Vandals announce 33 signees on 2nd National Signing Day

Exactly 49 days after he accepted the head coaching position with the Idaho football team, Thomas Ford Jr. announced a signing class of 33 players on the traditional National Signing Day on Wednesday, signaling he and his staff have been hot on the recruiting trails from Day 1.

Ford’s first class includes 10 of the 19 players UI signed in the early signing period in December when Jason Eck was still head coach and 20 players from the Pacific Northwest, including eight each from Idaho and Washington.

Twenty-three of the signees are high school athletes, seven are NCAA transfers and three are junior college transfers.

“I’m just really excited about the depth of (the class) and where we got the guys from,” Ford said. “One thing that’s really important to me is, in a given year, we really want to be about 60% Northwest guys. And when you look at this class, we’re right at 60% … and you see that number right in Idaho and Washington, being eight guys apiece from each state.”

Here’s a first look at the future of the Vandal football:

Kendrick’s Hewett sticks with UI, headlines eight homegrown Vandals

Of the 10 early signing period recruits to stick with their commitment, the most notable might be Kendrick football star Sawyer Hewett.

The speedy and versatile wide receiver will feel right at home in the Kibbie Dome, where he won four small-school state championships with the Tigers during a dominant prep football career.

“I think a guy like Sawyer — who’s such a productive player, even at a smaller school — you can’t let those guys get away,” Idaho offensive coordinator Matt Linehan said. “If he’s in your backyard, you got to take the best players that are in your backyard. And he was an exemplary player at that level.”

Idaho’s other recruits from the Gem State include running back Taeshaun Reese (Meridian High), linebacker Jack Giannini (Eagle High) and a host of defensive linemen: Shepard Fish (Meridian/Capital High), Austin Flaherty (Boise/Borah High), Caden Siegner (Star/Owyhee High), Nate Williams (Eagle High) and Mason Krahn (Nampa/Skyview High).

Fish, Krahn and Williams are all rated as three-star recruits by 247sports.com.

No QB in this class

Fans might notice there is no quarterback in this class.

The lone QB from UI’s early signing period — Toa Faavae of De La Salle High School in California — opted to follow Eck to New Mexico.

With UI starter Jack Layne also transferring to UM, Idaho currently has four quarterbacks on its roster, all sophomores — Jack Wagner, Nick Josifeck, Rocco Koch and Holden Bea.

Wagner and Josifeck contributed heavily at times during a 2024 season that saw the Vandals finish with their best record (10-4) since 1993, so UI still shows promise at the position despite its youth and a lack of new recruits there.

“Coach Linehan, I think, is pretty selective about that position,” Ford said about QBs. “We don’t want to take a guy just for the roster number. We want to take a guy that we believe in (and) can develop and be a starter here someday.

“So there’s a couple targets that we have out there that we’ve talked with and could still potentially get (in the future).”

UW, Boise State, Montana State transfers in the mix

The Vandals dipped into the transfer portal for a handful of recruits and emerged with some names from some familiar regional rivals.

Senior wide receiver Lonyatta Alexander Jr. of Montana State, graduate defensive lineman Maurice Heims of Washington, sophomore tight end Oliver Fisher of Boise State and redshirt freshman defensive lineman Kai Richardson of Oregon State are among the transfers.

Alexander played in 15 games, catching 22 passes for 264 yards for the FCS-runners-up Bobcats, who eliminated the Vandals in the second round of the FCS playoffs in December.

The 6-foot-3 senior could help fill the void left by departed wideouts Jordan Dwyer (TCU) and Mark Hamper (Wisconsin).

Alexander (Auburn, Wash./Kennedy Catholic High) is someone the Ford family has been familiar with since his junior high days, going back to being coached and trained by Ford’s brothers, Tracy Ford and Reggie Ford, in the Seattle area. So the familiarity was already there.

“My youngest brother Tracy, has been training him since he was probably in sixth or seventh grade. And my middle brother Reggie coached him at Kennedy Catholic. And so it’s almost like he’s been here for four years,” Ford said. “He’s a veteran guy that we kind of needed in that room. Needed a guy that’s played a lot of football, and obviously (he’s) played a ton of football.”

Other notes and quotes

Junior offensive lineman Howard Stedford, of NCAA DII Pace University in New York, is “just a big, physical, athletic dude” who is already on campus and impressing the coaches with his attitude.

