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Anyone have an idea of a 2 deep depth chart for this year?
- Thread starter qb
- Start date
I think you will see the DL wide open....and the biggest thing is the plethora of linemen...also, I'll have the roster up around August 1 or so, but right now, Idaho 29, California 28 for those keeping score. First time that's happened in my tenure here, and Parker Jolly is included in that list FYI (no one has told me different, but I've been on vacation).
ISUSID
ISUSID
blackfootbengal
Active member
Let's talk about the D-line. We have three DE's coming back; Tuua, Rutton, Rouser, and three JC kids in O'Donnell, Nash, and Phillips. I just don't see a freshman getting any significant playing time with this many upper classmen in the group unless Nash goes to MLB and we have some injuries. Tackle is a different story; Amos and Jones are the only big D tackles we have coming back. Amos shows moments of brilliance and hours of average. Way over weight, needs to get down to 280 or so to be effective. Jones was just disappointing, did not compete, no energy, what else can I say. Hopefully a year in the system and Cullen beating on him can motivate him. With Durr's grade issues this leaves Tyler as the only other schlorshipped DT on the team, let's just say, anyone of the freshmen I watched on the recruit video is as good as Tyler is unless Tyler makes some major advances this summer. There is a real chance for playing time at DT, at least two and maybe three of the in coming freshman can earn some time. It depends on how much time they spent in the weight room getting bigger and stronger. I really like Niusulu's quickness off the ball, with a little size gain he could see some time. Tramonte needs to get in the weight room and find out where it will take him, don't spend time worrying about playing DE, worry about getting as big as you can while maintaining quickness. I have watched to many kids waste time worrying about staying at the position they played in High School, instead of letting their natural growth take them to what is the best postion for them when they mature. The other kid who looked like he may be able to play this fall is Paulhus, another kid who could get a chance if he put in the time this summer. I have watched the recruit video several time, and still do not see Justin Vae'ena as a DE, that kid is a natural at MLB. Maybe I'm not seeing something on his video, slow, can't jump, I don't know what, but that kid comes up and delivers a blow. Pele is another kid who I want to see in two years after he has matured more, coming in at 245 or so, with a twenty pound gain, he could be another DT or strong side DE.
blackfootbengal said:
Good detailed analysis. I can tell you that Tramonte has been in the weight room and on the heavy bag non-stop since the season ended and has put on about a half inch of height and over 30 pounds of muscle since the highlights you watched. Still don't see him as a 300# DT as you suggest, even if that is what ISU needs most.
blackfootbengal
Active member
As you may have noticed in my post, I don't like 300 lb DTackles. I like 270 pounders who can still move their feet and run. To get this kind of player you look for 6-2 kids who weigh about 240 in high school, these kids usually put on about thirty pounds in college. What you have now is an athletic 270 lb DT or run stopping DE. Big soft kids in High School tend to be big soft kids in college, what you want on both sides of the ball are, athletes with growth potential. To get the really big DT's who are athletes at our level, the kid either has a rap sheet or his grades are negative numbers. Much easier to find kids like I metioned above. If you doubt me, look at Montana's DT's.
bengalcub
Active member
If Tramonte has indeed put on 30 pounds of muscle--aking him to the 270 pound range, this is great news. A number of kids out of high school don't hit the weights real hard until they get into college. So many of them get by with the natural gift at the HS level and the real growth comes in the first two years in a college weight program.
I use to be one of the guys that thought that ISU needed guys to way 290-300 to play DT. But Blackfoot is right. If a kid is strong and quick at 270, they can be very productive at the BSC-level. I remember looking at the Griz defensive front the last few years and thinking--man ISU should be able to run the ball down their throat. WRONG--the Griz get it done with smaller, quicker, faster and stronger kids. It has really opened my eyes.
Remember the Grant kid who is coming in as an OL did start at DL for two years in JC, he may be an option. However, I am hearing that one of the JC lineman may not be eligible this fall. So, Grant may be on the OL no matter what.
I use to be one of the guys that thought that ISU needed guys to way 290-300 to play DT. But Blackfoot is right. If a kid is strong and quick at 270, they can be very productive at the BSC-level. I remember looking at the Griz defensive front the last few years and thinking--man ISU should be able to run the ball down their throat. WRONG--the Griz get it done with smaller, quicker, faster and stronger kids. It has really opened my eyes.
Remember the Grant kid who is coming in as an OL did start at DL for two years in JC, he may be an option. However, I am hearing that one of the JC lineman may not be eligible this fall. So, Grant may be on the OL no matter what.
Isaiah Walker out of Kent, Washington will be another contender at DE or DT...he just arrived in Poky last week and says he's put on 30 lbs since his visit in January. He's about 265 right now. Could come in and help right off the bat. I will also say that Tramonte is not 270 lbs, no way...but he could still come in and help at LB or DE or something, he is a good looking kid.
Bottom line is...we are all going to find out a lot once camp starts!!
