MOSCOW, Idaho – The University of Idaho football team celebrated the end of spring drills with a raucous intrasquad game that featured big plays in every facet of the competition.

Ultimately, the Silver team – composed of the No. 1 defense and the No. 2 offense – won, 31-17, before an appreciative crowd of 5,100 at the Kibbie Dome.

“It was a great culmination to the spring drills,” coach Robb Akey said. “The one thing I wanted to see out of spring practice was us getting better at playing football and I think we are. I saw the team doing much better things on the field. It was a good blend of a lot of things and I thought we got better.

“I like the way this family is together at this point in time and that is going to be huge.”

The highlights were many. Deonte’ Jackson popped a 40-yard run for the Gold, while not to be outdone Princeton McCarty went 46 yards to score for the Silver. It was one of four scores for McCarty, who also went in from 9, 5 and 15 yards. McCarty finished the game with 124 yards on 14 carries. Jackson covered 84 yards on 13 tries.

Both impressed Akey.

“Princeton McCarty had a great night tonight,” Akey said. “He made some big plays and we have seen him make some big plays like that this spring. Deonte did a fine job and he has made himself a better back this spring.”

On the receiving end, tight end Eddie Williams (five catches for 107 yards to lead all receivers) was impressive, while lanky Eric Greenwood made his mark with an often rugged 77 yards on six catches for the Silver and 18 yards on one catch for the Gold.

The competition between sophomores Nathan Enderle and Quin Ashley was comparatively even. Playing to their strengths, when Enderle was calling signals the Vandals went to the air with him completed 11 of 21 passes for 178 yards. Ashley threw for 107 yards (eight of 13) but also had 37 yards rushing.

“I’ll let everyone know at the beginning of next week,” Akey said. “You saw Nathan running a majority with the No. 1 offense, but Quin came in and got his chance with the ones also. I see both of those kids executing the offense very well and I want to sit down and talk with both of them before making a decision.”

Defensively, there were praises to sing from the relentlessness of Jonathan Faraimo to the ferocity of Shiloh Keo to the steadiness of Derek Wieting. Keo had the game’s lone interception and he recovered one of three fumbles with Wieting grabbing another and Justin Allen securing the third. All told, the Gold team had four sacks and tallied eight tackles-for-loss, while the Silver had three sacks and five TFL.

What pleased Akey the most is the difference a year made.

“We have come a million miles and I am very happy about that,” he said. “It’s all in bits and pieces, but we have gained monumental ground in the things that determine the program. There’s a group of guys out here who like each other, who like being around each other, and are working for each other.

“We’ve got a family here and that is a great thing. We are able to get better at things over the course of the spring instead of trying to figure each other out like we were last spring.”

Note

Prior to the scrimmage, Akey introduced the 2008 captains (as voted by their teammates). Center Adam Korby was chosen for the second year in a row to represent the offense, while Keo was voted as the defensive captain.