Lentils and Football Part 252: 2029 Season in Review — Everybody Returns as Idaho Grows Even Stronger
Once the celebration was over after Idaho’s eighth straight National Championship win, there was a wave of impending doom that was beginning to build.
It was a widely held belief that both Vandal RB Cleveland Goolsby and TE Billy Swinton would forgo their Senior seasons and depart early for the NFL Draft. Neither have much left to prove at the College level, and the risk of injury for a high-volume ball carrier like Goolsby is greater than most. So color us, and more importantly Head Coach Merlin Gibbs, surprised that both announced that they’ll be staying in Moscow for their final season.
Welcome to Lentils and Football, an alternate history of the Idaho Vandals. In the early 2010s events began that lead to the Vandals to be the first college football team to voluntarily drop from FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) to FCS (Football Championship Subdivision); Lentils and Football imagines a world where these events went very differently with the hiring of fictional coach Merlin Gibbs. This story is told via the NCAA 14 video game and a bit of imagination.
That sound you hear is the collective groan from the rest of the teams in College Football that thought they had a chance at a National Title. While there was no doubt that QB Kellen Myrick was still gonna be the tip of the spear for the Vandals on offense, the idea of Idaho having to replace their top 2 offensive weapons obviously had a plethora of teams licking their chops.
Coach Gibbs is smart enough to know that eventually all his players will move on, but he wasn’t that upset about having to toss his replacement plan for Goolsby and Swinton.
“I’m not one to waste a decent amount of hard work, but I don’t really have a choice in this case. I thought for sure both of those guys would be moving on. Eventually I got to a place where I knew what I wanted our offense to evolve into and the type of work we were gonna need put in when it came time for summer camp. Now that plan will have to wait for another year. The crew is back and that’s bad news for everyone else. It’s another opportunity for us to chisel away at our imperfections and create a masterpiece. These guys sticking around is gonna really raise the expectations of what we can accomplish. Us going undefeated and winning another title may not be enough for some people. I can’t believe we’re in this spot again. I feel like this is exactly where we were this time last season.”
Awards and Milestones: If it wasn’t already enough of an example of the rich getting richer for the Vandals with Goolsby and Swinton sticking around for another year, now going into the 2030 there will be a pair of Heisman Trophy winners in the Idaho offensive huddle.
The duo of Kellen Myrick and Cleveland Goolsby duked it out all season long, but in the end it was Myrick who unseated his backfield mate and walked away with this season’s edition of College Football’s highest individual honor.
The second-year starter improved upon his rookie campaign numbers in TD passes, passing yards, completion percentage and rushing yards. It’s difficult to see how much higher Myrick can climb, and for guys like Goolsby and Swinton who’ve already accomplished so much, it’s really setting the table for this upcoming season to be one for the ages. Records will be fall. A new standard will be set.
In addition to the winning his first of what will likely be multiple Heismans, Myrick also repeated as a winner with the trio of awards he took home last season. The soon-to-be Junior QB is now a two-time recipient of the Maxwell, Walter Camp and Davey O’Brien Awards. While Cleveland Goolsby may have graciously moved aside in the Heisman race, his season was still more than productive. The Stratmoor, CO native won his second straight Doak Walker Award as the Nation’s top RB, and he’s naturally the favorite to complete the hat trick by this time next year.
Aside from the repeat wins by Myrick and Goolsby, the rest of the hardware that Idaho brought home this season belongs to first-timers.
Naturally the monster season from now outgoing Senior LB Chet Downs was well recognized as the pass-rush demon from North Lakeland, WA took his first chance at serious playing time and absolutely crushed it. His 24 sack season earned him the Bednarik, Nagurski, and Best LB awards, or what it’s starting to be called in Moscow, “The Chet”. Archie Alexander and his team-leading 94 tackles made him the sixth straight Idaho DB to win the Jim Thorpe Award, joining former Vandals Robert Sparks, Julian Jordan and Kyle Purcell in this current stretch of highly productive secondary work.
Roster Comings and Goings: This may turn out to be one of the most productive Idaho offensive units in history when it’s all said and done.
Kellen Myrick enters his third year as the starting QB, and there hasn’t even been a hint that he’s reached his peak yet. Cleveland Goolsby and Billy Swinton are both entering their third year in the starting lineup as well, toss in returning WRs Desmond Novak and Bo Preston and you start to understand why the expectations are so high. Perhaps the only thing that can hold the Vandals back will be what’s happening along the O-Line.
Idaho is losing three key starters from their front five. Senior LT Trey Ingraham will be the anchor, and Sophomore Donald Parks will hold down the RG spot after starting every game last season as a Freshman. That’s all that remains from last year’s unit, but nowhere is Idaho’s commitment to stockpiling talent more prevalent than what Coach Gibbs has put together with his O-Line room. Parks will be joined on the right side of the line by fellow Sophomore Chad Rollins and Freshman Keon Coleman is the odds on favorite to win the LG spot after redshirting last season. Lastly you can expect Senior Shawn Sullivan to take over for outgoing Senior Jeremy Chavis at Center. Sullivan is low on reps and experience, but this will be the start of his fifth year in the program and that has to count for something.
