This week's two-deep

Really, read Brad's post first, but he asked about the offensive line....well, sounds like he's not the only one asking, because ISU is switching three spots around. Lance Cartwright is out for this week, and Braeden Clayson is moving to his guard spot, and Travis Nua will start for Brad Shedd. Also, Demetrius Grant will start at left tackle.

Also a part of the running game, Clint Knickrehm is out with an injury, and possibly Ben Laporta as well. The two deep right now shows the running backs as Laporta OR Jordan Scott OR Skylar Morgan. This reminds me of 2004 when ISU struggled running the ball a bit, and Josh Barnett was pulled off his redshirt after four games and led the team in rushing. Might Morgan get pulled as well? It's gonna depend on the health of the other guys.

Also, the punt return slot has three listed....Stew Tracy, JD Ponciano, or Andrew Benavides. Practice should be interesting this week, but folks sort of need to remember who we've played. Also, um....Central is no slouch...they are ranked #5 in Division II.

Pos.    #    Player    Ht    Wt.    Cl.

QB    8    Kyle Blum    6-2    197    Jr

    17    Russel Hill    5-11    192    Jr

    10     Evan Mozzochi    6-4    230    So

WR    1    Jaron Taylor    5-11    178    Sr

    84    Roderick Rumble    6-2    193    Fr

WR    18    Kelvin Krosch    6-5    221    So

-or-    6    Isaiah Burel    6-2    183    Jr

WR    9    JD Ponciano    5-9    183    Sr

    82    Andrew Benavides    5-7    167    Fr

TE    88    Josh Hill    6-5    227    Fr

    83    Bryant Ward    6-2    228    Fr

RB    31    Ben Laporta    5-7    195    Fr

-or-    4    Jordan Scott    5-10    199    Jr

-or-    37    Skylar Morgan    5-8    185    Fr

FB    83    Bryant Ward    6-2    228    Fr

    54    Jarrid Nash    5-11    242    Jr

LT    70    Travis Nua    6-2    300    Jr

    56    Mark Clampitt    6-2    261    Fr

LG    76    Braeden Clayson    6-6    301    So

    64    Brad Curtis    6-5    272    Fr

 C    75    Ryan Henry    6-2    283    Sr

    67    Nick Tranmer    6-0    267    Jr

RG    66    Mitch Rudder    6-3    300    Jr

    76    Braeden Clayson    6-6    301    So

RT    77    Demetrius Grant    6-4    285    Jr

    79    Brad Shedd    6-7    274    So

Defense

Pos.    #    Player    Ht    Wt.    Cl.

DE     48    Jeff Tuua    6-2    250    Jr

    97    Rustin Phillips    6-2    237    Jr

NT    98    Demetrius Amos    6-1    317    Sr

    93    David Tyler    6-2    275    So

DT    95    Chad O’Donnell    6-2    260    Jr

    99    Jason Jones    6-0    290    Sr

DE    50    Sean Rutten    6-2    238    Jr

    45    Jake Rouser    6-4    233    Fr

SLB    20    Daniel Urias    6-1    224    Sr

    54    Jarrid Nash    5-11    242    Jr

MLB     52    Phillip Arias    6-1    213    Jr

    36    Nic Edgson    6-0    224    Sr

WLB    30    A.J. Storms    6-0    215    So

    35    J.T. Albers    5-11    225    So

CB    2    Keith McGowan    5-9    185    Jr

    23     George Ortiz    5-10    178    Sr

FS    21    Chris Holmesly    5-9    193    Jr

    24    Phillip Pleasant    5-11    193    Fr

SS    27    Dustin Tew    6-1    196    Jr

    25    Amir Owens    5-9    204    Sr

CB    7    Michael Wright    5-10    179    Sr

    34    Cameron Gupton    5-8    175    Fr

Special Teams

Pos.    #    Player    Ht    Wt.    Cl.

PK    16    Jarrett Huk    6-1    177    Sr

    39    Brendon Garcia    5-9    144    Fr

KO    16    Jarrett Huk    6-1    177    Sr

    39    Brendon Garcia    5-9    144    Fr

    43    Jon Vanderwielen     6-3    220    Sr

P    43    Jon Vanderwielen     6-3    220    Sr

    16    Jarrett Huk    6-1    177    Sr

H    8    Kyle Blum    6-2    197    Jr

    17    Russel Hill    5-11    192    Jr

KR    9    JD Ponciano    5-9    183    Sr

    2    Keith McGowan    5-9    185    Jr

    82    Andrew Benavides    5-7    167    Fr

PR    46    Stew Tracy    5-10    185    So

-or-    9    JD Ponciano    5-9    183    Sr

-or-    82    Andrew Benavides    5-7    167    Fr

SN-FG    79    Brad Shedd    6-7    275    Fr

    71    Lance Cartwright    6-6    295    Sr

SN-P    85    Clint Brock    6-3    245    Fr

    20    Daniel Urias    6-1    224    Sr

    74    Erik Jacobson    6-5    247    Fr





Frank

Quick Notes from the Coaches Show

Here are some tidbits from tonight's coaches' show with Bengal football Coach John Zamberlin:

Defensive back Kenny Viser (left), who transferred to ISU in the spring from Nevada, is academicaly ineligible. Defensive back Kelvin Miller and linebacker Jeremy Gibson are appealing grades and may not be eligible. Bengal fans have noted all three of these players have been seeing only sporadic reps during fall camp -- that's because the coaching staff couldn't count on having them available.

