MOSCOW - From the first play to the goal line stand and consistently throughout, Wednesday's first scrimmage for the University of Idaho football team was gratifying for the Vandal defense.
That first play? A JoJo Dickson interception. The goal line stand? Four pops from the one-yard line by the offense and no score. In-between? Eleven sacks, five passes defensed, four quarterback hurries and another interception - this one by Gary Walker.
"For them to be able to make that stop says something pretty good right there," coach Robb Akey said of the defense's ability to thwart four successive runs at a touchdown. "I was very pleased about that. ...
We're seeing some of the experience. They're executing things better."
With 10 players returning to the defense and only one lineman back for the offense, it stands to reason the defense has a head start in fall camp 2010. It showed statistically in a collective minus-9 yards rushing - a total reached when the losses via sack and tackle-for-loss negated the 64 yards put up by the backs.
True, there was plenty of menace in the defense but the offense had flashes of what made it one of the nation's most productive in 2009. Senior quarterback Nate Enderle did account for both interceptions but
he also was good on nine-of-15 attempts for 149 yards, which includes hooking up with Armauni Johnson for a 62-yard score. All told, the four quarterbacks were 26-of-49 for 311 yards.
Eric Greenwood and Mitchell Crockom each had four receptions with Kama Bailey, Daniel Hardy and Daniel Micheletti with three each.
Enderle said the difference in the defense from a year ago was clear.
"They're all older, more mature, they know their stuff better," he said. "They're physically stronger and faster. All those things are going to come together and create a better defense. They played well today."
Defensive captain Jonah Sataraka said the challenge for the defense is to repeat in the next scrimmage.
"The main focus is consistency," he said. "It's just like our offense had the upper hand last year being together for a while. That's the case for us this year. We understand what to do, where to go."
One thing stayed the same - the consistency of kicker Trey Farquhar. In addition to PATs, he was good on field goals of 32, 33, 34, 34, 42 and 45. His only miss was when he was just short from 57 yards.
Newcomer Homer Mauga led the defense with eight stops followed by Dickson with seven and Robert Siavii with six. Dickson and Andre Ferguson also had two sacks each.
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