Here are  a few things Idaho coach Robb Akey had to say about his new class of recruits.

In general…. “I’m obviously excited about this class. I don’t think you’re going to hear one football coach come on the screen today and say ‘hey, you know, we really didn’t do very well’ … every coach in the country is excited about who they’re signing today, and we are, we are with good reason.”

On the impact of a winning season……“Well, I think that the success of the season, as we were going through things that certainly had a lot of folks excited. I think it strengthened the interest level of the people we were going after … that got some of those guys to commit to us early. A number of these kids have been committed to us for a long period of time. And I think the completion of the season and the exclamation point of the Humanitarian Bowl … I think that that really helped us solidify the kids that had been committed to us. I think it got some of those guys that decided after the …. we pulled off a couple of deals here at the end of the recruiting that – one of them is a guy that was going to go play for somebody else in our league that elected to come here. And that wouldn’t have happened before.” Continue Reading

TRANSFERS
RYAN BASS — running back, 5-9, 201, Arizona State/Centennial High School, Corona, Calif. … ASU transfer rushed for 120 yards as ASU freshman and 173 yards as a sophomore before being suspended. … will sit out the 2010 season.
MATTHEW HARVEY — cornerback, 5-10, 160, Ellsworth JC, Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., joined UI in fall of 2009 and saw time on the field … returned 14 kickoffs for 276 yards. … spent one season at Ellsworth and had 46 tackles and six INTs.
ARMAUNI JOHNSON — receiver, 6-4, 210, West Los Angeles College, Jacksonville, Fla. … hauled in 80 passes for 796 yards in two seasons … Akey said “he’ll be able to come in and compete for a job.”
HOMER MAUGA — linebacker, 6-0, 224, Grassmont College, La Mesa, Calif. … Region III all-California first-team at Grossmont. … “changes direction very well,” Akey said.
AARON STRUMSKI — defensive tackle, 6-2, 303, Ellsworth CC, Hollywood, Fla. … Second-team all-America. … 79 total tackles, 15 TFL and 8.5 sacks in 2009.
BEN SWARTS — defensive tackle, 6-2, 285, Arizona Western, Tucson, Ariz. … First-team JC All-American. … became undefeated state heavyweight champ in wrestling during senior year of high school after the coach asked him to come out for the team so it wouldn’t have to forfeit that weight class. … Akey said he still has academic issues to take care of.
THAAD THOMPSON — defensive back, 6-3, 215, Ellsworth CC, Margate, Fla. … 27 total tackles and three TFL during 2009 season.
SAM TUPUA — offensive line, 6-3, 374, Palomar JC, Wilmington, Calif. … part of offensive line that helped Palomar average 429 yards a game and yield only 12 sacks during the year. … will compete for one of four open spots on the line.
CHARLES WILEY — offensive line, 6-5, 302, Grossmont College, Knoxville, Tenn. … chosen to play in Triumphant Sports Junior College All-American Game in 2009. … will compete for one of four open spots.
HIGH-SCHOOL SIGNINGS
SPENCER BEALE — offensive lineman, 6-4, 321, Lewiston High School. … started on offensive and defensive lines as a senior but missed time with a knee injury. … first-team all-state as a junior.
MITCHELL CROCKOM — receiver, 6-2, 177, Alhambra High School, Alhambra, Calif. … had 43 receptions and 672 yards with nine TDs in 2009. … “great leaping ability,” said Robb Akey.
JESSE DAVIS — defensive lineman, 6-6, 265, Asotin High School. … first-team all-state 2B tight end in 2009. … had four TD catches at tight end and two sacks.
MAXX FORDE — defensive end, 6-4, 270, Woodinville High School, Woodinville, Wash. … made AP 4A all-state team and had 34 tackles with two sacks in senior season.
KAREL KEARNEY — defensive tackle, 6-2, 273, John B. Connelly High School, Austin, Texas. … had 18 tackles for loss and eight sacks in senior season. …. first-team District 25-5A selection.
TYLER KUDER — defensive tackle, 6-4, 289, Payette High School, Payette, Idaho. … first-team All-Idaho 3A pick in 2009 as offensive and defensive lineman. …. had 15 TFL, two sacks and two INTs.
MIKE MARBOE — offensive lineman, 6-2, 297, Wenatchee High School, Wenatchee, Wash. … already enrolled in school. … father and uncle played at Idaho. … 4A first-team All-State selection in 2008.
JUSTIN PODRABSKY — quarterback, 6-6, 240, Lewiston High School. … only quarterback in this class. … top-ranked recruit in Idaho. … Threw for 2,733 yards and 34 TDs as a junior.
JAMES RANDALL — safety, 6-0, 205, Compton High School, Compton, Calif. … 68 tackles and four fumble recoveries as a senior. … all-area selection.
KYLE SALM — offensive lineman, 6-6, 290, San Dimas High School, San Dimas, Calif. … blocked in an offense that put up 341 rushing yards a game. … All-California Interscholastic Federation Mid-Valley Division first team.
DALLAS SANDBERG — offensive lineman, 6-4, 300, Bradshaw Mountain High School, Prescott Valley, Ariz. … Arizona Football Coaches Association 4A all-state team in 2009. … recorded 62 tackles.
CALVIN THOMPSON — running back, 6-2, 203, Vista Ridge High School, Cedar Park, Texas. … ran for 605 yards and six TDs in 2009.
SHAWN TUCKER — cornerback, 5-9, 164, Laguna Hills High School, Laguna Hills, Calif. … joined UI in fall of 2009. … had four interceptions as a senior.
JAYSON WASHINGTON — running back, 5-7, 165, Moscow High School. … co-offensive MVP in 4A Inland Empire League as a senior. … carried 75 times for 1,004 yards and 13 TDs as a senior.
BEN WESTRUM — offensive lineman, 6-7, 308, Black Hills High School, Tumwater, Wash. … first-team AP 2A all-state as a senior.
DEMETRIUS WILLIAMS — receiver, 5-11, 183, Inderkum High School, Sacramento, Calif. … all-City first-team quarterback in 2009. … passed for 1,321 yards and 17 TDs while running for 307 yards and three TDs. … Idaho got him late in the recruiting process.

