joeyvee

Just when I thought all the great Texan hospitality was 100%, enter Froggy. You remember your MWC "one and done" win in Boise? Decked in TCU purple that day in the stands, in Boise stores/eateries were Idaho fans. Our large Boise base cheered you guys on. My plan to tour Ft. Worth and your campus is questionable now after insulting the UI and my UNT friends. By the way, do some research on UI and UNT football history. Not only are these great academic institutions, they have their fair share playing (have played) on Sunday. Idaho fans are proud, as our UNT fans. Here's a brief primer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idaho_Vandals_football Admittedly, not quite the storied prestige of TCU, but we are unconditionally loyal through the good and bad. Just like you, I imagine, have been through Tohill, Shofner, Dry, Wacker and Sullivan . . .but you do sound like a small froogy, so you still may have been that wink in Horny's eyes? You do talk about those 26 years of mediocrity, right?

Rock bottom. And it is gwad dam hard people. Worst team in the nation? On paper, yes. I can tell you from traveling up and watching spring ball and hearing/reading/seeing the fall reports --- it is a total new culture. It is not in that category, IMO. And I am smart enough to tell you we still suck, if we still sucked. There are players I have never seen and a HC and staff that is thriving on this "Rock bottom", "Bottom Ten", "Worthless piece of chit", and other stuff. I believe you can not afford to be back on your heels and over-confident, albeit, I pray to those wind turbines that you all are. Your HC and staff knows better, however. Dang it.

He did a pretty good job in the second half of that Tex. SA game. If Gesser would have had him in whole game, I think we would have won that one. Water under the bridge. You may be spot on though BVF. I know in other games when he was called on, it was not pretty, but he was behind that "el Matador" OL of ours and running for his life. Oh, the pain of these memories. LOL

We have open viewing and it is right on top of the drills and practices. When it concludes, the SID staff gets with the media and they request who they want to interview. Then the SID staff oks the requests with the HC. Then the small groups circle up and the SID moves the coaches and players who are going to meet the media to these staging areas. It is pretty smooth. The non-media, of course, are along the fence area, but you can hear just about everything. Here's a pic of the area. Some practices are inside the Dome, but most are outside on this site:

Thanks. I am looking forward to just walking and browsing most of Friday. My group is like me. Go and walk it and talk to the people. We love campuses.

Linebackers article in a northern newspaper 8-15 new linebackers have aggressive mentality millan eager to sack opposing qbs Dean Hare/Daily News Idaho linebacker Broc Westlake (10) and defensive end Quinton Bradley, right, eye running back Richard Montgomery, center, after Montgomery took a pitchout from quarterback Chad Chalich, left, Saturday during a scrimmage in Moscow. The Idaho Vandals had a trio of senior linebackers graduate following the 2012 campaign, leaving new football coach Paul Petrino with a gaping hole on his depth chart. But much as he had done with the running back position, Petrino used some keen recruiting to acquire a handful of junior college transfers and turned what looked to be a weakness on his team into one of the stronger units. Newcomers Marc Millan, Eric Tuipulotu, Juan Martinez and Broc Westlake immediately bolstered the defense, and their strong play in spring ball vaulted them to the top of the depth chart, along with senior Matt Willis and sophomore James Randall. The Vandals play a 4-3 defense, utilizing four defensive linemen and three linebackers. The middle linebacker in this scheme is usually referred to as the "Mike" backer. Whichever linebacker lines up on the strong side of the offense (the side with the tight end) is called the "Sam" backer, while the "Will" backer plays on the weak side. Millan's stellar play has earned him the starting spot at the "Will" position. However, the other two spots are still up for grabs. "It's a great competition," linebackers coach Eric Brown said. "I think right now Eric and Juan are working a little bit more with the ones, but it's going to be great having six linebackers we can rotate and stay fresh. I'm excited about the depth we have right now." At the "Mike" spot, Martinez and Westlake been getting the most playing time. Tuipulotu and Randall have been working at the "Sam" position, and Willis has played both the strong and weak sides. Millan impressed his coaches with his knowledge of the game, as well as his tireless and tenacious effort. "Getting here and watching him on film, I can tell he's a great blitzer," Brown said. "He needed to clean up some of his technique, but he's done that and has become a great all-around linebacker. He's a great leader, flies to the ball, very physical." At Santa Ana College in California, Millan recorded 70 tackles - 17.5 for a loss - and five sacks. When asked if he prefers to stuff a running back up the middle or to sack a quarterback, Millan laughed. "I like to sack quarterbacks, it's my bread an butter," he said, grinning. "But our No. 1 goal is to hunt. We sprint to the ball at full speed, we play through the whistle and we like to set the tone of the defense." Millan's hunter mentality is shared by the rest of the linebackers and their coaches as they have tried to instill a culture of toughness into the defense. "We call it our 'personality,' it's a hunter's mentality and we need to make it happen every play," Brown said. "Personality is not sometimes. Personality is every single play. "We're continuing to grow in our physicality. We're going to continue to take pride in our physicality and hunting ball carriers. We are ... going to fly to the ball, and we're going to take pride in that." Redshirt freshman Russell Siavii, younger brother of last year's defensive leader Robert Siavii, has been moved from linebacker to safety. Brown said he likes the effort and intensity the young Siavii displays and hopes to see him making plays on special teams. Former quarterback-turned safety Austin DeCoud bulked up during the summer and is playing with the linebackers now. The Vandals will have their second scrimmage of the fall at 10 a.m. Saturday loud and proud alla y'all...loud and proud

