Of the 20 players listed on Paul Petrino’s first recruiting class at Idaho in February 2013, four are seniors who didn’t redshirt, and who will play their final game in the Kibbie Dome on Saturday when the Vandals (7-4, 5-2 Sun Belt) play host to Georgia State (3-8, 2-5) in Idaho’s regular-season finale.

Eight are fourth-year juniors who redshirted along the way. Two are sophomores. Two were junior college transfers, and four others are no longer with the program.

So all told, 14 out of a possible 18 are still in the program. Not a bad retention percentage for Petrino, in his fourth season as Vandals coach.

“That very first recruiting class is always kind of crazy, but me and my brother (Bobby, the Louisville head coach) have talked about it — a lot of times that ends up being your best class because you don’t overanalyze people,” Petrino said. “You watch them on tape, you believe what you see, you go meet them, and you really just sell them on what the new style’s going to be, what the new system’s going to be, and a lot of times that helps you get some kids, because they just think new.”

The four “true” seniors are tight end Trent Cowan, punter/kicker Austin Rehkow, and defensive linemen Tueni Lupeamanu and Kevin Shelton (back then, Lupeamanu was recruited as an “athlete”, Shelton as a linebacker, and Cowan as a receiver/punter.

The eight juniors who came in with Petrino’s initial class include quarterback Matt Linehan, safety Desmond Banks, defensive linemen Zach Cable and Will Schmidt, defensive back Jordan Grabski, cornerback Armond Hawkins, and receivers Reuben Mwehla and Jacob Sannon.

Of the two sophomores, linebacker Tony Lashley grayshirted in 2013, and played just three games in 2015 before sustaining a season-ending injury; and running back Isaiah Saunders also grayshirted in 2013, and redshirted in 2014.

“When you look back on it, it was a very good recruiting class,” Petrino said. “You got guys that wanted to be part of turning something around ... some we got because their dads played here. We’ve been through a lot, and it’s a pretty special class.”

Many of this year’s seniors, including receiver Deon Watson, the former Coeur d’Alene High star, cornerback Jayshawn Jordan and safety Russell Siavii, were brought in by the previous coaching staff, and redshirted the year before Petrino arrived, and played as redshirt freshmen his first year in Moscow.

Either way, bonds have been built, especially through the struggles of the first two seasons of 1-11 and 1-10, before the improvement to 4-8 last season.

Petrino said he’s going to try to get all his emotion over senior day out on Friday night, when the team has its night-before-the-game team meeting.

Good luck with that.

“I am half-Irish and half-Italian, so emotions are hard sometimes for me,” Petrino said. “We’ll try to get that out (Friday night), and then focus on the game.”

And then Sunday, they’ll be rewarded for sticking it out by learning the destination for Idaho’s first bowl game since 2009.

“We’ve been through it together,” Petrino said. “We’ve been through the tough times together, we’ve been through the things we’ve had to fight through. And none of us have given up, and we’ve all kept fighting. We’ve all done it together, and when you do things like that with people, you build a special bond that really will never be broken. I think that group, this team, we’ll all stay close forever.”