The football signing class of 2009 provides Idaho coach Robb Akey’s Vandals with an infusion of speed, a boost to depth, and a splash of experience.

“These are the guys that we went after; that we wanted,” Akey said Wednesday morning after the Vandals inked 20 players (17 high school and three junior college) to National Letters of Intent. “We’re not ‘settling’ for any of these guys. These are guys we attacked and we wanted to get in here.”

The class spans the country – from the Atlantic shore to the Hawaiian Islands, and includes players who can bolster every phase of the game.

Two of the junior college signees – offensive lineman Tevita Halaholo and quarterback Brian Reader, already are enrolled at Idaho. The other one – linebacker Korey Toomer, will join the team this summer. Reader has three years of college eligibility remaining. Toomer originally signed with the Vandals out of Las Vegas’ Shadow Ridge High School before playing at Arizona Western the last two seasons.

The freshman class includes two players from Idaho, although one hails from Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and a solid group out of Washington – a region Akey believes is key in the Vandals’ recruiting efforts.

“We’ve done very well in Vandal country,” Akey said of the signing of Coeur d’Alene’s Jared Heston (LB), Boise’s Jeffrey Bediako (LB), Yakima’s Taylor Elmo (athlete), Seattle’s Aaron Grymes (DB), Kennewick’s Clayton Homme and Puyallup’s Justin Veltung (WR).

“When you look at that being a quarter of the class – we’re taking care of the homeland pretty well.”

The rest of the class is a different story. Players will be moving to Moscow from as far away as Hawai`i, South Carolina and Florida.

“I like the group we have as a whole,” Akey said. “We were able to take care of depth at the quarterback position. We’ve increased our speed at the skill levels. We were able to address depth at the linebacker position and we added another pass rusher or two.”

In the quarterback mix along with returners Nathan Enderle (junior) and Justin Morales (redshirt freshman), are Reader and Arizona high schooler Taylor Davis.

“I have a lot of confidence in Nate,” Akey said. “But anybody can get hurt. We just needed more depth.”

Along with Bediako, Heston and Toomer, the linebacking corps receives a boost with the addition of Hawai`i’s Conrad Scheidt and Texas’ Michael Terry. In the secondary, another Texan – Tracy Carter, is joined in the new class by Grymes, Mississippi’s Trey Williams and California’s Gary Walker.

Halaholo is the biggest newcomer at 6-5, 358. He’s joined by two freshmen – Californians Jordan Johnson (6-5, 306) and Kyle Salm (6-6, 273).

In a quest to replace standout h-back/tight end Eddie Williams, Akey’s staff found Homme and Nevadan Michael LaGrone.

Defensively, Vince Keener is coming as an end and is joining Westview (Ariz.) High School classmate Guy Reynolds, who redshirted last season.

As for Elmo, he comes in with the versatility to play either tight end or defensive end. Exactly where he lands, remains to be seen but his tremendous athletic and leadership abilities are big pluses for the Vandals.

Adding depth to the receiving corps are speedsters Wedgeworth and Veltung.