Idaho Players to Watch vs. No. 3 Oregon

In just two days the No. 3 Oregon Ducks will kick off the 2024 college football season at home against the Idaho Vandals. Idaho enters the season at No. 7 in the FCS coaches rankings.

To help fans get ready for Saturday’s game, I sat down with Andrew Quinn of KREM 2 Sports who covers the Vandals to take a look at some of the top players to know. You can watch the full episode of the Ducks Dish Podcast in the video link at the bottom of this story.

“Without a doubt talking to players, coaches, anyone involved with the Idaho program they just rave about this kid’s work ethic. They say he’s in the Kibbie Dome about 98% of the time. If you walk into the Kibbie Dome you will see Jack Layne every day after practices. He just seems like a workaholic. He’s spent the last two years learning and I think he’s ready for this opportunity.”

“If I was to give one guy that Oregon should spotlight with a big O on Saturday his name is Abraham Williams. He will be returning kicks and punts for Idaho and he is ultra dangerous. This is a dude you probably want to kick the ball away from, because why would you let one guy hurt you? When you could send your defense out there and try to get some stops against Jack Layne. Definitely spotlight Abraham Williams. This guy’s been easily the best kick returner in the Big Sky over the last two years. He transfered from Weber State this offseason to Idaho. He plays corner, he’s got good size. Obviously very fast, but don’t really know what his cover skills are like, so I’d really like to see him get in there and get stuck in there against some of these Duck receivers.”

“Anybody you talk to right now says Idaho may have the best D-line in the entire Big Sky. These D-line guys are for real. They’ve got two edge rushers in Keyshawn James-Newby and Malakai Williams who’ve done a good job of getting to the quarterback over the last two years.”

“They’ve got a big 330-pound nose tackle in the middle named Jahkari Larmond, who is a big space eater. Definitely is great at trying to stop the run a little bit.”