Vandals prep for third season of Petrino era

As Paul Petrino entered the media room inside the Kibbie Dome on Monday, in with him came a firm reminder that the college football season is officially upon us.

The Idaho coach, now in his third season with the Vandals, addressed the local media for the first time since the Spring Game to preview fall camp, which begins at 6 p.m. on Wednesday.

Much of Petrino's comments Monday were more or less a recapitulation of his Sun Belt Conference media day remarks, which harped on improved quarterback play, a solid run game - specifically when preserving a fourth-quarter lead - and a faster defensive unit, led by first-year defensive coordinator Mike Breske. The former Washington State DC worked as a volunteer during the Vandals' spring practices and was officially announced as the replacement to Ronnie Lee in June.

"He's somebody I've liked for a long time, just from afar when he was with coach (Joe) Glenn at Northern Colorado and Montana," Petrino said of Breske. "When I was young punk coach, Glenn recruited me out of high school. He just has a lot of ties that I had and I think he does a great job."

Petrino hopes that Breske's schematic changes, which include more pre-snap movement, will be of help to his Vandals, particularly against more skilled opponents.

"Sometimes when you're not quite as talented as the team you're playing against it helps you to have more guys on the move and there's a lot of movement up front and different things to confuse the quarterback and the offensive coordinator," Petrino said. "I think that will help us."

Petrino doesn't see much of a talent gap between his Vandals and the rest of their Sun Belt foes, but with road games against Auburn and Pac-12 preseason favorite USC on the schedule, it's not hard to guess which games the coach was referring to when he said, "I know some games we'll line up and that happens."

As for the improved quarterback play, Petrino said Matt Linehan will begin fall camp as the starter. The third-year sophomore, who started 10 games last season, weighed in at 220 pounds last week, Petrino said, which is about 20 pounds heavier than his 2014 playing weight.

But even with a bigger, and presumably faster, Linehan running with the 1s during camp, Petrino said the QB competition with strong-armed redshirt freshman Jake Luton isn't finished yet.

"You always have to make sure you keep going. Jake has an unbelievably high ceiling to be a very good player," Petrino said. "In this day and age in college football you better have two or three guys ready to go, to be honest with you. Matt had a really good spring and played great in the Spring Game. But Jake did a lot of good things, too."

Dezmon Epps, Linehan's top receiving target in the spring and arguably Idaho's top offensive player, remains a member of the team, Petrino said. Epps pleaded guilty to driving without a license in Latah County Second District Court last month and was sentenced to two days in jail.

"He's done everything that we've told him to do," Petrino said of Epps, who was previously dismissed from the program in 2014 following an alleged theft and a DUI. "The last thing (driving without a license), really, went all the way back to what he got in trouble for before. And he paid for that for a whole season. Really he has done everything that we have asked him to."

Trenton McGhee, a safety from The Bolles High School (Jacksonville, Fla.) will not join the Vandals, Petrino said. McGhee, a highly-touted recruit, has instead chosen to play baseball.

Idaho will hold 18 fall practices, including scrimmages on Aug. 15 and 22 before beginning official game practices for the Sept. 3 season opener against Ohio. Of the Thursday night home opener, Petrino said, "It's awesome. I wish all of our games were at night, to be honest with you ... Hopefully we can get the Dome packed and loud and have everybody going crazy and it be a great home field advantage."

Michael-Shawn Dugar can be reached at (208) 883-4629, or by email to mdugar@dnews.com.