POCATELLO — James Madison remembers it vividly.

As a wide-eyed and eager freshman in 2014, Madison watched his teammates glide around at practice — Justin Arias hitting Madison Mangum for touchdown after touchdown as Idaho State’s offense sprinted up and down the field.

Madison hadn’t seen his new team in action on game day, but already knew the upcoming season would be special.

“You could just tell by the tempo, everything at practice, everything just looked so great,” Madison, ISU’s fifth-year senior all-conference running back, said Thursday after the Bengals’ second day of fall camp at the ICCU Practice Field. “They would come around and say how bad they used to be. … I really didn’t believe it.”

Present day, Madison is one of a handful of holdovers from that 2014 team, the one that went 8-4 and temporarily resurrected ISU’s basement-dwelling football program, the one that temporarily revived Mike Kramer’s career, the one that temporarily put the Bengals on the cusp of the national spotlight.

Arias, ISU’s then-second-year starting quarterback, was one of the top passers in the FCS. He leaned on Mangum and running back Xavier Finney — two of the best in the Big Sky Conference at their position — and a steadfast offensive line as the Bengals finished the year with the No. 2 offense in the FCS.

Arias was a finalist for the Walter Payton Award, given annually to the top offensive player in the FCS, and ISU narrowly missed a berth in the FCS playoffs. The Bengals set 11 team and individual single-season records and were a refreshing surprise after suffering through 10 consecutive losing seasons, including four one-win campaigns.

“Some one-win seasons to some 77-7 blowouts, all type of stuff,” said ISU tight ends coach Aaron Prier, who was a senior wide receiver in 2014. “It was good to see us come together for 2014, and it was a long time coming.”

Prier is the only member of the 2018 roster or coaching staff who played in 2014. Madison, offensive lineman Brian Fineanganofo, cornerback Anthony Ricks, linebacker Joe Martin and quarterback Tanner Gueller all redshirted as first-year players. Prier suffered a season-ending leg injury in game five of that season — a 56-53 loss to Vernon Adams, Cooper Kupp and Eastern Washington.

In the three seasons since, ISU has reverted to its pre-2014 identity. The eight-win campaign was followed by consecutive 2-9 seasons in 2015 and 2016. Blowout losses coincided with coaching turnover — some jumped off what they could see was a sinking ship. The program’s dysfunction came to a head in the spring of 2017, when Kramer retired to avoid termination and a flurry of last-minute coaching changes put the team in an early hole months before the season began.

As quickly as Idaho State ascended toward stardom, it plummeted back to its norm.

“We never clicked again like that,” Madison said. “The next year (2015), we were actually supposed to be good again. We had everybody back except the quarterback and a couple linemen. We never solved that puzzle at the end of the day.”

“We lost a couple guys that were great leaders on that 2014 team,” Fineanganofo added. “Whatever the circumstances were, they were able to lead us out, show examples to the little guys. That team was just united all together.”

As the Bengals gear up for year two under head coach Rob Phenicie — Kramer’s successor who was thrust into the position after leaving ISU for a job at Northern Iowa days earlier — Madison and Prier see similarities between the 2014 team and 2018’s.

Around 70 players stayed in Pocatello to train this summer, despite no reservoir of scholarship money. The offense returns two all-conference running backs, two all-conference wide receivers and Fineanganofo as its two-time all-conference left tackle. Gueller, like Arias, is a fifth-year senior signal caller surrounded by capable playmakers and a veteran O-line.

“At the time, nobody really came during the summers as much, but we had a good turnout offensively and defensively during the summer (in 2014),” Prier said. “That kind of carried over to the season. We were all on the same page with everything, the camaraderie, everything was clicking for us a lot like how it is right now.

“This is the highest attendance we had this summer since I’ve been here, since 2011,” Prier continued. “So I’m hoping that can translate over, just like ‘14 — hopefully better.”

Madison says that though he didn’t play a down in 2014, being part of a winning team helped him understand the process. His breakout season helped ISU go 4-7 last year — a two-win improvement and, in terms of moral victories, a step in the right direction as Phenicie rebuilds the program.

Madison, Ricks, Fineanganofo, Gueller, Martin — the last remainders from 2014 — are alone in a unique class of Bengals. They’ve watched a group of seniors lead a team to unexpected highs: “That’s what we’re trying to establish as seniors this year, too,” Ricks said. They’ve also played through unforgettable losses and ever-withering expectations: “I thought after that, we were going to be good the next five years,” Madison said.

Some believe ISU was robbed of success in 2014, that 8-4 was good enough for an at-large playoff berth, that a couple bad breaks took away a conference championship. The lingering what-could-have-been laments brought Prier back to the program after his playing career was cut a half-season short.

“That was part of my motivation to coming back,” Prier said. “I still feel like we should be Big Sky champs, and I want to do that before I leave here.”

“That’s the goal,” Madison said. “That’s the expectation.”

CHENEY, FOX, O-LINEMEN LEAVE PROGRAM

Four Idaho State football players have left the program, a school spokesman said.

In addition to defensive end Chance Salutregui, who medically retired this spring, punter Sean Cheney, defensive back Atoa Fox and offensive linemen Kelton Simons and Tristan Cano are no longer with the program.

Of the five, Salutregui is the biggest loss. He was one of ISU’s best pass rushers with 12 tackles for loss and six sacks in 23 career games. His 4.5 sacks as a redshirt freshman in 2016 tied for a team high.

Cheney averaged 40.9 yards per punt last season, with 12 traveling at least 50 yards and 17 landing inside the opponents’ 20-yard line. He also connected on all three extra-point tries and booted 11 kickoffs. He averaged 41.4 yards per punt over 26 games spanning three seasons.

Fox had 25 tackles, one fumble recovery and one blocked kick in 11 games last season as a redshirt freshman. He also returned one punt for 21 yards.

Simons and Cano logged one career appearance each.

Several players also left the program after the end of last season: defensive back Tucker Louie-McGee, defensive lineman/linebacker Tate Razor, quarterback Anthony Posada, offensive lineman Chris Miedema, running back Lonell Woodhouse, defensive lineman Clark Jeppesen, tight end Nate Page, wide receiver Taylor Pearson, quarterback Robert Kvinsland and defensive back Brandon Monroe.

ISU’s fall camp continues Friday at 8:30 a.m. on the ICCU Practice Field outside Holt Arena.