POCATELLO, Idaho- This past off season has been a time of change for the Idaho State football program. The change started with
Mike Kramer, the fourth winningest coach in Big Sky Conference history with 77 wins, being named the head football coach in November of 2010.
Then this past summer new turf was installed in Holt Arena to add to the excitement of the upcoming 2011 season. Now the 2011 Bengals are ready to take that enthusiasm and begin to the season.
“We are excited to begin with a new football team that has distinct physical attributes and a facility that allows us to be outside of the range of normal,” Kramer said. “We want to be cutting edge as a team on and off the field. For us that began academically with a level excellence. We proved that this past spring semester.”
On offense Kramer wants his team to be fast paced and always on the attack while on defense he likes his team's ability to adapt to various coverages. The first year Bengal coach is also excited about his special-teams unit that will put this team at the forefront of the Big Sky Conference in that area.
Here is a closer look at the 2011 Bengals.
Offense
“On offense we really want to press the envelope in terms of yards gained, touchdowns scored, attempted and the pace of our attack,” Kramer said. “Our offense should be able to pick up the pace with what we established as a staff in the last decade at Montana State. We want to not only equal but exceed the efforts we had under a couple of great quarterbacks there and we expect to do it immediately.”
Quarterback
The Bengal have three quarterbacks on the roster in junior college transfers
Kevin Yost and
Justin Arias and freshman
Brad Kragthorpe. All three student-athletes bring qualities the ISU coach loves and he is looking forward to the start of camp to see who emerges as the starter.
The one player that joined the team in January was Yost and he participated in spring ball and the coaches came away pleased with how he picked up the system.
On his two junior college quarterbacks Kramer said, “Both have a great understanding of the sport and they both have quick releases. The only difference is Yost is a junior and Arias is a sophomore.”
Kragthorpe comes to the Bengal football team with an excellent football heritage as his grandfather Dave was the head coach of ISU when the team won the National Championship in 1981 and his dad Steve was the head coach at Louisville and Tulsa and is currently the offensive coordinator at LSU.
“He is a little more slight in terms of height but he is as well schooled as any freshman quarterback is in the United States being that his dad is the former head coach at Tulsa at Louisville and is currently the offensive coordinator at LSU,” Kramer said.
Overall the Bengal coaches like what all three quarterbacks bring to the table.
“All three guys are cerebral,” Kramer said. “All three guys have quick releases. All three guys have good vision and all three guys are academically what we want. It is a great mix.”
