PARK CITY, Utah — Idaho State coach Mike Kramer smothered any doubts about who will start at quarterback for the Bengals this season Tuesday at the Big Sky Conference media days.

Kramer said he expects redshirt junior college transfer Michael Sanders to step in and replace the graduated Justin Arias at the highest-profile position in football.

Until this week, Kramer had indicated the Bengals would hold an open quarterback competition between Sanders and redshirt freshman Tanner Gueller this fall. He didn’t want to name a starter until shortly before the season opener at home versus Black Hills State. But now it’s Sanders’ job to lose rather than his to win.

Sanders, who is from Scottsdale Community College, follows the mold of Kramer’s other two starting quarterbacks at ISU, Kevin Yost and Arias. Each is from the junior college ranks where they had success before moving on to the Bengals.

“Kevin was smart, intelligent, crafty and tough. Justin was smart, intelligent, crafty, tough,” Kramer said. “Michael Sanders (is) smart, intelligent ... and I believe he’s about as tough a guy as I know. And he hasn’t played a down for us. And Tanner Gueller is smart, intelligent, crafty and a freshman. And he’s not going to start.”

MORE WEAPONS, MORE OFFENSE

Kramer likes to say he has three starters at tight end. Only one plays at a time, but junior Josh Cook and seniors Tyler Graves and Tyler Wright are so talented that they all deserve top billing as the “starter.”

And now Kramer and the Bengals have added another talented tight end to fortify and augment one of the deepest position groups in the Big Sky.

Kramer announced Colorado State’s Jordan White will transfer to ISU for the 2015 season. White is a 6-foot-4, 230-pound tight end from Palm Springs, California, with two years of eligibility remaining.

As a sophomore at CSU, White played in 12 games, started twice, and had two receptions for 16 yards.

Kramer said he’ll play right away at ISU. One of his greatest assets is versatility.

“We’re not going to ever, ever, ever be in a situation offensively where one wide receiver has to play every play,” Kramer said. “We’re going to play two-deep at wide out and we’ll shuttle them in and out as fast we can.”

White, of course, hasn’t actually proven anything on the field at Idaho State yet. But the hope is that he’s athletic enough to be able to play everywhere on the field. And his presence should allow Cook, a preseason STATS FCS All-American, to move around the field and play multiple positions.

In other words, an offense that averaged 40.3 points a game a season ago has another weapon at its disposal.

GAME TIME VS UNLV SET

All 11 of Idaho State’s 2015 regular season games now have an official starting time after a UNLV announcement Wednesday.

The Bengals will play the Rebels on Sept. 26 at 7 p.m. (MST) and the game will be streamed live on the Mountain West Network.

The Bengals host Black Hills State (Sept. 5) and Portland State (Sept. 12) at 4:05 p.m. and Eastern Washington (Oct. 17), Montana (Nov. 7) and Montana State (Nov. 14) for games at 1:35 p.m.

ISU plays at Boise State on Sept. 18 at 7 p.m. in a game that will be televised on the CBS Sports Network. Big Sky road games include Cal Poly (Oct. 3) at 6:05 p.m., North Dakota (Oct. 10) at 1 p.m., Sacramento State (Oct. 24) at 6:05 p.m. and Weber State to end the regular season Nov. 21 at 1 p.m.