Denim Millward
Sports Editor
Despite not having another contest for nearly five months, Idaho State head football coach Mike Kramer doesn’t exactly have time to leisurely plow through a few good novels or escape to the island paradise of his choice, refreshing beverage in hand and sand between his toes.
Spring practice begins Wednesday, April 1, 2015 and with it the first look at the first Bengal team to be coming off a winning season since 2004.
At the forefront of many fans’ minds is the quarterback battle to replace outgoing senior and multiple record-setter Justin Arias.
A complete battle, however, with all prospective participants will have to wait until fall training camp, as freshman commit Robert Kvinsland and junior college transfer Michael Sanders will not yet be with the team during spring practice.
While Kramer has said to the media previously that he will not name a starting quarterback until August, returning quarterbacks James Delacenserie, Tanner Gueller and Trae Pilster will have 15 different April practices to make a case to Kramer to be Arias’ heir.
Though the signal-caller position, arguably the most important in football, is up in the air, that won’t stop Kramer and his team from having more fun in spring practice than they have in recent memory.
“Our mindset is totally different now,” Kramer said to ISU Sports Information. “It is fun. It is a different rumble. We have gone from driving a low-horse power energy saving car to driving a four-wheel drive pick-up that is jacked up. We are ready to go. We consider ourselves to be one of the elite teams in the United States and our plans are to stay there.”
Arias is only one of two starters not returning on offense, the other being left tackle Jim Bagley. Sophomore offensive lineman Skyler Phillips is slated to replace Bagley at left tackle, while Phillips’ fellow offensive lineman Thomas Vazorka will slide in to Phillips’ old spot at right guard.
The rest of the line remains intact from last year, with redshirt junior Christian Diehm at center, junior Wesley Wingrove at left guard and redshirt junior Terrence Carey at right tackle.
At running back, Xavier Finney returns for his senior season after a sensational junior campaign, setting multiple rushing records of his own and providing the Bengal offense with some much-needed flexibility in its offensive attack.
Alongside departing senior Daniel McSurdy, Finney completely eliminated the opposing team’s ability to ignore the run and focus on ISU’s passing game, a calling card of a Mike Kramer offense.
Stepping up to fill the gap left by McSurdy is redshirt sophomore Jakori Ford, who, albeit considerably smaller than McSurdy and Finney, brings home-run speed to the table, which will set up the possibility for more long runs next season, something Bengal running backs had relatively few of last season.
At wide receiver, junior Madison Mangum returns to lead the Bengals explosive passing attack alongside redshirt sophomore Broc Malcom.
Redshirt sophomore KW Williams will start at the slot position, with redshirt junior C.J. Hatchett backing him up.
Freshman Hagen Graves started a few games in 2014 due to injury and, even among his fellow Bengal wide receivers who were among the Big Sky conference elite, had a number of stand-out plays last season. Graves will provide depth behind Malcom.
On the defensive side of things, redshirt sophomore Hayden Stout has the tall task of replacing outgoing senior Mitch Beckstead as starting inside linebacker.
Redshirt junior CJ Langlow is penciled in to start at the Sam linebacker position, while junior Kurt Karstetter is slated to man the Rush linebacker position.
Returning redshirt junior Cody Sorensen and junior Taison Manu give Kramer even more to be excited about, as they return for their senior seasons at the starting safety positions.
“It is great to return so many starters,” Kramer said to ISU Sports Information. “Having two returning safeties is like having Justin Arias back on offense. To have Cody and Taison back for us at safety is huge for us because they are productive and they led all defensive backs in the conference in tackles. They started every game for us for almost the last two years. They know how to get aligned and get us organized.”
While all fifteen practices will be open to the public, the spring series will culminate with the Dave Kragthorpe Classic April 25, a scrimmage that will take place inside Holt Arena at noon.
