POCATELLO — The Idaho State defense had the upper hand at Saturday’s scrimmage, but it was off the field and on the other side of the ball that the big news was made.

ISU head football coach Cody Hawkins announced afterwards that redshirt junior Jordan Cooke won the starting quarterback job and will be taking most of the snaps with the No. 1 offense as the Bengals prepare for their Aug. 23 season opener at UNLV.

“Jordan is going to be the guy,” Hawkins said. “I think just based on the first two scrimmages… I think Jordan’s ability to put points on the board in scrimmages is what stuck out.”

Cooke, who is 6-foot-4-inches and 234 pounds, played in just one game last year for the Bengals before losing the starting quarterback job to transfer Kobe Tracy. He redshirted to preserve a season of eligibility. That came after he appeared in all 11 games for ISU in the 2023 season, completing 59% of his passes for 2,453 yards and 12 touchdowns. But Cookie was also picked off 13 times.

While naming Cooke the starter, Hawkins said he plans to play “everybody” in the season opener against UNLV — much as he did last year when he played four different quarterbacks in the opener vs. Oregon State. But Hawkins says the UNLV game will not be an audition for Cooke’s backups to play their way into the starting lineup, no matter how that game turns out.

“I’ve told everybody that everybody is going to play in that first game,” said Hawkins. “But it’s not so much a, ‘Hey, let’s see what happens in the first game….’ All those guys will play and they know if you want to win a championship in this conference, you’ve got to have two (quarterbacks) ready to go.”

Standing ready behind Cooke is redshirt freshman Jackson Sharman, who completed 6-of-15 passing attempts in three games last season and was 18-of -32 with two touchdown passes in two appearances as a true freshman in 2023.

“Sharman is a really darn good quarterback,” Hawkins said. “I like our quarterback room a lot. Logan Gonzalez is capable of making a ton of throws. And then Davis Harsin, man he’s more comfortable playing football when his butt’s on the line than anybody. I like our guys, I love ‘em a lot. But Jordan will be getting the reps with the ones because we want to create some continuity for the next two weeks.”

Ironically, while it was the quarterback situation generating the most buzz after the game, it was the ISU defense that dominated Saturday’s scrimmage.

On the very first series, in fact, redshirt freshman linebacker Devin Rodriguez made a statement play, stepping in front of a Cooke pass in the flats, intercepting it and returning it for a touchdown.

The scrimmage was divided into various situations, including nine plays where the offense had the ball on the defense’s 3-yard line. The defense stopped the offense from scoring on eight of those situations.

“I felt like we played really hard,” said Rodriguez, a Pocatello High School alum who is trying to solidify his place in the linebacker rotation. “When it comes to third and ones, third and twos, I feel like we need to say we have a gap, it’s ours and we take it.”

New ISU defensive coordinator Grant Duff reserved the right to review the game film before passing final judgement on his unit’s performance, but he liked the fact that the defense stopped the Bengal offense consistently throughout the different situations they were presented with.

“You never want to jump to conclusions — you always want to consider the film,” said Duff. “It feels pretty good right now. We came out and did really well in our situational work, which is everything we did live today. We all know that’s where you win ballgames. Can you manage two-minute (situations), can you manage four-minute, can you manage playing in the red zone, short yardage stuff? We did really, really well in that today.”

When asked who stood out from his defensive unit today, Duff joked that he missed the two biggest plays of the day — interceptions by Rodriguez and freshman linebacker Ty Beadle — while he was meeting with his No. 1 defensive squad on the sidelines.

“So all my backup linebackers get interceptions when I’m not coaching them,” Duff said with a laugh. “Maybe I’m the problem.”

He also praised the work of his defensive line, which stoned the Bengal offense repeatedly in short yardage situations near the goal line.

“You’re not coming out of there without the hogs getting after it,” Duff said. “So I’ve got to give them credit. (Defensive linemen) Jake East and Collin Lewis, I’m really proud of how those guys are playing right now. Coach Ricky Ali’ifua has done a phenomenal job with those guys, so I have to give them credit for helping us win that set.”

While the offense struggled to finish drives with points, there were some entertaining exhibitions of individual talent. Wide receiver Raiden Brown made a remarkable one-handed catch of a Harsin pass during the second offensive possession, sophomore wide receiver Braden Albrecht made a few tough grabs in traffic, and Javoni Gardere, a transfer receiver from UTEP, also made an acrobatic catch.

Robert Freeman IV, a transfer from Utah State, showed Bengal fans the quick feet and high energy that Hawkins has been touting since the 5-7, 150-pound Californian showed up for summer workouts.

“Definitely the way he plays is the way he lives,” said Hawkins. “He’s high energy, he’s a ‘go guy.’ He’s somebody you feel like could score anytime he touches the ball. Every time he touches the ball, I’m just as excited to see what he’s going to do with it as everybody in the stands.”

In deference to injuries and to veteran players like running back Dason Brooks, who have already staked their claim to significant playing time, a handful of Bengals sat out Saturday’s scrimmage or got limited work. Now, the entire team’s focus shifts to preparing for the UNLV game.

The Rebels have hired Dan Mullen, former Florida head coach and a highly-respected offensive mind, as their new head coach. They’ve also changed over a significant portion of their roster due to losses to the transfer portal — and additions of some high-level talent. As a result, the Bengals don’t know exactly what they’re preparing for over the next two weeks.

“They’re a faceless opponent,” said Rodriguez. “We don’t know who they are, we don’t know what they’re going to run — and we don’t care. That’s just kind of how it is. We’re just going to do what we do.”