Lucas Gebhart
Sports Editor
After just one season in a Bengal uniform, former quarterback Michael Sanders is leaving ISU.
Sanders transferred to ISU from Scottsdale Community College where he enjoyed an immense amount of success under head coach Doug Madoski. During his sophomore campaign, Sanders threw for over 3,500 yards, 35 touchdowns and eight interceptions.
His freshman season he played sparingly, backing up future UNLV starting quarterback Blake Decker.
Sanders was named the starting quarterback the minute he stepped on campus and it may have taken a full season to get the offensive system under his belt. However, Sanders decided his skill set would be best suited elsewhere.
It seemed like Sanders would be the perfect fit for Mike Kramer’s up-tempo, air-it-out, no-huddle offense, but that was not the case.
Although Sanders missed three games due to injury, he threw for just 2,131 yards, with 21 touchdowns and 10 interceptions in nine games.
With Sanders at the helm, the Bengal offense looked flawless during opening drives but struggled to move the football the rest of the game with turnovers coming at inopportune times.
“I just didn’t feel it was the right fit for me here at Idaho State,” Sanders told KPVI Pocatello, Idaho Falls in an on-camera interview. “It’s unfortunate because I really would have liked to be here but I just have to move on.”
The Bengals were hoping that Sanders would fill the shoes of Justin Arias who was named first team all-conference and broke a school record in single season passing yards with 4,076 in 2014. The Bengals went 8-4 under Arias but only won two games with Sanders as the starter.
It appeared that the Bengals would continue to see success with a 55-0 rout of Black Hills State where Sanders was unstoppable, throwing for five touchdowns. But the season quickly turned south as ISU dropped nine of their last ten games, scoring a total of 187 points for the remainder of the season, meaning that 23 percent of the Bengals total points in the 2015 season, came in the opener.
According to KPVI, Sanders believed he regressed as a quarterback while at ISU because he was trying to learn Kramer’s offense on the fly and was given most of the blame when the team started to lose.
“I’m fine with that. It is what it is. You accept that playing the position. When you’re losing like we were losing, there is a lot of things that go into that, but I don’t take it to heart,” Sanders explained during his interview.
KPVI says that Sanders is leaving on good terms.
“I wish them nothing but the best of luck. I hope they have a great year,” Sanders said. “For the players, keep working hard and hopefully they can turn it around next year and get it going again.”
Sanders is set to transfer to Henderson State, a Division II power house located in Arkadelphia, Arkansas where he is expected to be the starting quarterback for the Reddies as he enters his senior season.
For the Bengals, Tanner Gueller is in line for the starting gig in 2016. Gueller threw for 855 yards, five touchdowns and eight interceptions in 2015.
