‘Just really believed’: Patience pays off for longtime Vandal as Idaho eyes FCS playoffs
Twenty games into the Jason Eck era, the University of Idaho football program is on the rise.
The team has sold out the Kibbie Dome its past two home games, one of which was televised on ESPN, and climbed to No. 3 in the FCS Top 25 Poll.
The Vandals, who made the FCS playoffs last year, have beaten three ranked teams this season and sit in a tie for first place in the Big Sky standings alongside Montana and Montana State. They lost a two-point thriller to the Grizzlies two weeks ago and rebounded with a three-point win over the Bobcats last Saturday.
Football fever is back in Moscow.
And that’s exactly why fifth-year senior running back Nick Romano, a former Rocky Mountain High star, stayed at the school when Eck was named the Vandals’ head coach in December of 2021.
“I just really believed in what Eck and his staff were saying. I believed that they really did have a vision for the program and that they could turn it around,” Romano told the Idaho Statesman in a phone interview. “Obviously, the first year they held up to that, got it done and got us to the playoffs for the first time in what feels like forever. And then we’re on pace to do it again this year.”
With three games remaining in the regular season, the Vandals are squarely in the hunt for their first conference title since winning the Big West in 1998. Idaho (6-2, 4-1) is on the road at winless Northern Colorado (0-8, 0-5) this week. Kickoff is 1 p.m. Mountain time Saturday at Nottingham Field in Greeley, Colorado. The game will be televised on ESPN+.
Idaho’s remaining Big Sky games are at Weber State (3-5, 1-4) on Nov. 11 and at home against Idaho State (3-5, 3-2) on Nov. 18. Meanwhile, No. 4 Montana and No. 6 Montana State must still play each other on Nov. 18, and the Grizzlies face another ranked Big Sky team, No. 7 Sacramento State, this week.
“We really try to stay in the present. I mean, if we were to win a Big Sky title, that would be three weeks away,” Romano said. “We just try to take it week by week and focus on the opponent at hand.”
For Romano, a 2019 Rocky Mountain graduate, staying the course with the Vandals has been a lesson in patience — one that’s finally paying off.
The 2018 5A All-Idaho Player of the Year led Rocky to a state title his senior year, rushing for 2,211 yards and 32 touchdowns. He arrived at Idaho and made an immediate impact, earning HERO Sports Freshman All-America Honorable Mention as a kick returner while playing in 11 of the Vandals’ games in 2019, including five starts. He amassed 498 yards and two touchdowns on 97 carries — an average of 5.1 yards per touch — and added 15 catches for 164 yards and two more scores. As a returner, he totaled 545 yards and one TD.
But after the COVID-19 pandemic forced the 2020 season into a shortened 2021 spring campaign, Romano’s role gradually began to diminish. He played in eight games in the fall of 2021, getting just eight carries for 46 yards, and he missed the first four games of 2022 with a wrist injury, seeing kick return duties handed over to receiver Jermaine Jackson.
“When you come in as a true freshman and you’re seeing some playing time and then it kind of dwindles down, I mean, it takes a toll on you mentally,” Romano said. “But you’ve just gotta stay and trust the process.
“Going through it all, I was just kind of taking the opportunity to develop my mental game more, learn a lot more about our offense, other teams’ defenses, and just kind of going through attacking it that way and making myself better that way.”
Romano’s commitment to the program has been rewarded this season. He’s played in all eight games and has 366 yards and two touchdowns on 66 carries, plus seven receptions for 122 yards and another score. He recorded his first 100-yard game since his freshman year in a win over Eastern Washington on Sept. 30, rushing for 129 yards on 18 attempts.
But it’s the team success that’s made returning for his extra season of eligibility, granted to players because of the pandemic, truly worth it.
“The success that we had in this program was kind of a big influence on me to want to come back and play my COVID year,” Romano said. “By doing that, I’ve been playing with some of these guys for five years now, and I just didn’t want it to end.”
This story was originally published November 2, 2023 at 4:00 AM.
