ISU fall practice — day 13

The fourth in a series of eight stories profiling Idaho State football coaches ... 
Head coach in the making — ISU offensive line coach Matt Troxel on track toward leading his own team

Monday's story from ISU's fall camp Monday ...
Much left to be decided for Bengal backup QB spot

Quotable quote: Idaho State head coach Mike Kramer on the return of cornerback Brandon Golden.

“He’s a fifth-year senior that I’ve known since he was a high school recruit when we were at Washington State University. I helped recruit him and watched him turn into what I thought could really be an aspiring cornerback in the Pac-12. And he ends up with us and that’s for whatever reason. We’re just very proud to have him. He’s a wonderful person and I think he’s an outstanding player.”

Golden, by the way, returned and was slotted in at the starting cornerback spot opposite of Vai Peko. It's an interesting dynamic. ISU brought in JUCO transfers Khary Livingston-Coleman, Kamino Ward, Daniel Roundtree and Tavonte Jackson this fall to contend for playing time in the defensive backfield.

Right now none will start in ISU's base 3-4 defense (Roundtree plays in the Bengals' nickel package) — that's actually a good thing. Idaho State has found some depth at both safety and cornerback.

"The most notable thing about this team is that at cornerback we have enough guys to run a program," Kramer said." And that's really saying something because we have been devoid of corners since I’ve been here. We’ve had some front-line guys that were really, really good. There was never anyone behind them. We felt that absence in the kicking game. It’s great to have enough depth to be able to teach guys and motivate guys and get guys to play with the right technique."

Coach Kramer said the Bengals have already been through four practices where they've spent at least some time preparing for their first opponent, Utah.

"We’re pretty familiar with what (Utah offensive) coach (Dave) Christensen has done as coordinator over at Wyoming. Obviously, Utah doesn’t change its skin defensively because head coach Kyle (Whittingham) has been there a long time. So we know what we’re facing and we’ve worked against it a little bit. It’s a little different than what we run. We’re kind of familiar with what Utah is all about. Tomorrow we’ll actually play some of our game plan tomorrow.”