COUNTDOWN TO CAMP: Can Idaho State improve its running game?

The Idaho State football team begins fall camp on Aug. 1. To get you ready, we’re counting down with a question every day until camp begins.

Today’s question: Can Idaho State improve its running game?

Last year, the Bengals were outrushed by their opponents 2,477 yards to 652. Bengal foes averaged 5.6 yards a carry, while Idaho State averaged just 2.7. The Bengals’ leading rusher was backup quarterback Hunter Hays, with 233 net yards.

As previously noted in this series, one reason the running game struggled so mightily last season was a lack of depth in the offensive line. The Bengals had just five healthy offensive linemen the coaching staff could trust, and running the football put them at risk.

This fall, the coaching staff heads into camp with what they believe are eight or nine offensive linemen who can perform at the Big Sky Conference level. That gives Idaho State head coach Cody Hawkins the confidence to run the football and play more physical football this fall.

The other part of the running game equation has to do with who will be doing the running. ISU returns only one running back who had any significant number of carries last year — Keoua Kauhi, who ran the ball 15 times for 55 yards. But the Bengals put a heavy emphasis on the backfield in recruiting this offseason.

First they moved Dason Brooks from linebacker to running back, and he responded in the spring football game with an 80-yard gallop for a touchdown. Then they brought in two transfers — Donald Austin, who ran for almost 1,000 yards last season at Division II Southwest Minnesota State, and Hunter Roddy, from Army. Both Austin and Roddy ran with physicality in the spring game with Roddy scoring a 15-yard touchdown on a draw play.

Finally, the coaching staff is bringing in three fresh faces who will make their case for playing time in the fall: Justice Jackson, a transfer from Eastern Washington and freshmen Jackson Riddle from nearby Highland High School and Carson Sudbury from Bingham High School in South Jordan, Utah.

Jackson played in 37 games for the Eagles, amassing 1,200 yards and scoring 10 touchdowns during his time in Cheney. Riddle, the Class 5A Player of the Year for the reigning state champion Rams, had 2,000 all-purpose yards and scored 21 touchdowns his senior season. Sudbury ran for over 1,500 yards and caught 52 passes during his high school career.

“We’re always going to be a throwing football team,” Hawkins said after the spring game. “But if you want to take the next step as a program, you need to be physical when you’re getting light boxes, when you get in the red zone and when you get to third down. I think today is probably a little more indicative of the kind of offense we want to be.”