POCATELLO – For the first time in nearly a year, Gunnar Amos threw meaningful passes at football practice.

After a position switch put his football future in limbo, Amos found a home at Idaho State. Two-and-a-half years at the University of Idaho yielded eight game appearances and 10 pass attempts as Amos sat behind soon-to-be four-year starter Matt Linehan. A move to safety this spring prompted Amos’ departure from UI, and the Bengals coaching staff brought him in to strengthen the team’s quarterback depth.

Amos made his ISU debut Thursday during practice at the ICCU Practice Fields.

“First day went well,” Amos said. “Still a little rusty. … Today was really the first quarterback practice I’ve had since last fall. So it’s going to be a process. I’ll get back into it.”

Amos, a 2014 graduate of Coeur d’Alene High School, was recruited by Idaho State as a high school prospect.

The dual-threat slinger opted for the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) Vandals over the Bengals of the Big Sky Conference.

But Amos saw his opportunities to play quarterback at Idaho dwindling. Linehan is cemented as the Vandals’ starter, and Amos’ switch to defense signaled the likely end of his signal-calling days in Moscow.

“My body was a little beat up, and I just didn’t want to play safety for more than a year,” Amos said. “I was just paying safety to get on the field. ... I’m a quarterback. I just didn’t enjoy it as much as I enjoy quarterback. I wanted a chance to be able to compete and play.”

Amos, a redshirt sophomore, gives the Bengals six quarterbacks in fall camp. Redshirt junior Tanner Gueller is atop the depth chart as the incumbent starter, but determining the order of his backups is a work in progress.

Amos has more experience than ISU’s other reserve QBs, but just barely. Redshirt sophomore Robert Kvinsland threw three passes last season and was ISU’s only quarterback besides Gueller to throw a pass in a college game before Amos and his 10 passes arrived.

Amos practiced without pads Thursday and mostly took reps with the second- and third-string offenses until the end of practice, when he led the first-team offense during team drills.

“Early on, it’s going to be selective on what he can do,” Bengals offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Matt Troxel said. “He’s got to run our base stuff before he gets all the wrinkles.”

Amos and Troxel were both vague regarding Amos’ expected role. Though he’s nearly two weeks late to fall camp, his experience at a bowl-winning FBS program gives him a leg up on challenging Gueller for the starting gig.

Amos will have to acclimate to ISU’s playbook first, and he won’t play in the Bengals’ scrimmage Saturday because he will not have participated in enough practices without pads.

“It’s going to be a process to get it down, just like any offensive playbook,” Amos said. “But I’ve already learned one college offense. It’ll only be easier to learn a second offense.”

“His expectation is to compete and learn the offense and see if he can beat guys out,” Troxel added. “We’re going to put the best guy on the field regardless of who they are.”