I think if the RSF does well in this Sat's practice, he will start. I did see some good things last year with our now senior, Taylor Davis, who has gameday experience. He is just a tad slower afoot, is what I think. But is a good one to have at #2. The JC kid? He looks great on those JC videos --- can scramble and is fast, but I believe not being on campus for spring ball has him at the #3. It will be interesting. The coming up Sat scrim ought to be the "tipping point". Who knows. Petrino holds his cards close to his vest.

From a local newspaper this a.m. (Thurs. 8-15) VANDAL CAMP: Idaho giving Runner a taste of defense duty Story Comments Share Share Print Create a hardcopy of this page Font Size: Default font size Larger font size Posted: Thursday, August 15, 2013 12:00 am | Updated: 12:47 am, Thu Aug 15, 2013. By Troy Warzocha of the Tribune | 0 comments MOSCOW - As wide receiver Roman Runner lined up near the line of scrimmage, he could hear someone shouting instructions behind him. "Move up. A little more. Loosen up. There ya go." The whistle blew and Runner quickly backpedaled before being picked up and blocked on a short pass completed just to his left. It was a different perspective for the senior wideout - and one that he may have to get used to this season. Plugged in at cornerback with the second and third defensive units, Runner, who compiled 218 yards on 18 catches in 2012, got a good look at what could very well become a second position - making him Idaho's first two-way player in quite some time. "When we've had two-a-days, in the afternoon he's been working with the defensive backs and it's just something that - when we do special teams and it's gunners against the guys holding them up, he was one of the best press guys we had," Idaho coach Paul Petrino said after the Vandals' second practice of the day on Wednesday afternoon. "We better get him over (to the defensive side of the ball) and have him work. He might have to play both sides of the ball a little bit." A happier camper - Five days after putting the Vandals on blast for their lack of effort, Petrino said that he was pleased with the direction and attitude of the team, especially during two-a-days. "I thought we got really good (work in) this morning," Petrino said. "We had great work, we flew around - especially offensively. The defense at times (has) got to play a little bit harder when they get tired, but this afternoon was good too. It was our best back-to-back practices of camp. "I was happy with today. I thought we got a lot better today." Infirmary report - Offensive linemen Jesse Davis and Dallas Sandberg returned to the field, but were limited to drills on Wednesday. Davis sustained a concussion last Thursday while Sandberg was injured just before halftime of the team's first scrimmage on Saturday. "They're not live yet, but at least they're back out there getting drill work," Petrino said. "I think Jesse will be able to go Saturday and Dallas will be able to go next week." Both lineman are expected to be starters on the strong side. In 11-on-11 drills, LHS grad Spencer Beale and Larry Dugan worked at Sandberg's guard spot while redshirt freshman Calvin White practiced at tackle. Running backs Kris Olugbode and James Baker were absent from practice. Neither participated in Saturday's scrimmage and, at the time, Petrino said that both are "dinged up." Defensive lineman QuayShawne Buckley was on the field, but was not wearing pads. Coming up - The Vandals will hold their second scrimmage of fall camp at 10 a.m. Saturday.