Defensive line was a heavy emphasis with 11 total signees. In total, UI has 21 recruits on defense and 12 on offense.

Fisher didn’t see any action at BSU, but rates as a three-star recruit at tight end and was at one point the No. 3 prospect in Oregon (Sherwood High), per 247sports.com.

Ford on the challenges of a short recruiting window for his staff: “I think probably the biggest challenge was just trying to find guys that fit our program and doing it in such a short period of time. In a traditional year, we really recruit these guys over, like, a calendar year, you’re able to vet a lot of more of them in terms of their character, work ethic and those things. And so I think we did really rely on those past relationships that we had, either with the particular players or with coaches that had coached these guys.”

Looking ahead

Idaho begins spring practice March 24 with the annual spring game slated for 6 p.m. April 25 at the P1FCU Kibbie Dome.

Sports reporter Sam Taylor contributed to this story.

Full Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Yr. Hometown / High School Previous School

Harrison Deshazer DL 6-5 230 Fr. Washougal, Wash. / Washougal HS

Shepard Fish DL 6-4 240 Fr. Meridian, Idaho / Capital HS

Austin Flaherty DL 6-3 240 Fr. Boise, Idaho / Borah HS

Jack Giannini LB 6-0 205 Fr. Eagle, ID / Eagle High School

JoJo Matautia OL 5-11 285 Fr. Renton, Wash. / Eastside Catholic

Brody Michael LB 6-0 205 Fr. Queen Creek, Ariz. / American Leadership Academy

Sawyer Hewett WR 6-0 170 Fr. Juliaetta, Idaho / Kendrick HS

Mason Krahn DL 6-2 220 Fr. Nampa, Idaho / Skyview HS

Caden Siegner DL 6-2 225 Fr. Star, Idaho / Owyhee

Nate Williams DL 6-4 245 Fr. Eagle, Idaho / Eagle HS

Lonyatta Alexander Jr. WR 6-3 210 Sr. Auburn, Wash. / Kennedy Catholic HS Montana State

Will Cornelson LB 6-2 230 RJr. Cedar Park, Texas / Vista Ridge HS Tyler JC

Oliver Fisher TE 6-5 245 RSo. Sherwood, Ore. / Sherwood HS Boise State

Maurice Heims DL 6-5 263 Gr. Hamburg, Germany / Santa Margarita HS Washington

Tim Jackson DB 6-5 200 Jr. Van Nuys, Calif. / Birmingham Charter College of the Canyons

Donovan Parham DL 6-3 230 Gr.t Lakeland, Fla. / George Jenkins HS Mississippi Valley State

Khaled Rawls DB 5-10 185 So. Walls, Miss. / Lake Cormarant HS NE Missississippi CC

Martin Rhyne LB 6-1 215 Fr. Fort Lauderdale, Fla. / Western HS

Kai Richardson DL 6-4 255 RFr. Puyallup, Wash. / Puyallup HS Oregon State

Zahkari Spears DB 6-2 197 Jr. Los Angeles, Calif. / Loyola HS UCONN

Howard Stedford OL 6-4 285 Jr. Orlando, Fla. / Maloney HS Pace Universty

Ma’ake Apo DL 6-4 340 Fr. Orem, Utah / Orem HS

Brody Borrevik DL 6-2 255 Fr. Eugene, Ore. / Sheldon HS

Mason Culmer TE 6-4 240 Fr. Chandler, Ariz. / Basha HS

Cameron Glenn OL 6-4 274 Fr. Springfield, Ore. / Sheldon HS

Ryan Holmes OL 6-4 280 Fr. West Linn, Ore. / West Linn HS

Tsiyown Lowery DB 6-1 196 Fr. Maple Valley, Wash. / Tahoma HS

Nolan McWilliams WR 5-10 180 Fr. Auburn, Wash. / Roosevelt HS

Wyatt Mickleberry RB 5-11 198 Fr. Bothell, Wash. / Bothell HS

LeRonn Nelson OL 6-5 300 Fr. Sacramento, Calif. / Destiny Christian Academy

Taeshaun Reese RB 5-10 200 Fr. Meridian, Idaho / Meridian HS

Jayden Rice-Claiborne DB 6-0 180 Fr. Tacoma, Wash. / Curtis HS

Caleb Ricks DB 6-1 195 Fr. Gonzales, La. / St. Amant HS

Wiebe may be contacted at (208) 848-2277, swiebe@lmtribune.com or on Twitter @StephanSports.