Before Idaho State football started spring drills this year, there was hope that the Bengals would return all five of the players who composed one of the best offensive lines in the country last season.

Blessed with remarkable good health, those five O-linemen played the vast majority of snaps while limiting opponents to just three quarterback sacks last season and helping Bengal runners average 5.5 yards a carry on the ground.

Heading into spring, ISU coaches were cautiously optimistic that Alex Ramirez, Jake Hellmann and Messiyah Moye would get another year of eligibility based on the same kind of appeals that resulted in a blanket extra season the NCAA granted to other former junior college transfers last year.

And even if those appeals failed, the Bengals were planning to have two of the best tackles in the Big Sky — Will Davis and Stryker Rashid — back in the fold.

Ah, the best-laid plans.

As spring turned into summer, the efforts to get extra eligibility for the three former junior college transfers continued to drag on without resolution, which finally resulted in Moye, the 5-foot-9, 285-pound fireplug affectionately known as “Cheese,” moving on. Hellmann and Ramirez are still patiently waiting for NCAA decisions, but there is no indication if or when they’ll get another season.

More discouraging is the news that Davis, the powerful 6-foot-3, 320-pound redshirt junior, suffered a torn Achilles tendon and is out for the season. Rashid, meanwhile, the 6-foot-5, 295-pound redshirt senior, is continuing to battle the knee injury that caused him to miss the last two games of last season. The preseason All-American may not be available until midseason.

“Will is out for the season and obviously that’s unfortunate for us,” said John Hughes, ISU’s offensive line coach. “I love him, he’s an unbelievable player and an unbelievable person and he’ll play football again, but it’s going to be tough.”

As to Rashid’s status, Hughes says the former Utah Tech transfer is “making progress. I’m not exactly sure when to expect him and I know he’s working his butt off every day. I’m very hopeful we’ll get him back to play.”

Under normal circumstances, all of that bad news might be enough to send an entire program into a tailspin heading into fall camp in a couple of weeks. But Hughes believes ISU has the depth and the resources to put another solid offensive line on the field when the Bengals open the season Aug. 29 against Virginia Military Institute.

“I think there is cohesion there,” Hughes said of his offensive linemen. “This summer has been really good for us to be able to move guys around and get them in different spots. Have them start to communicate with each other, playing with each other and watching film with one another, as well as working hard with one another.”

Hughes adds that Idaho State has a not-so-secret weapon that will help the Bengals continue to produce a top-quality offensive line.

“We’ve got the best strength coach in the country and the work he’s done with them over the summer is unlike anything I’ve ever seen,” Hughes said of Jeff Pitman, whose importance to the program is illustrated by his rather august title of “assistant head coach and director of football strength and conditioning and culture.”

Hughes tells all his potential offensive line recruits if they want to get better, Idaho State is the place to be, and that’s largely because of the work Pitman and his staff do in the weight room.

“We train differently than anybody in the country,” said Hughes. “Because Jeff Pitman is unbelievable. Just watching the work he’s been able to do with some of these guys as quickly as he has kind of tells the story. If you go back two years ago and look at what he did with Ty Hyde. I want to say he was 247 (pounds) when he showed up in January, and he weighed 307 at the last weigh-in, just eight months, ten months later.”

Hughes’ two prize pupils heading into this season are Messiah Johnson, 6-foot-3, 317-pound redshirt sophomore from Salinas, Calif., and Justin Frost, 6-5, 291-pound redshirt sophomore from Summerville, Ore.

Johnson saw action in four games last year, and he’s making huge progress this offseason, according to Hughes.

“He’s busted his butt, he’s had a tremendous off-season and he is making progress daily,” said Hughes. “He’s going to start, probably at tackle, left or right I couldn’t tell you right now. But I couldn’t say anything better about the person he is, the type of player he is, how hard he’s worked and how much he’s progressed since he’s been here.”

Frost, meanwhile, is getting reps at both guard and tackle — he’ll be in the starting lineup, it’s just uncertain where at this point.

“He’s somebody that has made a ton of progress, and it’s great for both of those two to start to realize the work they’ve put in and how far they’ve come,” said Hughes of Johnson and Frost. “I have some individual film from when they were both freshmen and you look at how much progress they’ve made, I’m excited for both of them.”

While Johnson and Frost will definitely fill two of the starting spots on the line, Hughes is sorting through a collection of newcomers that have been steadily filtering into the program over the past six months. Here’s a look at the candidates to step in. Height and weight are what each has been listed at when they joined the program, but as noted, most have probably gained considerable weight since:

Misiolo Maluia, 6-1, 265, transfer from West Georgia who began his career at Utah Tech. “He played for me at Utah Tech, started for me as a true freshman,” said Hughes. “He’s tough, he’s an interior player that I’ve seen personally and he’s played a lot of football, so he’s going to be in the mix.”

Ryan Karby, 6-0, 269, transfer from Saddleback College. “He’s done nothing but impressed since he’s been here,” said Hughes. “He’s one of our stronger players on the squat rack, he does awesome in runs. He’s incredibly smart. He brings leadership, intelligence and a great work ethic… We’re incredibly excited about him.”

Zoom Esplin, 6-9, 302, transfer from Weber State. “He’s played around 800 snaps in the last two years, so he’s played a lot of football,” said Hughes. “He’s all of 6-9, athletic, long, he can bend. His potential is through the roof as far as his ability to grow. I think what we do offensively suits him better than what they were asking him to do at his previous stop and I think he can really excel for us.”

Charlie Krueger, 6-2, 290, transfer from Diablo Valley College. “He’s going to play center or guard for us,” said Hughes. “He’s very athletic, very smart. I think he’s a guy that’s already fitting in very well for us. He’s assimilating very quickly.”

Anthony Perez, 6-2, 265, Long Beach City College. “He’s incredibly athletic and is making steady progress,” said Hughes. “He played tackle at junior college, but is probably projecting as more of an interior player for us. But his film from junior college is fun to watch. It’s one of the funner highlight tapes that I’ve seen in a long time recruiting. He’s a guy that we’re really excited about as well.”

Hughes has also brought in three new junior college transfers this summer: Cade Alisa, 6-5, 325, and Josh May, 6-4, 295, from Snow College; and Shane Petersdorf, an Idaho Falls native, 6-6, 285, from Butte College.

Will all of those new names and faces add up to the kind of season the Bengal offensive line enjoyed last season? That’s not Hughes’ primary concern at this point.

“Are we going to be as good as we were last year? That question is going to remain unanswered until the final whistle blows against Idaho and we figure out what the rest of our season look after that, because I know we have high aspirations,” said Hughes. “But the only goal I’m going to set for this group is to be better week 12 than we were week 1. ... There is no number in America that’s as important to me as those guys getting better. I want guys to be able to look at our film at the end of the season and compared to our film from our first game against VMI, say, ‘Man, we got better.’”