This was supposed to go up earlier, but better late than never. The Detroit Free Press had a funny/informative article about former Idaho LG Mike Iupati and Detroit Lions offensive coordinator/former Idaho quarterback Scott Linehan during Senior Bowl week. Iuptati seems to be impressing NFL personnel thus far.

Take a glance here.

 Before the season began, there was a distinct sense, inside and outside the program, that the Vandals were better than last year — bigger, stronger deeper. It was a logical assumption, based on the individual talents of both the returners and the newcomers. And maybe, in the long run, it will be true, if Idaho’s recent string of home losses hasn’t already made it impossible to snag a decent seed for the WAC tournament. At the moment, though, the Vandals aren’t trying to outdo their 2008-09 model. They’re trying to equal it. And for one night at least, they succeeded.

“What we did is we passed the ball better tonight, from all five spots,” Idaho coach Don Verlin said after the Vandals’ 74-59 win over Fresno State.

This team still looks sharpest when it’s keeping a brisk pace — not only in transition, when the opportunity presents itself, but more importantly within its halfcourt offense: brisk movement, brisk passing. For one thing, it makes the best use of point guard Mac Hopson’s subtle talents. He wasn’t the only Vandal making sharp, telepathic feeds the other night. But when he’s doing it, the others follow.

“From here on out, I think that’s how we should play,” Hopson said. “If we play like we played tonight, we can win our next 10 games. We’re capable of that. I mean, you could see that. The games we lost, we didn’t lose by that much. We’re coming along. There’s a lot of season left and we’re growing, chemistry-wise. We’re becoming a good team.”

For this particular team.

In other words, turnovers bit the Vandals again. It’s been a season-long pattern, one that’s difficult to explain in light of the team’s relative surehandedness last year with largely the same personnel.

The Vandals were up 54-45 with four and a half minutes left when the unraveling began. The most critical sequence started at about the 2:40 mark when they squandered a press-break opportunity — a post under the basket dribbled the ball off his foot, to be specific — and Boise State guard La’Shard Anderson recovered it near the sideline and whisked it downcourt for a bucket by Ike Okoye. While reporters were still jotting that sequence down, the Broncos’ Daequon Montreal stole the Idaho inbounds for an easy layin, and suddenly the game was tied at 55 with 2:27 left.

Later, the Vandals made another rash move against the press, trying a completely unnecessary crosscourt pass –having already safely crossed midcourt, mind you — and Montreal tapped the ball away before making a spectacular save at the baseline. That led to a transition bunny by Thomas that cut an Idaho lead to 60-59.

The money shot, of course, was Thomas’ 3-pointer at the buzzer, silencing the UI students who had been booing him in unison every time he touched the ball, and forcing an overtime that Boise State completely dominated in its 77-67 win.

The most compelling postmortem question was: With the Vandals leading by three points after UI’s Jeff Ledbetter missed a free throw with 7.7 seconds left, should Idaho have fouled Thomas in the backcourt before he had a chance to begin his shooting motion? Even if he had converted both free throws, Idaho would have still led by a point with a second or two remaining.

For the record, Vandals coach Don Verlin doesn’t believe in fouling in that situation.

“There are two schools of thought on that,” he said postgame. “What you worry about in a situation like that is, if you foul him and he shoots a 3 and makes it, that’s the only way you can lose the game (in regulation). So I didn’t think of fouling him. My philosophy has always been to make him shoot a contested shot. You have to give Anthony Thomas credit for making that shot. It was a heckuva shot.”

In the closing minutes, Verlin tried to interfere as little as possible, which seemed a wise enough course. But even one of his players , to judge from his rapid-fire summation of the Vandals’ mistakes, thought they could have used a bit more discussion.

“We didn’t close it out,” said senior post Marvin Jefferson, who had blocked six shots in an inspired, flawed performance. “We turned the ball over, made mistakes, both physical and mental. We didn’t take care of the ball and we were impatient. We didn’t slow the ball down. We had timeouts and we didn’t take them. We threw the ball away. It was mistakes down the stretch.”

As the stunned Vandals swirled away in overtime to their sixth straight loss, senior guard Mac Hopson took matters into his own hands with a series of needle-threading drives, including an unsuccessful one that got him benched.

“He didn’t execute the play that was called,” Verlin said.

And so it went. This team has three days now to process its most disheartening loss in years and ward off any intraquad demons before playing another home game, a seemingly anticlimactic one against Fresno State on Thursday night.

Vandal fans, meanwhile, were not the only ones left silenced by Thomas.

“Everybody is really down right now,” Jefferson said. “We don’t even know what to say to each other at this point.”

Verlin’s take: “Sometimes it’s best not to say anything.”