Football players are cool. You really have to be physically and mentally tough to play football.

I DA H O STAT E F O OT B A L L
Highland graduate plays the waiting game
BY DAN THOMPSON dthompson@journalnet.com


POCATELLO — Nick Tranmer’s spinal injury set him back months, but competitively it was probably the best thing for his winter conditioning team.
With the sophomore center, Tranmer estimates his team won about half the team-on-team drills. Without him, linebacker J.T. Albers, safety Keith Goins Jr. and wideout Jaron Taylor dominated.
“When I got hurt they started winning because it was straight up fast people against fat dudes,” the Highland graduate joked Thursday.
Tranmer is trying to stay peppy these days. Midway through winter conditioning, he injured the L4 and L5 nerve roots along his lower spine while doing squats. The pain radiates down his legs even now, and he won’t participate in contact drills this spring.
But that doesn’t mean he’s given up on next season.
There’s a whole lot about playing center that’s mental. Tranmer appreciates that after spending two years under George Yarno’s tutelage. And though he’s not a behemoth, Tranmer and teammates are confident that the 275-pound lineman is plenty big to excel at center for Idaho State — if not this fall, then perhaps down the road.
“He’s short,” senior Evan Dietrich-Smith said of the generously listed 6-foot Tranmer. “He’s short and it’s a game of leverage. When I was in high school, we had a center like that but he did great because he was able to get under guys’ pads a lot easier.
“Tranny is tipping 5-8, 5-9 on a good day, but he can stand up and still get underneath these guys. He’s just got to apply the technique and the nastiness.”
Those are aspects of the game Tranmer learned from Yarno, the Bengals starting center the last three years, and Mike Orthmann, the team’s offensive coordinator and offensive line coach.
With any team but especially the Bengals, the center must be mentally stout. He aids the quarterback in reading defensive fronts, then relays calls to the other four linemen. He isn’t lined up one-on-one with a defender as often, Tranmer pointed out, leaving the shoving to the guards.
So, provided Tranmer makes the right call, he shouldn’t need to push around many bodies by himself.
At least that’s the idea — one perfected by Yarno.
“George was a mentor for Nick, and it’s great when you have a player like that,” coach John Zamberlin said. “Nick’s come a long way. He’s not the biggest guy out there, but he gives you everything he’s got.”
Now, though, Tranmer can’t really do that. Spinal injuries tend to linger, Dietrich-Smith said, and recovery requires patience.
He’s also competing against junior college transfers Jarret Gant and Ryan Henry, who are healthy and bigger than Tranmer.
But Tranmer’s mental prowess is there, and after shadowing Yarno for two years, he knows that bulk isn’t everything.
“It set him back that he hurt his back. It’s gonna hurt him in the long run, because those injuries aren’t easy to come back from,” Dietrich-Smith said. “But at the same time, I think Tranny’s ready to step up.”

DOUG LINDLEY/IDAHO STATE JOURNAL Idaho State’s Nick Tranmer listens as coach Mike Orthmann talks to the offensive line Thursday.