Taylor Meeks
Sports Editor
The Idaho State University football team rounded out its 2020 recruiting class on last Wednesday’s National Signing Day as head football coach Rob Phenicie announced 16 new additions to the roster.
The class-of-2020 commitments is now at 24 as the Bengals previously signed nine recruits in December minus one in offensive line Daniel Caloca, who was granted a release from his National Letter of Intent and signed with UNLV.
Among the list of players in ISU’s first signing announcement included returning missionaries David Rowe, Connor Stanford and Bryon Leckington, who signed in 2017.
“I’m kind of fired up about that,” Phenicie said at Wednesday’s press conference. “The coaches did a great job of identifying players, sticking within our needs, what we needed to do to get the team better. We’re excited about the class.”
The biggest name that was announced Wednesday was former Wyoming quarterback Tyler Vander Waal, who announced his commitment to ISU in early January shortly after entering the transfer portal. Vander Waal is expected to be ISU’s starting quarterback this year.
“We were looking for a quarterback with some experience, specifically some Division-I experience,” Phenicie said. “He possesses the mindset and skills that we need, and it’s going to be exciting to watch him progress.”
Vander Waal was a high school three-star recruit by Rivals, Scout.com and 247Sports as well as being ranked the 174th best overall recruit in the state of California in the 2017 recruiting class by 247Sports.
The former Wyoming quarterback started the first eight games of the season and the last game of the year at New Mexico for the Cowboys in 2018. In 2019, he appeared in eight games and threw 512 yards, one touchdown and had four rushing touchdowns.
Equally as exciting as Vander Waal’s commitment is a previously unknown FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) dropdown that was announced officially last Wednesday. Isaiah Smalls, a former tight end from Oregon State, committed to Idaho State shortly after entering his name in the transfer portal in December.
Smalls, a 3-star recruit per 247Sports coming out of high school in Los Angeles, played in 12 games for the Beavers as a freshman in 2018 with eight catches for 118 yards.
He redshirted in 2019, playing in one game, and entered his name in the transfer portal in December. He’ll be on campus this summer and will compete to fill the hole left by the departure of senior tight end Austin Campbell.
“We’ve been on him since December, since he got in the portal,” Phenicie said. “(Cornerbacks coach) Kam Yancy, with his connections at Oregon State, got that done. He was either going to go to junior college or transfer here, so he signed with us.”
The Bengals also signed six defensive back commits on Wednesday, including several of the most impressive recruits of the class in Jayden Bell and Tiloi Nawahine.
Junior college transfer cornerbacks Jayden Dawson, from Mt. San Jacinto College, and Cam Davis, from Sacramento City College, are expected to compete for jobs right away after ISU’s entire starting secondary departed.
“When I was at a coaches’ convention in January, I had a couple coaches come up to me and say, ‘Hey, you signed the Dawson kid, didn’t you?’” Phenicie said. “They were like, wow, that’s a good get. Any time guys are talking about that, that’s a good thing.”
Idaho State had to fight for highly recruited players like Josh Alford, Bell, and Braden Cureton. Alford, a cornerbackfrom California high school powerhouse St. John Bosco, had offers from Rutgers and Howard. Bell, whose father Troy played at Idaho State, and Cureton, from Rocky Mountain High in Meridian, both had other Big Sky Conference Schools after them.
“We offered Jayden (Bell) way back early, and we let the recruiting play out,” Phenicie said. “We didn’t pressure him. He went through the whole process and looked at everybody.
There were two schools in this conference that offered him, and we got him.”
Bell, along with Nawahine will serve two-year missions for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints before enrolling at Idaho State.
Along with Nawahine and Cureton, the Bengals secured another Rocky Mountain player in linebacker Jake Piscione on Wednesday. Other in state recruits included linebacker Keaton Horn from Mountain View High in Meridian and wide receiver Christian Fredericksen from Rigby, a total of six commits from south and east Idaho on National Signing Day and an overall total of 10 in the recruit class.
“We’re doing a good job,” Phenicie said. “We’re kind of building a wall around the area, and that’s what we want to do. My line to these kids is, ‘We want to build Idaho State football with state-of-Idaho kids,’ and that’s what we’re working on.”
The other area of need ISU addressed Wednesday was the offensive line, which lost four multi-year senior starters after the 2019 season. Massive junior college transfer Sam Tapia (6-foot-7, 315 pounds), from Southwestern College, will join early-period signee Tyler Clemons in competing for starting spots right away.
“You sign mid-year junior college players with the intent of not sitting them,” Phenicie said. “You’re not bringing them in to sit, you’re not bringing them in to slow-cook. These guys are going to be microwaved. Tapia at tackle, Dawson at corner. Cam Davis, the other corner. Obviously, Vander Waal. These guys, they’re expected to come in and hit the ground running.”
