Earlier this week, the Idaho State football team issued its starting lineup for their season-opening game with UNLV on Saturday, and everywhere there were new names, new faces.

Except on the offensive line.

There, the Bengals plan to start three players who were in the starting lineup in the last game of last season — and a fourth who played in 10 games last year.

Whenever you talked with ISU head coach Cody Hawkins in the offseason, he mentioned all the inexperienced players who are going to have to play key roles throughout the lineup this season.

Except on the offensive line.

There, he talked about what a solid, experienced and deep group of performers the Bengals will be fielding.

Expectations, needless to say, are high for the Bengal offensive line.

“We have high expectations — we expect to go out and have a better year than last year,” said Stryker Rashid, a 6-foot-5-inch, 295-pound redshirt junior tackle. “We’ve been through hell and back with this offensive line. We’ve done a lot of stuff this offseason, just trying to get together. It’s helped a lot. We’ve really come together, especially these last few weeks. We’re ready to go, to showcase what we can do.”

Rashid is one of the leaders of the offensive line, a preseason all-conference selection who showed his versatility after transferring from Utah Tech last season. Rashid filled in every position on the line as ISU offensive line coach John Hughes had to keep maneuvering players to replace linemen he lost to injury.

This week, Rashid is penciled in at right tackle for Saturday’s opener against UNLV, where he’ll join the following starters:

Jake Hellmann, 6-5, 311, senior, left guard; Messiah Moye, 5-9, 278, senior, center; Jorgen Miller, 6-3, 286, redshirt sophomore, right guard; and Will Davis, 6-3, 318, redshirt sophomore, left tackle.

Hughes expects to have a handful of other linemen ready to go Saturday, including Alex Remirez, 6-1, 298, senior center; Jaedon Garcia, 6-3, 304, redshirt junior guard; and Broox McGiven, 6-5, 333, sophomore transfer tackle from Snow College.

“There is a lot of versatility in our group,” said Hughes, now in his second season coaching the offensive line at ISU after arriving from Utah Tech. “That’s probably a testament to how hard these guys work and how much they understand the scheme. There are guys who are ready to play and there are guys that aren’t. I don’t know if I’m ready to answer the question about how we’re going to rotate guys. But there are definitely seven or eight guys that can compete for us and help us be productive. So we’ll see how that works out Saturday.”

Rashid and Davis, the two starting tackles, both have the ability to be all-conference performers.

“I think they have the potential to be very, very good,” Hughes said. “But I’m not worried about offseason accolades. I’m not worried about anybody’s expectations of the group. I’m worried about getting better tomorrow and continuing to get guys to grow and understand their role on this team, how that looks.”

Davis, a mountain of a man from the Portland area, feels like he’s grown substantially in his preparation for the all-important left tackle position.

“I feel like this offseason, I’ve taken jumps even I didn’t know I could take,” he said. “I feel like I’ve improved way more than people realize. I’m just ready to go out there and showcase how much I’ve grown.”

Miller, meanwhile, has been rehabbing from an injury that limited him to three games last season, and Hughes feels the Hyrum, Utah, native has also made big strides in the offseason.

“I’m incredibly proud of him,” Hughes said of Miller. “Just his consistency in the weight room throughout, his recovery from injury, just the way he’s coming along, physically and mentally. It has been really fun to watch.”

The novelty in the starting lineup is Moye, affectionately known as “Cheese” to his teammates, and his 5-9 frame in the middle of all the giants on both sides of the line of scrimmage. Injuries opened the door for Moye to start a few games last season at center, and he’s successfully fended off the challenge from Ramirez and other ISU offensive linemen to hold onto his starting job.

“Cheese is physical, he means a lot to our program and a lot to our offensive line,” said Hughes. “Alex (Ramirez) is a vet, he’s taken a lot of snaps, so it’s just going to be interesting to see how that shapes up. They’re all going to have value, they’re all going to have a role. Regardless of who walks out on the field, we’re going to play multiple guys. We’re going to need multiple guys, and if last year is any indication, we’re going to play a lot more than five.”

Despite the disruption caused by all the injuries last season, the Bengal offensive line gave up only 10 total sacks all season, even though ISU threw the second-most passes of any team in the Big Sky Conference. No team recorded more than two sacks in a game against the Bengal front line, and ISU held four teams — Southern Utah, Montana State, Portland State and Weber State — without a sack.

Not surprisingly, that performance attracted outside suitors. Montana, for one, approached Hughes about joining its staff. Rashid, meanwhile, heard from FBS schools who wanted him. Eventually, both decided ISU and Pocatello was where they wanted to stay, at least for this season.

“It’s the people,” Hughes said when asked why he decided to return to ISU. “No. 1, working with Cody (Hawkins) is a really great opportunity for me. I think our values are in sync as far as family, how we see the game, how we communicate... (Athletic director) Pauline Thiros has been such a huge advocate for the program... her ability to make sure we’re successful in all facets has been impressive to me.

“It’s also the community... the schools where my kids go, the way the community treats my wife... this is a place I want to be,” said Hughes.

Rashid echoed those sentiments when asked why he turned down the opportunity to play for larger programs this offseason.

“It’s the people,” he said. “The people in Pocatello, the amount of support that I got through that whole process was crazy. I know there are people who love me, who care about me. I trust that. I trust our coaches. We have coaches that have been coaching for 30 years, who know the game, they have the expertise. I trust it here. I love Pocatello and I love everything about it, so I don’t know why I would leave.”