Yes, all practices are open. I think Coach Akey in his run as HC had one, maybe two, closed practices. The practice area has a nice setting for fans and the curious to view the going ons. They know the heat issue. I believe Petrino will have them the best one can do to get through this. And yes, I mentioned on our board, that UNT and Idaho are quite similar in sites and the threads and I think both schools have storied traditions and excellent academics. We are a 1889 land-grant school. Quite a proud alumni base. The campus is beautiful and the small town of Moscow has made many reviews as a nice tucked away college town. Moscow is in the north part of the state and is more connected to eastern Washington (Spokane) and western Montana, than it is to the more southern and politically strong southern portion, with Boise. Bosie has a large UI alum base. But BSU is a "jc" as far as we are concerned. LOL *they do produce futball though!

That's funny. I think the team will be much more competitive this season. Last year was just painful. We need to have a decent product on the field. Good thing about football and other sports, there is always a reset, then show us what you have. Last year we had one win, lost in OT to Wyo, gave Tex SA a game down to the end, played decently for parts of games. We lost our focus-compass in 2011. It was looking good thru 2009 and the 2010 was close to bowl eligible, and could have easily been a 7 win season. But close don't pack it.

Neither one of these guys. It is this guy, with the tremendous broadcast name for an athlete: Roman Runner --- starts under "other notes". Level is no longer on the team. Dang it. Awesome. But when Coach Akey was fired, he went to Stoneybrook. Tremendous receiver. Wednesday morning practice report — 8/14/13 It’s time for two-a-days, and Idaho coach Paul Petrino is continuing to push his team to work and up their tempo. Following special teams drills Petrino had his first team do eleven-on-elevens with the no-huddle and up-tempo along with live tackling testing to see how capable the players were of going and going without break. As soon as a touchdown was scored the offense would line right back up and go the other way. The defense left a lot to be desired, Petrino said. “I’m really pushing them hard, we did a long team period, went fast, live tackle, get after it. And really just trying to make them mentally tough with a whole lot of plays in a row. Offense had a great day, defense needs to get a lot tougher. When they kept doing a lot of plays in a row they weren’t mentally tough enough,” Petrino said. Consistency is what Petrino said he is looking for. “There’s different groups that are improving here and there. We just have to get consistent, where we come out here everyday and get better, so we’re not going up and down,” he said. We worked the tar out of them this morning so it was a good hard practice and now we’ll see who has the mental toughness to come out and work this afternoon.” Other notes - Roman Runner will be getting reps at cornerback during the afternoon practices. The change was implemented on Monday. Petrino said Runner will be a two-way player, three-way if you include special teams. “We’re going to do it, it might just be a nickel package, it might just be during certain things. When you go punt and punt return with the gunners and the guys holding them up Roman is the best press guy we got, so we gotta get him over there and have him play some corner for us,” Petrino said of the change. - Petrino hopes to get strong tackle Jesse Davis back for the scrimmage on Saturday. Left guard Dallas Sandberg is expected to be back next week for contact drills. - Petrino said Marc Millan has been the best linebacker for Idaho during the spring. Four guys are competing for the two spots after him, those four are likely Juan Martinez, Broc Westlake, Eric Tuipulotu and Matt Willis. “Our front seven has to be the strength of our defense, I think they’re improving,” Petrino said. Secondary picture coming together - I also talked to Petrino about the secondary and the freshmen breaking through with that group. Solomon Dixon is the leader of the group at corner, with Jayshawn Jordan and Delency Parham going back and forth there, Petrino said. As for safety? “I’d say at safety, one of our freshmen Jordan (Grabski) is probably playing the best.” Grabski is competing with Bradley Njoku and Tom Hennessey in the defensive backfield with Trey Williams sitting out with an injury. I also caught up with cornerbacks coach Mike Mickens at practice this morning about his group: On what he’s trying to accomplish with such a young group of corners: “Discipline. We got a lot of young guys in our unit in the defensive backfield but we wanted to come in and first thing you got to do to be a great DB is be disciplined. That’s what we’re trying to develop right now, just getting our stance good, peddle good, every play. That’s what our main focus is on.” On what Solomon Dixon is doing so well: “He has great athletic ability, he’s hungry, he works hard, so we just have to keep on making him grow.” On the biggest challenge for freshmen corners Desmond Banks and Armond Hawkins: “The speed of the game, it’s fast, so they’re still trying to adjust to it. The way we practice is tough, so they just have to keep learning and learning. They’ll be good players, we got two good gets, they’ll be real good down the line and maybe this year too.” On his NFL experience helping his coaching style: “Oh yeah, I always give them tidbits, they can work on those things away from the field and on the field, so, always trying to teach.” That’s all for Wednesday.

