Don't look to much into Idaho State's two-deep roster right now, it's really much ado about nothing

Issuing a two-deep roster a week into fall football camp is like throwing chum on shark-infested waters.

There is going to be a feeding frenzy.

That’s kind of what happened among the small group of hardcore Idaho State fans who populate “The Bengal Den,” the online gathering site for Bengal faithful, when ISU issued its first two-deep roster last week.

There were a lot of furrowed brows about names not on the two-deep, and shrugged shoulders about some of the names that were. So I’m here to try to bring some clarity to this confusion.

Let’s start with a general warning: Idaho State head coach Cody Hawkins doesn’t put a lot of stock in two-deeps, which is a trend a lot of football coaches are following these days. A number of coaches are even refusing to engage in the practice of issuing a two-deep, which basically tells opposing coaches and fans their team’s personnel strategy in advance. Those that do keep with the tradition of issuing a two-deep, certainly aren’t using the practice to reveal any new information to anybody.

And issuing a two-deep a week into fall camp is an extremely rare — and largely insignificant — gesture.

“I have no problem giving out two-deeps, but I do think that after one week of camp, it’s hard, especially in a program like ours where you have a lot of competition,” Hawkins said after practice Wednesday evening. “I think one of the positives of our program is the depth around here has really improved a lot during my time here.

“We really preach that every spot is up for grabs,” Hawkins continued. “I don’t care if you started every game last year, you’ve got to go win the job in fall camp — and fall camp is three weeks long and then you’ve got two weeks to prepare for a game. It’s hard after one week to decide who your guys are.”

So here is some insight about the two-deep ISU released last week:

The wide receiver spot is probably the deepest position on the team, even with the departure of All-American Chedon James after spring ball, and Mike Shulikov and Jeff Weimer being less than fully available in fall camp.

Shulikov, the 6-foot-6-inch outside receiver who missed much of last season with a knee injury, has been cleared to run and fully participate in drills. But he’s not being allowed to hit yet. Weimer, who impressed with a couple of acrobatic touchdown catches in the spring game, has a leg injury and hasn’t practiced yet this fall. Thus, neither is on the current two-deep.

Hawkins believes Shulikov will be ready for the season opener at Oregon State Aug. 31. Weimer, meanwhile, may not be cleared to practice until the week before the OSU game, and Hawkins may not elect to use him in that game if so.

There is still plenty of talent in the receiver room, though. Senior Christian Fredericksen, the leading returning receiver, is back and fully healthy, and Julian Mason, a redshirt sophomore, has been highly impressive during camp.

“Man, Julian Mason has been playing about as good a football as anyone on our football team,” Hawkins said of the 5-10, 183-pound native of Tacoma, Washington. “He’s doing an outstanding job.”

But not a good enough job for Hawkins to anoint him as a starter just yet. Nor has he selected Eric Johnson, a 6-3, 185-pound grad transfer from Lehigh, as a starter, even though his name appears on the “two-deep.” Two seasons ago, Johnson led Lehigh, a fellow FCS program, in receiving with 43 catches.

And despite not appearing on the first two-deep, Tsion Nunnally, a 6-4, 219-pound transfer from Washington State, is still very much in the mix for a receiver spot.

“I really think there’s merit to probably eight guys who have a case to start,” Hawkins said of his receiver room. “So at some point, we’re going to have to continue to ratchet up the competition, continue to make some hard decisions and get some continuity with our guys.”

In a move to pare back a bit of the competition in the receiver room, Hawkins and his staff have moved two veteran receivers to the defensive side of the football. Robert Vega, a 6-2, 208-pound junior college transfer from California, is moving to linebacker. Damir Abdullah, a 6-4, 202-pound transfer from Colorado State, is going to the safety position in ISU’s 3-3-5 defense.

“We’ve gone with a lot of long bodies at receiver, i.e. (Fredericksen and Shulikov), and those guys that aren’t playing are still really good athletes,” Hawkins said. “So there are some players we’ve had who may be in the conversation to be 3s (third-teamers), but when you see that eligibility clock run down and you really like being at Idaho State, we’re trying to be creative about doing what’s best for the team and giving them the opportunity to contribute.”

Abdullah, an FBS recruit out of California originally, is a particularly interesting case since he played some defense in high school, and his father was a safety in college.

“Even though he’s new to the position for us, I’m excited to see his development there and I think it will happen faster than people expect,” Hawkins said.

Despite what the two-deep says, the Bengals are not going to a two-back offense, nor are they creating some kind of hybrid running back position called “Bengal.” Look for that designation to be removed from the next iteration of the two-deep.

There remains depth in the quarterback room as well, where four players continue to battle for the starting position. Graduate student Hunter Hays, who played in all 11 games for the Bengals last year, has been sidelined recently with an upper body injury, but Hawkins expects him to be back before the Oregon State game.

“Hunter is one of the toughest football players I’ve ever had the pleasure to coach and he’s an amazing person,” Hawkins said. “He’s going to contribute to this football team. He had a little bit of a physical setback, similar to what happened in the spring game (which Hays missed because of injury). But that guy puts himself though a lot. ... He’ll have a role similar to what he did last year.”

The other three contenders — Jordan Cooke, Jackson Sharman and Kobe Tracy — will all get opportunities to stake their claim to the starting quarterback position in Saturday afternoon’s scrimmage.

“The margins are razor thin,” Hawkins said. “We’re trying to carve out roles for all those guys, but I believe in the work of our guys who have been here and what they have done. I’ve been pleased with the development of Kobe Tracy, the hometown hero, and what he’s done. I really like all our guys. ... All that murk in the water in the quarterback (battle) is going to be solidified because we’re going to have some real rock ‘em, sock ‘em robot periods here and they’re going to have to play with the lights on.”

The Bengals will take the field Saturday at 1 p.m., and start the scrimmage, which will more closely resemble real game flow than last week’s scrimmage, about 2:30 p.m. or so. And if ISU chooses to issue an updated two-deep after that affair, you can probably pay a little more attention to it.

Brad Bugger has been covering sports in southeastern Idaho since 1979 as a sports writer, broadcaster and fan. He can be reached at bpbugger@gmail.com