MOSCOW — The Vandals donned the full pads for the first time on Saturday, as the intensity picked up with the season-opener against Sacramento State inching closer.

After four days in just helmets or shells the Vandals looked ready for contact on Saturday.

“I thought it was good, I was really excited, I think our team was excited,” Idaho coach Paul Petrino said. “Guys were flying around, you heard some good pops and some good hitting. It’s what you really want to see, there were parts of the live tackle where the offense was doing really good and parts where the defense was doing really good. It was pretty much 50/50 and that’s what you really want to see.”

Petrino and the rest of his coaching staff have been high on the defense all summer, citing its overall speed as one of the biggest improvements heading into 2017. The Vandals are fast, and they are certainly ready to hit. Senior defensive lineman Aikeem Coleman as a lot of positives from the defensive unit, but he knows there is still work to do.

“We’re getting there,” Coleman said. “We’re getting there. Everybody’s working, just trying to know the plays and stay in one gap. We’re getting there.”

The Vandals take a day off today for some much deserved rest.

“We need to come back refreshed and get after it again,” Petrino said. “Raise the bar. I just met with all our leaders, and the biggest thing we want to do now is refresh a little bit. Hydrate, get their bodies right and come back Monday and just be fired up and get better. Let’s have next week be way better than this week.”