Bottom line is...we are all going to find out a lot once camp starts!!
bengalcub
Active member
916...good call, it looks like you may be right.
By ERICK WALKER
Kent Reporter Sports reporter
Jul 13 2009, 2:27 PM · UPDATED
He flew under the recruiting radar on the football field last fall.
Now, Isaiah Walker is doing everything in his power to fly well above the radar.
“I’ve always been fascinated with space,” the mild-mannered big man said. “I want to be the first man on Mars. Becoming an astronaut always has been a dream of mine.”
For the time being, however, the 6-foot-4, 255-pound Kent-Meridian High product has his feet firmly planted on the ground and with a very distinct goal sitting in front of him.
That goal?
To make an immediate impact on the football field at the collegiate level.
Walker, a defensive lineman, will be heading to Pocatello, Idaho, on Friday. He hopes to be suiting up as a true freshman for the Idaho State Bengals come Sept. 5, when they open their 11-game schedule in Tempe, Ariz. against the Arizona State Sun Devils.
To make sure he realizes his goal, Walker is working out religiously at Imperial Fitness, an underground training facility in Kent.
“It’s the best thing I could be doing for myself right now,” Walker said. “It’s amazing. I’m doing stuff I’ve never heard of ... hitting (500-pound) tires with a sledge hammer, flipping tires, stacking up 500 pound tires ... it’s crazy stuff.”
Add it up and the one-time “chubby” Walker, the kid who didn’t start playing football until he was a freshman in high school, now is blossoming into the kind of lineman who makes Pacific-10 schools drool. However, the physical specimen Walker is today isn’t quite the same as the one who took the field for the Royals as a junior, the pivotal year in the recruiting process.
“His junior year (2007), he didn’t prove anything,” Kent-Meridian coach Trevor Roberts said. “He came in his senior year and really became a dominant lineman.”
Indeed he did.
Matter of fact, there weren’t many more imposing or unstoppable defensive lineman in the South Puget Sound League North Division last fall than Walker, who led the league with nine sacks and was among the leaders in tackles.
“I don’t know if it was partly because we had a newer staff at K-M and a tradition of not being successful, but the recruiters just didn’t come (for Walker),” Roberts said. “I couldn’t figure it out. We sent out massive amounts of tapes and made phone calls, and Idaho State and Eastern Washington were the only ones who were all over him.”
Off the radar?
“Completely,” Roberts said.
The big season, however, did earn Walker a spot on the All-SPSL team, though it didn’t draw any more recruiters to the East Hill school.
Part of that has to do with filling in to his big frame, Walker conceded.
“When I was growing up in (Billings) Montana, I had a lot different body type,” said Walker, who also was a standout thrower for the K-M track team this spring. “I wasn’t as tall, I was chubby and not nearly as muscular. I was soft.”
That softness has since been transformed into muscle, much of it during the last several months. In fact, during football season, Walker toed the line at 235 pounds.
That was 20 pounds ago.
“He’s huge,” Roberts said. “If he looked that big during the recruiting months, he would have been a Pac-10 kid.”
Not being recruited by a Division I school is a bit frustrating, Walker admitted. But the burly lineman is plenty content taking his full-ride scholarship to Idaho State, where he is considering studying mechanical, nuclear or astronautical engineering.
“I just fit (at Idaho State),” said Walker, who also had a full-ride offer from Eastern Washington and an invitation to walk on at Washington State. “It was my kind of climate. It was laid back, they had good structure and I was really impressed with that. As a team, they really seemed like family.”
A family where the big kid from K-M isn’t likely to fall off the radar any time soon.
By ERICK WALKER
Kent Reporter Sports reporter
Jul 13 2009, 2:27 PM · UPDATED
He flew under the recruiting radar on the football field last fall.
Now, Isaiah Walker is doing everything in his power to fly well above the radar.
“I’ve always been fascinated with space,” the mild-mannered big man said. “I want to be the first man on Mars. Becoming an astronaut always has been a dream of mine.”
For the time being, however, the 6-foot-4, 255-pound Kent-Meridian High product has his feet firmly planted on the ground and with a very distinct goal sitting in front of him.
That goal?
To make an immediate impact on the football field at the collegiate level.
Walker, a defensive lineman, will be heading to Pocatello, Idaho, on Friday. He hopes to be suiting up as a true freshman for the Idaho State Bengals come Sept. 5, when they open their 11-game schedule in Tempe, Ariz. against the Arizona State Sun Devils.
To make sure he realizes his goal, Walker is working out religiously at Imperial Fitness, an underground training facility in Kent.
“It’s the best thing I could be doing for myself right now,” Walker said. “It’s amazing. I’m doing stuff I’ve never heard of ... hitting (500-pound) tires with a sledge hammer, flipping tires, stacking up 500 pound tires ... it’s crazy stuff.”
