MOSCOW, Idaho - It takes a team to build a team.
That is University of Idaho football coach Tom Cable's approach and when it came to signing one of the best classes in school history, he pointed to the efforts of the current Vandals and a slightly rebuilt staff in making it happen.
"The No. 1 thing is our kids did a great job recruiting," Cable said. "These kids said, 'What are you going to do for our team?' The kids really stepped up to try and make their team better."
That effort - along with that of a staff that includes four new coaches - brought to Moscow, Cable said, the players to fill the crucial needs of turning around a team that went 1-10 in 2001. He found the players needed both in the junior college and high school ranks.
"This class - it's really neat," Cable said. "We got the needs we needed but we also got better with young players; we got people to develop and keep feeding the pipeline - so to speak."
Filling the immediate needs goes to junior college players who bring experience and speed to the tailback position; strength and size to the defensive front, and height, speed and experience to the secondary.
Already on campus are tailbacks Shung Peoples and Malfred Shaw, and defensive end Kody Kraus. Peoples and Shaw help ease Cable's mind at tailback where depth is a factor and 2001 leading rusher Blair Lewis is working to come back from a knee injury.
The defensive front is where Cable sees a lot of what he wants - size. It comes in the forms of DT Ryan Atoe (6-2, 314), DE Kelly Nead (6-4, 236), DT Johnny Parra (6-3, 310) and Kraus, a defensive end who weighs in at 6-3, 228.
On tap to help shore up the secondary are cornerbacks Rod Bryant (6-1, 180), Darryl Murphy (5-11, 185), Robert Ortega (6-1, 200) and J.R. Ruffin (6-1, 190). And, at receiver and with the ability to make things happen on returns is Cedric Thompson.
Cable and his staff also found success in Idaho where they landed Andrew Stobart from Boise's Borah High School and Nick Pilon from Coeur d'Alene's Lake City High School.
"What's neat is we were able to go into Idaho and get two good players," Cable said. "We felt like those two guys are the cream of the crop in Idaho."
Cable also set about keeping the foundation in place for the type of offensive line he likes - huge.
"We want to keep building a giant offensive line around here," Cable said.
The high school players on that line range from 6-5, 298-pound Jade Tadvick from Stevensville, Mont., to 6-8, 285-pound Matt Newell from Las Vegas. In between are 6-6, 290-pound Nate VanderPol from Federal Way, Wash., and 6-7, 318-pound Hank Therien from Corvallis, Ore.
Cable also was able to use the lure of the Sun Belt Conference and Idaho's passing game to convince Wendell Octave, a speedy wide receiver, to relocate from his home of St. James, La., to Moscow.
"I'm ecstatic about what we were able to go out and do to make this team better for 2002," Cable said. "From that standpoint, I'm as happy as one could be today. We got done what we set out to do."
