Vandals shop local on Signing Day

Two more local players officially joined the Idaho Vandals on Wednesday.

Offensive lineman Zion Dixon of Lake City and punter-kicker Cade Coffey of Lakeland signed national letters of intent, following up on their verbal commitments made in the fall.

All told, third-year Idaho coach Paul Petrino signed four Idaho high school seniors, and two from Spokane, giving the 16-member signing class even more of a local flavor.

“I’m just happy with the four really good football players out of the state of Idaho, and the two good players out of Spokane,” Petrino said via teleconference from Moscow, before heading north for a signing day celebration Wednesday night at The Coeur d’Alene Resort. “We need to keep that going (signing Idaho and other area players), and continue to do that every year.”

Petrino sees Dixon as a guard with the Vandals.

“He’s physical, tough, just going to be a road grader, he’s going to get after you,” Petrino said. “He’s a great wrestler.”

Dixon is 30-6 this season wrestling at 285 pounds at Lake City.

With those linemen, “it could be a center/guard/tackle of the future,” Petrino said.

Petrino said Coffey, who kicked a 57-yard field goal last season, could possibly grayshirt, “to get him away from Austin (Rehkow of Central Valley, who will be a junior this fall, and who has handled the punting and kicking each of the past two years).

“With Austin, you have the best punter in the country,” Petrino said. “So when Austin leaves, Cade can step in and we’ll still have one of the best kickers in the country.”

Petrino added Coffey could also redshirt after grayshirting, so his four years of eligibility wouldn’t overlap with Rehkow’s.

The Vandals also signed Tanner Mauseth, an offensive tackle from Century High in Pocatello, and Conner Vrba, an offensive lineman from Rocky Mountain High in Meridian.

From Spokane, Petrino landed Jack Bamis, a running back from Gonzaga Prep, and Jace Malek, a fullback from West Valley.

Another local joining the program this spring is quarterback Gunnar Amos from Coeur d’Alene High. Amos graduated from Coeur d’Alene in 2014 and grayshirted last fall, delaying his enrollment until winter.

With the departure of quarterback Chad Chalich, another former Coeur d’Alene High standout, who transferred to Montana, Petrino also signed another QB, Kareem Coles from Madison High in San Diego. Coles, a left-hander and a 10.7 100-meter guy, passed for 2,215 yards and 27 touchdowns as a senior, and also rushed for 926 yards and 15 TDs.

That gives Idaho four quarterbacks on the roster — including Matt Linehan, who started most of last season as a freshman, and Jake Luton, who redshirted last year.

“That makes the future of the quarterback position look pretty great for the Vandals for years to come.”

Petrino said he was “not positive” if he would have signed another QB this year had Chalich stayed, but once he left, “we just wanted to go get the best one we could get.”

Petrino said the 6-foot-3, 205-pound Bamis had the longest wingspan of all the recruits.

“If he doesn’t end up being a running back, he could really help us somewhere on defense,” Petrino said. “But I want him to be at running back. I love to have big running backs that can come downhill.”

Petrino said he watched Malek for two years at Vandal camp, and is “a tough fullback, a great wrestler, just one of those guys that makes your team so much tougher.”

Petrino said Calvary Pugh, a 5-9, 172-pound “running back/receiver/athlete” from West Palm Beach, Fla., is a “difference maker.”

Trenton McGhee, a safety from Jacksonville, Fla., had interest early from Ohio State and Louisville.

“Trenton is going to be a special, special player for us,” Petrino said.

Running back Denzal Brantley, from Los Alamitos, Calif., “is a great downhill runner,” Petrino said. “With Denzal, I would not see him redshirting, so wherever he can get on the field the soonest, whether it’s running back or somewhere else.”

Petrino said tight end Khalin Smith, a junior college transfer from Bakersfield College, “will come in here and immediately compete to start. We play with two tight ends a lot of times anyway, and he’s a guy I can see us throwing the ball to a lot.”

Mike Linehan, a linebacker from Highland Park, Texas, is the brother of Matt Linehan.

“No. 1, in this day and age, you’ve got to get speed,” Petrino said. “And we really improved our speed. The four defensive backs we got, three of them are already on campus, we really got faster in the back end of our defense. That’s something we knew we had to do.

“And to be a great program, it starts with the O-line and quarterback. I’m really happy with the offensive linemen that we got, and the quarterback that we signed.”

Two of the 16 signees announced Wednesday are junior college transfers. Idaho previously announced the signing of 10 JC players in December.