Add it up and the one-time “chubby” Walker, the kid who didn’t start playing football until he was a freshman in high school, now is blossoming into the kind of lineman who makes Pacific-10 schools drool. However, the physical specimen Walker is today isn’t quite the same as the one who took the field for the Royals as a junior, the pivotal year in the recruiting process.
“His junior year (2007), he didn’t prove anything,” Kent-Meridian coach Trevor Roberts said. “He came in his senior year and really became a dominant lineman.”
Indeed he did.
Matter of fact, there weren’t many more imposing or unstoppable defensive lineman in the South Puget Sound League North Division last fall than Walker, who led the league with nine sacks and was among the leaders in tackles.
“I don’t know if it was partly because we had a newer staff at K-M and a tradition of not being successful, but the recruiters just didn’t come (for Walker),” Roberts said. “I couldn’t figure it out. We sent out massive amounts of tapes and made phone calls, and Idaho State and Eastern Washington were the only ones who were all over him.”
Off the radar?
“Completely,” Roberts said.
The big season, however, did earn Walker a spot on the All-SPSL team, though it didn’t draw any more recruiters to the East Hill school.
Part of that has to do with filling in to his big frame, Walker conceded.
“When I was growing up in (Billings) Montana, I had a lot different body type,” said Walker, who also was a standout thrower for the K-M track team this spring. “I wasn’t as tall, I was chubby and not nearly as muscular. I was soft.”
That softness has since been transformed into muscle, much of it during the last several months. In fact, during football season, Walker toed the line at 235 pounds.
That was 20 pounds ago.
“He’s huge,” Roberts said. “If he looked that big during the recruiting months, he would have been a Pac-10 kid.”
Not being recruited by a Division I school is a bit frustrating, Walker admitted. But the burly lineman is plenty content taking his full-ride scholarship to Idaho State, where he is considering studying mechanical, nuclear or astronautical engineering.
“I just fit (at Idaho State),” said Walker, who also had a full-ride offer from Eastern Washington and an invitation to walk on at Washington State. “It was my kind of climate. It was laid back, they had good structure and I was really impressed with that. As a team, they really seemed like family.”
A family where the big kid from K-M isn’t likely to fall off the radar any time soon.
bengalbeliever
Active member
All of you will be glad to know that incoming freshman DL Colton Paulhus has been putting in his time just about everyday in both the weight room and on the field conditioning. He is in shape, but gonna need a week or 2 to adjust to the Poky altitude.
I put forth that with some additional technique help from Cullen, he will see the field this season.
DE is where his heart is but maybe with the situation inside, he can move over and contribute.
I know one thing, after watching Demi and Co. run out of gas countless times during the game, we need to be not just 2 deep at these spots, but 3 deep.
I want quickness AND strength at both end positions.
Having said that, I think there will be a few of these freshman named here that will come in and make their mark and see some significant action--Paulhus being one of them.
I put forth that with some additional technique help from Cullen, he will see the field this season.
DE is where his heart is but maybe with the situation inside, he can move over and contribute.
I know one thing, after watching Demi and Co. run out of gas countless times during the game, we need to be not just 2 deep at these spots, but 3 deep.
I want quickness AND strength at both end positions.
Having said that, I think there will be a few of these freshman named here that will come in and make their mark and see some significant action--Paulhus being one of them.
There are a lot more questions than answers about the offense. Who gets the QB job and how will they handle it? Who starts at LT? Who gets most of the carries in the backfield? How will Jensen's approach to play-calling and game-planning vary from Orthman's? And given the season-opening games against ASU and Oklahoma, we probably won't really start seeing the true character of the offense until the Weber game, at the earliest. ASU and Oklahoma will likely be so superior physically, they will take away much of what ISU can, or wants to do offensively.
does anybody that follows the program closely know of anybody on the team as of right now that will not report to camp or is thinking about not reporting?
i know there have been some transfers, but was just wondering if there are any question marks on anybody whether or not they will actually show next tuesday when they report.
i know there have been some transfers, but was just wondering if there are any question marks on anybody whether or not they will actually show next tuesday when they report.
blackfootbengal
Active member
It's a given that someone will not be back, usually a walkon that decides it is not worth it. The only one I know of is Goin's, there are also rumours concerning Durr's eligibility. Anderson and Major are old news, other than these players, I have not heard anything. 916 seems to hang out with some of the players, maybe he will have more information.
bengalcub
Active member
...from the ISJ blog:
...First, some roster news. Junior college transfers Demetrius Grant, Puchi Lesu and Travis Nua (all offensive linemen) still haven’t arrived on campus. SID Frank Mercogliano said they are taking care of summer school requirements and should get to Pocatello soon. Maybe any day now.
...First, some roster news. Junior college transfers Demetrius Grant, Puchi Lesu and Travis Nua (all offensive linemen) still haven’t arrived on campus. SID Frank Mercogliano said they are taking care of summer school requirements and should get to Pocatello soon. Maybe any day now.