A new breed of Aggies
Speed is the name of the game on the front lines of head coach Gary Andersen’s new system. As the Aggies wind down spring ball and gear up for the 2009 season, they’re looking forward to showing the USU faithful a new kind of machine.
“We’re beasting everybody,” said senior Alan Bishop. “We’re knocking back O-linemen and making plays with our speed, and I think everyone is going to be impressed.”
A big key to getting the most speed on the field at one time has been a shuffling of players into different positions by the new coaching staff. Former defensive ends have moved inside to defensive tackle, former linebackers have moved down to the end position and former safetys have moved to linebacker.
“Speed is huge and the main thing they’ve done to have our speed on the field is getting people in the right positions,” said junior Nathan Royster, one of the recent changelings. Royster has moved to the inside this season after playing on the end.
“It’s a huge mentality change,” he said. “You have to go from being a finesse player to being a more aggressive, pound the ball and get off the block player. It’s a whole different world.”
Along with getting players in the right position, new defensive line coach Chad Kauha’aha’a said his group has been held to a tough regiment of working out and a disciplined weight program.
“What we did in the off-season through winter conditioning was get the guys in shape and get them on a weight program,” Kauha’aha’a said. “Every week we have a goal they had to meet and if they didn’t, they had to do extra running, lifting, whatever to get that weight down.”
Both Kauha’aha’a and Andersen said the defense has taken a while to get used to their new positions and the new schemes being introduced, but that Tuesday’s practice was the best yet.
“This was the best step forward we’ve seen from the defense as far as flying to the football, playing with pad level and playing with emotion,” Andersen said. “The defensive line was a big part of that because they were able, for really the first time, to get underneath the pads of the offensive line and actually get the line of scrimmage moving in a positive direction if you’re on the defensive side of the football.”
Bishop talked about how everything the new staff has brought with them has helped the defensive front get better and better.
“The strength coach has been working with us real hard since they got here to improve our speed and athleticism,” he said. “We practice at a lot higher tempo, every drill we do with Coach K is real high tempo and everything is real technique so we’re not wasting any movement.”
As well as gelling as a unit on the field, the defensive line spends some time bonding off the field. Much like the offensive line, their defensive counterparts have been know to frequent buffets – including a new favorite, Pounders.
“We hit some barbecues, we get together and eat a lot, if you take us down to Pounders,” said Bishop, who’s favorite dish consists of beef and pork. “We go there every day after practice and I think the defensive line is winning so far on that one.”
This combination of weight, speed and camaraderie has the potential to produce one of the best defensive fronts in recent memory by the time August rolls around.
“The speed on the front is pretty ridiculous to me,” Royster said.
Despite the positives he’s seen in practice, Andersen knows the Aggies front four will have to continue to work hard up to and throughout the season.
“We’ve made strides, but we’ve still got a lot of work to do,” he said. “We’re going to be undersized, we’re not real big and we’re not real strong so we have to rely on not letting people know where we are all the time.”
If Bishop, Royster and the boys keep battling the offensive line for buffet supremacy, Andersen just might not have to worry about that anymore.
–t.olsen@aggiemail.usu.edu