Outside of the Novak-Preston-Swinton trio, Myrick will still have WRs Jeremy Paris and Jacoby Hardin in the fold. They’ll be joined by Raymond Scruggs and Eric Newberry who after both redshirting in their first year on campus, will have to fight for the scraps to try and make a name for themselves.
The stability on offense should serve as a nice counter for some of the changeover that is gonna take place for the Vandal defense.
Devin Tatum and Tim McKnight are back to be the leaders for their Senior seasons after both starting every game for the past two years. Cedric Ayers will get the job of matching up with the opponent’s top receiving target every week. DT Colton Wilson is the only returning starter across the defensive front, and Reuben Jefferson will pair up with Tim McKnight after having a stellar Freshman year that earned him 2nd Team All-American honors.
Jefferson is the headliner of what will be a group of five Sophomores that penciled in to start on defense for Idaho this year. DB Stephon Landingham saw the field plenty last season, and his CB/FS versatility will pair well with the McKnight/Jefferson combo to give Coach Gibbs and Defensive Coordinator Kyle Peoples the ability to provide a bevy of different looks without having to change personnel.
Another movable chess-piece is SS/LB Titus Watts. The Senior out of Farmington, UT no doubt fits the mold of the oversized in-the-box Safety that has made a killing in this style of defense. With the second LB spot next to Devin Tatum wide open, the ability of Watts to be strong against the run will allow the depth of the secondary (most notably Freshman Deande Smart and All-American KR/PR J.D. Nelson) to takeover and give the Senior more opportunities to cause chaos near the line of scrimmage. The other option at LB will likely be Sophomore Bobby Sellers, who has the size to be a big-time run stuffer, and figures to see plenty of action against the run-heavy offense that are very prevalent throughout college football. Lorenzo Irby could be another one that sees a good share of snaps, but his skillset trends more towards a speed and coverage type player, so his biggest impact may come on special teams.
The biggest change will be along the defensive line. We already mentioned sole returning starter Colton Wilson, but outside of him there isn’t much experience to speak of. Sophomore Melvin Young probably saw the field the most last season out of anyone else, and his size/speed combo should give him plenty of chance to be moved inside and out to create matchup problems.
At DE will be Senior Brandon Humphrey, Sophomore Darius Wilson and Junior Victor Minor. The Vandals always seem to find a way to generate a ton of pressure, so we’ll see who will emerge from this unit to garner most of the opponents attention.
Lastly, Coach Gibbs and the Vandals will be breaking in a new Offensive Coordinator for the second year in a row. Vernon Huff has taken his one year in Moscow and turned that into the Head Coaching gig at Virginia Tech, a fellow Tier-1 school. The sports world is already chomping at the bit for a Vandals vs. Hokies Tier-1 Championship game. Taking his place will be former Texas Tech Head Coach William Morris, who may have been fired by the Red Raiders, but did have a 4–0 record in Bowl games and had four straight winning seasons. He may have been let go, but he’s got a solid track record.
2030 Recruiting Class: While Goolsby and Swinton staying in town puts the offensive expectations in the stratosphere, there were still a couple of surprise departures that left Coach Gibbs and his staff needing to scramble to fill some final holes on the roster.
A pair of outgoing transfers in RB Kevin Deloach (Wyoming) and TE Lance Dunbar (Washington State) pushed the total of departing players to 17, but the pool of players looking to further their careers under the tutelage of Coach Gibbs is rather deep. Wasn’t too hard to find a few willing plow horses.
The 4-star trio of QB Joe Jolly, RB Robby Bozeman and WR Austin Mayes are the starting of a good future foundation for the offense, and TE Bernard Massey has a well-rounded skillset that should serve him well regardless of whatever the strength of the offense morphs into.
Richie Jones and Joey Brewster will offer some nice size along the defense line, and speaking of size there’s also SS Dominique Dailey, who fits the big SS mold that Coach Gibbs seems to find at least one of every year. Dante Hobbs is also gonna raise some eyebrows as well, standing at 6'5'’ from his MLB spot, but expect to see the other LB of the class much sooner as Shannon Jones gets the honor of being the highest rated recruit in this years enrollees. Jeremiah Allen may be buried on the depth chart for now, and his small stature may not grab much attention, but make no mistake this boy can play.
Parts of recruiting can feel like planting an olive tree as in it doesn’t mean much for the team right now, but I’m sure we all remember when no one batted an eye when the likes of Tim McKnight and others were brough in. Coach Gibbs certainly remembers.
“I always love the first week of practice. There’s a new group of players who haven't accomplished anything, and they’re hungry to prove themselves. That attitude is contagious and it takes everyone back to their first day. It serves as a great reminder that we all start from nothing. The start is now. Lentils and football. Let’s get after it.”
News and Notes: We usually don’t get much hype for the early season games, but there’s a little something extra in the hopper for Week 1 of the 2030 season.
The Arizona State Sun Devils will visit Moscow, and with them will be starting QB and one-time Idaho recruit Duncan Peters. The Tonopah, NV native spent his one year under Coach Gibbs as a redshirt, then bolted when Chase Ford left for the NFL and Kellen Myrick was signed. I’m certain the Kibbie Dome will leave no heckling-stone unturned.