Zamberlin said he expects the following freshmen to have a chance to play this year: slot receiver Andrew Benavides, offensive lineman Mark Clampitt, defensive linemen Minh Williams and Isaiah Walker, defensive back Cameron Gupton, and running back/safety Darrius Coleman. He expects running back Skyler Morgan to redshirt unless he's needed in an emergency.

Safety Amir Owens is trying to come back from off-season knee surgery, and Zamberlin is uncertain if he'll travel to Arizona State for the Bengal opener Saturday night. Running back Jordan Scott has been hobbled by a bruised heel and is also questionable for ASU. Tight end Tyler Hjelseth has been idled by a torn quad muscle and probably won't play for awhile.

The coach told how he "recruited" new long-snapper Clint Brock to the squad. The coaches were approached by Brock's girlfriend, a member of the ISU volleyball squad. Brock happened to be visiting her on campus at the time. The coaches looked at film and watched him snap, liked what they saw, and two days later he became a Bengal. Zamberlin is very high on Brock's snapping abilities, and he'll be the long-snapper on Saturday night. He can also play tight end, but he'll be focusing on firing a football between his legs for now.

The Missing Link

The Arizona Republic points out that former Bengal quarterback Dirk Koetter is the "missing link" to this week's ASU-Idaho State game. The deal for the game was signed when Koetter was still ASU's head coach. Koetter, of course, is now the offensive coordinator for the Jacksonville Jaguars.

--Brad B.

And thanks for being a Bengal fan -- it ain't always easy, but it's always fun.

A Conversation with Brian Jensen

Brian Jensen (left) is in his first season as Idaho State's offensive coordinator, after serving as quarterbacks coach in the first two seasons of the John Zamberlin era at ISU. Jensen inherits the task of reviving the Bengals' running game after ISU finished second from the bottom in the Big Sky with an average of 2.6 yards per carry. He also has the responsibility of grooming Kyle Blum as the starter at quarterback.

On Saturday, Jensen's offense got off to a good start in the team's first scrimmage of the fall. Running backs Stew Tracy, Clint Knickrehm, and Ben LaPorta were particularly sharp carrying the football, and Blum and backup QB Russell Hill threw the ball well -- although Blum did cough up a couple of interceptions. Towering wide-out Kelvin Krosch made a couple of great catches in traffic, and freshman wideout Andrew Benavides served notice that he will be a factor in the offense. Here's my conversation with Jensen:

1. You've had a chance, spring football, and now all summer to prepare for fall, to develop your philosophy. What kind of changes have you made?

Jensen: That's a great question, and it's a fair question. I'll tell you what, you're going to see and I've said it before, and I know it's cliche, but we want to be as balanced as we can. If you watched the scrimmage today...as far as coming off the field, I felt like we were fairly balanced. We 've got some good backs, we've got a healthy Clint Knickhrem, we've got a lot of our offensive line back, so we ought to be able, and we have to be able to run the football. Easier said then done, I know, but that's going to be a point of emphasis is that we stay on the ground and run the football and then we can use our play action and other stuff off of that.

2.Obviously, you didn't have any depth at running back in the spring, but it looks like now you've got four or five kids who can carry the football for you. Who do you like in that role?

Jensen: I'll tell you what, you can't pinpoint a guy, obviously Clint Knickhrehm's kind of the mainstay there, but I'll tell you what, Coach Whit (ISU running backs coach Nick Whitworth) has done a great job with the backs and with recruiting some running backs, and we've got different styles of guys....you probably noticed that today where we can change pace with some kids and not miss a beat. And I'm not saying it's going to be running back by committee. We know it's Clint's job to lose. We know how hard a worker he is. But we've got a good complement of backs to go with Clint.

3. Give me your assessment of your quarterback play today.

Jensen: You know I thought overall it was good. We're probably at about a 60 percent clip today, which is good. We need to continue to be smarter with the ball. I just talked to the kids about if it's not there, we throw it away, we burn the down and you get the call from Coach (Drew) Miller on the sideline and we go again. It's playing a mature style of football. But overall I was really pleased, and I want to note I was really pleased with the two freshmen kids -- Kyle Morris and Jake Lammers -- they did a real good job too.

4. Talk about the new kids that we're seeing, the Benavides kid (wideout Andrew) certainly impresses you off the top. Is he going to play this year?

Jensen: Well, I'll tell you what he's got a great role model in (J.D.) Ponciano. Ponce has done a great job taking him under his wing. Benavides, to his credit, has been a sponge and has accepted that and learned from Ponce. Benavides is an explosive kid and you saw it today. We saw it on film and I know Coach Miller is really excited about him and if the role presents itself and he needs to contribute, he'll be ready.

5. I don't want to start a quarterback controversy, but is it set -- is Kyle your No. 1 guy?

Jensen: Well, yeah, as of right now he is. They all have things to work on. Kyle was sharp today at times, and Russell was sharp, and that's a great thing...that's a good thing. There's no controversy there. We're just so fortunate to have both of those guys and you know when quarterbacks go down around the league, and in the NFL and in high school, boy some teams are scrambling and we hope that doesn't happen, but if it does we're in real good shape.

Farewell to a True Bengal Fan

My best wishes and prayers go out to the family of Bernie Schroeder, a true Bengal fan in every sense of the word, who passed away on Friday, Aug. 14. Bernie, games at Holt Arena just won't be the same without you.

--Brad B.

And thanks for being a Bengal fan -- it ain't always easy, but it's always fun.