacks. Could he get some more time at rush linebacker in the fall? Rasheed Williams, making his return from injury at that rush linebacker spot, adopted well to coverage responsibilities after moving from defensive end with four pass breakups, second on the team.

Secondary: C+

Full-season grade: B-

Breakout player: Quantraill Morris-Walker

Weber State decimated ISU with deep shots in the season opener, taking advantage of a Bengals secondary that featured four completely new starters. In the rematch, ISU was better. The Wildcats still got their big plays in, just not as often. A 60-yard bomb to Ty MacPherson set up Weber State’s first score, ending nearly two scoreless quarters for the Wildcats. Jayden Dawson, who led ISU with 10 tackles, had a TFL and recovered a fumble, couldn’t have played MacPherson much better on that play — it was a gret throw and catch — but he did get dinged for two bad pass interference penalties when he couldn’t get his head around, including one on Weber’s winning drive. Jacob Jones, who filled in for the injured Manase Time in the back half of the season, made his biggest play of the year, forcing a fumble to give ISU great field position in the first half. It’ll be interesting to see if the JUCO transfer will be in a position battle with Time in the fall. Dawson, who finished fourth on the team with 30 tackles and broke up four passes, could have been the breakout player, but the sophomore was expected to be a little more polished coming in after a year of junior college. Morris-Walker, who barely played as a freshman in 2019, has been talked about as a player with a lot of potential since he came into the program. In six games as the starter, he started showing it, 17 tackles, 1 1/2 TFLs and a team-high two interceptions. He had his hands on another couple potential picks too.

Special teams: C-

Full-season grade: D

It wasn’t Kevin Ryan’s fault that his 46-yarder into the wind in the first quarter was blocked. ISU should have never attempted the kick. Ryan bounced back against Weber State by making a 35-yarder with the wind behind him and two other kicks, including a go-ahead chip shot with under six minutes left. The lefty kicker was money on late kicks all season, including an ice-in-his-veins game-winner against Southern Utah. But it’s an issue that a 46-yarder is something that everybody watching knew the Bengals had basically no shot of making, and it’s an issue that Ryan’s five missed field goals the most in the conference. His long was 35 yards. Worse, the Bengals kept playing teams that showed that finding a stud kicker isn’t an impossibility in the Big Sky, at least if you’re willing to spend the resources there. McKenzie Morgan was named the Big Sky player of the week on special teams for Weber State after averaging 51.6 yards a punt against ISU, more than 10 yards past Ryan’s average of 41.5. It wasn’t just the kicking game either. Idaho State was dead last in the Big Sky in kick return average, next to last in punt return average, and in the bottom half in punt and kick return coverage.