What I have been able to pick up on fall camp in Moscow, going into this Sat's scrim, is we hope to see progress in the OL , the corner and safety play (one athletic WR may do a "both ways" at times at corner) and more accuracy in the PAT and FG kicking. There may be some moving guys around as week #2 is at its mid-point. QB so far has a RSF with the ones. Still time for the senior or the JC guy to challenge. I hope to post some links from newspapers as they usually do daily summaries.

Hell-o the house! Anyone home?

BBQ 'em up. I will bring the spuds. Ok, we have humidity, heat, wind, deadly turbines, dead birds, a visitors' section facing the setting sun. What the hey? I will be walking the campus on Friday. Looking forward to it. #1 small city, should be fun.

I got your post over on our site. Good link on #1 small cities. I passed it on. Thanks for coming over and posting.

Stadium looks awesome. Tailgating all over. Yeah. Can't wait. Do you tailgate near the wind mills? Maybe power them up and get the air circulating?

Roster --- albeit, ever changing. I believe it is missing some of the walk ons: :http://www.govandals.com/SportSelect.dbml?DB_LANG=C&CONTENT_ID=%23temp_CONTENT_ID&DB_OEM_ID=17100&SPID=10352&SPSID=87198

Amazon --- Jim Norton NFL card. http://www.amazon.com/1968-Topps-Norton-Excellent-Near-Mint/dp/B00D61E83K

Pretty good update as of Aug. 13 http://www.thevandalnation.com/?p=8285

It appears a RSF QB is getting most of the reps. I believe it may be his to lose right now. The senior isn't too shabby, at least I saw moments of brilliance when he would step in last year. Maybe, not as good with the feet quickness than the RSF. But he does have a fair amount of FBS gameday experience. That is a plus. But, it is good to know he is #2 (right now). The JC guy arrived in summer, and is behind on playbook, etc. His Cal-JC videos and stats are decent to impressive. Since spring and the arrival of Petrino, no red vests on QBs. All live. They are getting no kid glove. So far, all are bouncing back up after an OMG laying out. Petrino also realizes the heat-humidity of the southeast. I am sure he reflects on his experience in SEC a lot with this issue. Again, not too much humidity up here.

Here's Jim Norton in his Vandal days. I am old enough where my dad took me to Moscow and Jim was playing. I remember his NFL trading card. Wished I had one!! Well, I was not allowed to use the "image extension" on my post. Whatever that is. I have copied and pasted before on here. Here's the link from our Vandal Hall of Fame. Great Vandal. And I like the uni. Throw back? I would go for it. http://www.govandals.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=17100&ATCLID=1456261

Oh, I believe it. I did get a trip into Tulsa one summer. Flew in and got off the plane and immediately was soaked. So, yes, there is absolutely nothing that can come close to what the team and fans are going to experience. But I look forward to all the other stuff my niece has planned in the four days. The game, tailgating, meeting you guys is top priority though. It is a great measuring stick for us to compare our team's fundamentals-discipline to last few years of big plays, but only to be called back due to someone fighting an opponent half a field away. Flags. Flags. Flags. You will see all business, little, if any, jawing ---- I think. Anyhow, this is fun. I have maps out of your area, reading the history of the area and just calling it my get away with fellow Vandal fans. Wife is staying, She has work. I am in year three of retirement. Never have been in the great state of Texas. Niece (lives in Irving) has warned me for the furnace blast. LOL

We have temps in the 90's. There is no humidity issue however. Dome? Don't think so. All is outside so far. I do know the conditioning and losing of some pounds was instilled right off the get go by Petrino. The team looks trim compared to the hogs that waddled around the past few years. OL weight is down. Speed and muscle appear to be the thing. I do know this fall camp is extremely challenging, as some were calling Junction, Texas. The team will be smaller (weight-wise) than the Mean Green, but I see a lot of toughness. Paul Petrno is doing what was needed --- pride, discipline, physicality. The Vandals will be improved.

Ok. I hear you. Black gear is not advised. I just spread the word. Sec. 124, Row 16, starting with seat 1 is not going to get shade for a while. Sounds like I should bring some Idaho bakers with me for you to put with your tailgating. They're the size of small water melons. The airline would toss them though. How far is the drive from my niece's place in Irving up to Denton? Any advice on the drive? Of course she has lived there for 10 years, so she should know the best routes and time-miles, etc. Thanks to you all.

Our seats start with: Sec 124; Row 16; Seat 1. What do ya think? Shade first quarter? Second? Ah, start of second half? Thanks.