IDAHO STATE FOOTBALL

SAN DIEGO — The complexion of Idaho State's season seemed to change over the weekend, when starting quarterback Tyler Vander Waal left the team's game against San Diego State with what coaches deemed a "severe" injury.

It has most certainly changed now. Vander Waal has a broken collarbone and will miss 4-6 weeks, ISU head coach Charlie Ragle said on Monday afternoon. Sophomore Hunter Hays will take over at quarterback.

On the early end of that timetable, Vander Waal would be on track for a return on Oct. 8, when ISU visits Montana State. On the late end, Vander Waal would be looking at an Oct. 22 return, potentially in time for Idaho State's home contest against Northern Arizona.

It's the same injury, to the same shoulder, that Vander Waal injured last season. That happened in Week 3 and kept him out for the rest of the season. This injury is not nearly as damaging, per a source with direct knowledge of the situation, and he will not need surgery.

For Vander Waal, next season will be his last of eligibility, even with this latest injury, Ragle said. It will be his sixth and final.

Before Ragle made his way down to the Holt Arena offices to share the injury news with media, he met with Vander Waal, offering words of encouragement, well wishes, anything to keep his head up.

"That was really what the whole meeting was about," Ragle said. "That's my job. I'm responsible for these young men, and they are young men and they've gotta go out and make independent decisions. But as I come in and take over a program, and I sit in people's living rooms and I tell them we're gonna take care of their sons, I have an obligation that I take very seriously.

"You hurt when your kids hurt. My own kids, this football team. You care about them. We had a good heart-to-heart. There's not a lot you can say right now. I think you gotta give it some time and sort through some things. Football is unfair, but you know what? So is life. That's why I keep saying the game of football is the greatest teaching tool there is."

The play that resulted in Vander Waal's injury happened early in the first quarter of Idaho State's 38-7 loss to San Diego State on Saturday afternoon. Vander Waal dropped back and SDSU lineman Daniel Okpoko came through unblocked, flattened Vander Waal in the backfield and just like that, the Bengals lost one of the players who produced their only score of the game.

Here's Ragle's explanation of the play, and why Okpoko came unimpeded through the line: "We had a five-man protection on, and they brought six. They brought one more than we could block. Benji (Omayebu) goes in motion, and really that sixth guy is responsible to cover him, and he doesn't peel. He brings the pressure. We gotta throw that ball to Benji and get rid of it.

"Tyler was looking to his left, and should have been looking to his right. It's an unfortunate situation where that guy should have dropped, and we saw it too late, and they sacked him. Obviously hit him in a place where it broke the collarbone."

On the Bengals' second play from scrimmage, Vander Waal connected on a slant route with receiver Xavier Guillory, who outran everyone for a 75-yard touchdown pass. Moments later, he went down with the injury, and backup Hunter Hays couldn't lead the team to more scores — though the Bengals started several drives deep in their own territory and they missed two fourth-down opportunities in the red zone.

For Vander Waal, it's an unfortunate turn of events. Last season, after learning he would miss the rest of the season, he flew home to California, where he contemplated his place in college football, whether he should even return to ISU. Then, when the school hired Ragle and he put together a staff Vander Waal liked, he felt re-energized.

Throughout spring and fall camp, he battled Hays for the starting job, which he won. For Vander Waal, that amounted to a "breath of fresh air."

"I feel like a lot of confidence is back," Vander Waal said then. "Not that my confidence dwindled, but there's that doubt in the back of your mind — what if I'm not that guy? Then I was named the guy. I feel like I'm feeling the best I've ever felt mentally and physically, so my confidence is at an all-time high."

For Vander Waal, the good news is that for as similar as this injury is to last season's, this one doesn't project to end his season. The bad news is that he will be without football for a few weeks.