Seiji Wood
Sports Editor
Quarterback Gunnar Amos takes the snap around mid-field and throws a short quick pass to the right. Cornerback Colton Belnap breaks fast toward the ball and steps in front of the receiver to intercept it. Belnap’s hands latch onto the ball, and he sprints toward the end zone, taking the inception in for a touchdown.
I cheer louder than I probably should. In the end, we’re all on the same team, but I’ve known Colton my whole life. He’s one of my best friends, from playing T-ball together to him being a groomsman at my wedding. I know how much he loves football and how hard he works. I’m happy for him.
Today is spring football, and it’s the first of many scrimmages for the Idaho State Bengals. I’m actually surprised it’s not raining or, even worse, snowing. Instead, it’s quite nice out. You’d be fine with a shirt and jeans, but a light jacket is smart to wear with the occasional chilly winds.
The team isn’t playing a full game today, but they are doing real game situations like full length drives, red zone, where the offense starts on the 20-yard line and fourth downs. I’m not even sure if someone is keeping score. I know I’m not.
Football is a sport with no offseason. Technically, half of the year is an offseason, since football is a fall to winter sport, but that’s not the mindset. The football program at ISU is always doing something. They have offseason workouts at the gym until spring ball starts up. Spring ball is the first taste of football going into the new season and is done every year. The purpose of it is to start getting players into shape and to see who’s going to be able to help the team win going into next fall.
Of course, my car doesn’t start this morning. It’s about as cliché as an excuse can get, except this kind of stuff only happens to me when I want to be somewhere. It’s never the other way around. After trying multiple times turning the key in the ignition, it finally starts. I figure I’d only be a few minutes late to the scrimmage. Funny enough for me, if I would’ve known that warm ups would be one third of the entire event, I may have decided to walk to the practice field.
The warm ups give me time to feel the excitement in the air. I hear loud rap music pumping players up. I see a few families with their kids on the outskirts of the field, with the adults enjoying conversation and children playing with each other. A group of young people are sitting on a blanket waiting for the scrimmage to start. I recognize some as student-athletes on the soccer team. There’s only about five of us who aren’t associated with anyone, and they’re either part of media, like me, or die-hard ISU football fans.
One die-hard fan was an older gentleman, wearing a worn-out Idaho State hat, glasses where only the lens cover his eyes, dad jeans, a gray sweater and the classic white Skechers sneakers. I overhear him say he tackled one of the players here last year, and I can’t tell if he’s joking or not.
The man he’s talking to is Idaho State Journal sports writer Madison Guernsey. The Oregon native has been covering sports in Idaho for about five years now and follows the football team closely. “How do you think we’ll be this year?” I ask. “I think we can be good,” Guernsey said. “We play BYU like the second to last game, and that could be tough, and we don’t have a bye.” “Wait, we don’t have a bye?” I replied. “Well, we do, but it’s early in the season, and then we play the rest of the games straight, but I think we’ll be fine,” Guernsey said. “It’s hard with a new quarterback, though.”
The quarterback situation has been the main topic for the team ever since the end of its 2018 season. Longtime quarterback Tanner Gueller is graduating and leaving the job open for someone new. The two top candidates are Gunnar Amos and Matt Struck, and today is the day we can see them both in action. To catch the attention of coaches, you need to make head-turning plays.
Amos is from Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, and will be going into his senior season at ISU. He’s the more experienced quarterback of the two. Struck will be a junior and transferred here last season from Riverside Community College in California. He’s bigger than Amos by two inches, standing at six feet three inches, but Amos is by no means small either. I haven’t seen either of them play, so I can’t give the edge to either one.
Warm ups finish, and the scrimmage begins. The first team offense and defense steps onto the field. The offense for ISU football is in all black uniforms, and the defense has orange pants with white jerseys.
Amos heads out there to start with the first team. The first play is a long run up the middle by freshman Soujah Gasu. The offensive players on the sideline erupt in cheers. The next play is a short pass completed by Amos, with an immediate and strong tackle by Belnap. The defensive players, who are on the opposite sideline from the offense, shout cheers of their own. Football has officially started.
It’s interesting watching a team play one another. You would think with such a contact heavy sport the last thing coaches and players want to do is hit each other as hard as possible, but that’s exactly what happens. Who knows, maybe there’s some underlying rule that the coaches say what you can and can’t do in scrimmages, but from what I’m seeing, it doesn’t seem like anybody is going easy.
Once the first team ends its possession, the second team goes out there to have its chance. Struck starts on the second team and doesn’t get much action, because the first play for him goes for an 80-yard touchdown run by another freshman, Tyray Collins.
After Amos throws his second interception of the scrimmage, Struck gets his chance with the first team offense. I see Johnathan Match from ISU Sports
Information walk up to Guernsey. “What’s number eight’s name again? Strike, Striker?” Match says. “It’s Struck,” Guernsey says. “That’s right,” Match says. “Well, he’s looking good.” He is playing well. Struck throws a nice deep ball and has good touch on passes, putting it only where his receiver can catch it. This is only the first time I’ve seen him play, but so far it’s impressive.
It’s fourth and goal from about the 3-yard line. Struck takes the snap, holds the ball for a moment before releasing it to his right. The throw is perfect, and receiver Isaiah Walter catches the ball near the back-right corner of the end zone. That play ends the scrimmage.
I head towards the media room at the bottom of the Holt Arena on the south side. I meet Guernsey there, and we both prepare a few questions to ask the coaches and players, then wait patiently for their arrival. Head Coach Rob Phenicie enters the room. “Are you able to talk about the quarterbacks and what you saw out of those guys?” Guernsey says. “Yeah, we just wanted to see them make the right reads,” Phenicie says. “For the most part, they did the right thing and went the right way.”
All I want to ask Coach Phenicie is who’s going to be the starting quarterback in the fall, but I hold my tongue. I’m not sure why I don’t, but I try not to step over any boundaries when dealing with coaches and players. “Overall, how did you feel the energy of the players were today?” I said. “It’s got to be better,” Phenicie said. “It’s the first scrimmage. We’ll have better energy next time.” I nod in agreement.
Spring ball to me isn’t what spring ball is for those playing and coaching. I always want more — more answers to questions and more time watching football. But for them, it’s a time to prepare, practice and make decisions.
Spring ball is lucky to be open to the public. Unfortunately for me, watching it is like watching a movie trailer. You see a trailer and want to watch the movie, but you have to wait until fall for it to come out. All I know is, if I’m waiting that long, it better be good. At least I hope it is.
