As spring ball wound down and the summer unfolded, Idaho State coaches began to sound like they had pressed the repeat button on the same tune. We have to get better up front, they said. They echoed the refrain so often you wondered if they were worried about the position group — or maybe they just had something up their sleeves.

For the Bengals, fall camp has started — they held their fourth practice on Tuesday morning — and the answer is beginning to materialize.

“To the naked eye, we’re a different football team up front,” ISU coach Charlie Ragle said.

That’s the biggest development out of Idaho State camp so far. Bengals coaches like the improvements they’ve made on the offensive and defensive lines, and not just because players have made strides personally. Since the spring, ISU has signed a handful of linemen, players who figure to help the team shore up one of the weaker aspects of last year’s one-win team.

Here are the new offensive linemen who project to be in the mix this fall: Washington State transfer Syr Riley, Arkansas State transfer Avery Demmons, Isaiah Hullum, Palomar Junior College transfer Jude Steffen and true freshman Hudson Chasko. In that group, coaches are really excited about Riley, a behemoth of a man who was last measured at 6-foot-3, 323 pounds. Ragle also mentioned Steffen and Chasko by name after practice on Tuesday.

Also of note, according to Ragle: Junior Jacob Angel, a starter on last year’s team who did not play in spring ball because of an injury, is healthy. “He’s played a lot of football, which you can’t put a price on experience,” Ragle said. “So a big body like him, we’re looking forward to great things from him this fall.”

On the defensive line, ISU has also welcomed El Camino College transfer Josiah Sagale and Butler County Community College transfer Chester Geffrard, both of whom joined the team in the summer. “You look at him and he’s got some twitch to him,” Ragle said of Geffrard. “Six-four, probably about 260.”

The Bengals coaches are only excited about their developments up front because the position groups turned in a forgettable 2021 season. The Bengals’ offensive line yielded a conference-high 39 sacks — more than three a game. On defense, Idaho State recorded just seven sacks, which ranked last in the Big Sky by a considerable margin. The Bengals needed to add depth up front this offseason. Only time will tell if they did so, but at the very least, they’ve added some interesting pieces.

Other takeaways from Tuesday’s practice

1. The quarterback battle is still between Tyler Vander Waal and Hunter Hays

For ISU, little has changed at the quarterback position since spring ball. The battle will be between Tyler Vander Waal, last year’s starter who suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in the team’s third game of the season, and Hunter Hays, who took reps as Vander Waal’s replacement.

“Tyler’s obviously got the most experience and has moved the football around pretty well here the first few days,” Ragle said. “I still think we’ve gotta get into some live scrimmage looks and see how these guys respond under pressure.”

Here’s what offensive coordinator Taylor Mazzone had to say on the two quarterbacks: “Vander Waal is doing a great job taking the schemes we ran during the spring and seeing him learn from his mistakes and growing from it. With his experience and his arm talent, this guy is a special one. Then Hunter, obviously a guy coming from spring. These guys are more confident, just calling the play out. They kinda know what you’re talking about. So that’s an exciting time. So it’s been good.”

2. A few receivers to keep an eye out for

Among the players ISU signed over the summer are two receivers: Arizona transfer Jalen Johnson and Palomar College transfer Brandon Johnson. Both stand around 6-foot-2, giving the Bengals some size at the position.

There’s no replacing Tanner Conner, last year’s breakout receiver who has since signed an undrafted free agent deal with the Miami Dolphins, but those two receivers will help ISU come close. New tight end Cyrus Wallace — who Ragle said could have played for his teams at Cal or Arizona — will also join the returning ISU receiving corps, Xavier Guillory and Christian Fredericksen, and if you squint hard enough, you can see real potential in this group.

“Jalen, he’s a special one. He has all the tools,” Mazzone said. “Excited for him to put it all together. Another opportunity for him at another school. And we’re excited to have to give him the opportunity, and just see him grow day in day out, just (from) the maturity standpoint.”

3. Some clarity on the special teams situation

The irony of Idaho State hiring Ragle, whose last stop was the special teams coordinator at Cal, is that he took over a program bereft of any specialists. The team’s best player in that department last year, punter Kevin Ryan, transferred to Washington.

So in February, ISU made quite possibly its best signing in awhile: Ian Hershey. He starred at Highland, where he became the nation’s 10th-best kicker, according to 247 Sports. Hershey set the state record with a 58-yarder last fall. Last season, he went 19-for-23, including 12 from 40-plus yards and three from 50-plus. He also boomed punts for the Rams. Put him in the indoor Holt Arena and, well, you’re asking him to break more records.

Except since Hershey joined the program, ISU signed Regan Baker, a punter from Australia, and Thomas Kopcho, a kicker/punter who transferred from Missouri Western State. That prompted a question: How will the Bengals split up kicking duties this fall?

The answer: Hershey will kick. Baker will punt. Kopcho will push for time in both roles. Ragle prefers to have separate kickers and punters, he explained, pointing out that kicking and punting require two different skill sets.

“Even as good as he is,” Ragle said, referring to Hershey, “take a true freshman and try to have him kick and punt, it’s a lot.”

5. Coaches changing roles

In May, Idaho State bid farewell to director of football operations Tyson Munns, who had worked the gig for some 10 years. His replacement will be Byron Hout, who was previously the defensive line coach. The new defensive line coach will be Vince Amey, who was hired last winter as the defensive ends coach.

As previously reported, ISU also has two new coaches: Cornerbacks coach Pierre Cormier and safeties coach Devin Holiday. Holiday replaces JB Hall, the team’s safeties coach of three years who took a job at Georgia Tech earlier this month, and Cormier replacess DaVonte’ Neal, who has been extradited to Arizona’s Maricopa County on charges that include first-degree murder.