Jul. 23—It’s finally time. Idaho will begin fall football camp in less than a week.
The first practice is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, when the Vandal football team will be on the field practicing as a unit for the first time ahead of its 2026 campaign.
Here are three of the biggest things I will be watching for at the beginning of the ’26 fall camp:
The QB adjustment
Offensive coordinator Ian Shoemaker will be junior quarterback Joshua Wood’s third play-caller in as many years.
One thing Shoemaker mentioned during spring camp is that he wants to test Wood and the rest of the quarterbacks to their limits.
That means a very fast-paced offensive scheme with RPOs (run-pass options) that will force the quarterback to make extremely quick reads and try to make the correct decisions.
If Wood is struggling at the beginning of camp, that’s no issue at all. But if he is struggling two or three weeks into the new system, then there’s a problem.
Now, last year Wood stepped into previous offensive coordinator Matt Linehan’s system and looked like the best player on the field almost instantly.
Will that happen again?
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Maybe, but it’s more realistic to think it may take a little bit more adjusting to a more complicated system.
Wood is the engine of the offense and is crucial to the Vandals’ success. If he can’t get it going eventually in fall camp, the U of I football team is facing some trouble.
However, on the flip side, if he looks extremely comfortable, making all the right decisions and dominating camp, Idaho is in for a really fun season.
New additions in the running back room
Idaho coach Thomas Ford Jr. is a running backs guy through and through.
He played running back at the premier Division III football team in the Pacific Northwest at Linfield University and coached the same position group there a few years after graduating. Ford also coached running backs at Idaho from 2022-23, along with being the special teams coordinator during that tenure.
Then he went on to coach running backs at Oregon State in 2024, right before he joined the Vandals as the head coach.
The new additions to the running back room for this upcoming season seem like guys that Ford may have handpicked.
The two junior transfer running backs, Ferrari Miller and Damonte Bias, are guys that I expect the Vandals will lean on.
Miller is 5-foot-10 and listed at 220 pounds from Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill, Calif., while Bias is listed at 5-11, 180 pounds from El Camino College in Alondra Park, Calif.
Both were productive at their last stops.
In 2025, Miller played 12 games and rushed the ball 179 times for a total of 1,123 yards (93.6 yards per game) and scored eight touchdowns. Miller also caught the ball 39 times for 384 yards (32 yards per game) and added another five touchdowns through the air.
Last season, Bias played in 11 games and rushed the ball 118 times for a total of 835 yards (75.9 yards per game) and scored six touchdowns.
As Shoemaker put it in the spring, Miller is the thunder and Bias is the lightning.
But one of the more exciting additions to this running back room is Kenny Golston, the freshman from Valliant High School in Valliant, Okla.
Golston was a three-star commit and had offers from Indiana, Missouri, Oregon and North Texas, yet landed on the Vandals’ roster.
It wouldn’t be too surprising for him not to see much action right off the bat, but with Golston being such a highly-touted recruit, I would not be shocked if he is in the action immediately.
He could be a difference-maker if given the chance.
Defensive leaders
This Idaho defense looks a whole lot different than it did last year.
The defense has a new coordinator in Lee Stalker and lost many of their main leaders in Dylan Layne (Oregon State) and Matyus McLain (Washington State) to the transfer portal, and Isiah King and Zach Krotzer to graduation.
Now the defense will be reliant on new leaders.
Here are a few guys that could slide into that role: fifth-year linebacker Cruz Hepburn, fifth-year defensive lineman Mitchel Jaskowiak and junior safety Zach Wusstig.
Those are guys who made a significant impact last year and can seemingly lead by example through tough practices and hard play, and some could be very vocal.
Hepburn, a Lewiston High product, will be one of the more important pieces on this defense as the main linebacker and the No. 1 option as the expected main play-caller on that side of the ball.
In 2025, Hepburn was third on the team in tackles with 71 and in tackles for loss with six.
Jaskowiak could fill the Krotzer role as a defensive tackle that helps move the D-line in the right direction. He played all 12 games last year and accumulated 22 tackles. With some experience and a need for someone to step up in that position, Jaskowiak would be the player I expect.
The Vandals will need players from all three phases of the defense to lead, and I think that Wusstig would make a lot of sense here.
Wusstig played 11 games last season and totaled 49 tackles, 2 1/2 for loss, and defended two passes. With former play-caller and safety Hayden John now with UC Davis, a safety will probably call the plays from the secondary. It would make sense for Wusstig to grow into that spot.
But it also could be senior safety Khaled Rawls, who recently transitioned from cornerback during the spring.
There are also some transfers I could see filling leadership roles, similar to what defensive lineman Donovan Parham did last season.
A few that make sense: senior defensive ends Jamarion Augustus (Northern Iowa) and Javen Augustus (Coastal Carolina) and junior linebacker Darrell Gipson Jr. (Cincinnati).
Junt can be reached at 208-848-2258, tjunt@lmtribune.com or on X @TrevorJunt.
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