Spring practice almost over for Aggies
Spring practice wraps up Monday for the Utah State football team.
“With a new coach coming in it’s going to take a minute for it to grow,” quarterback Leon Jackson said. “We felt we did a great job of starting it off, coming in and getting a new system after having down the old system.”
Head Coach Brent Guy said the defense looked the most solid but that was only because of the many injuries that ravaged the offensive line and running backs during the spring.
At the end of the last Aggie scrimmage there weren’t any scholarship running backs playing. Since then Offensive Coordinator Mike Santiago has tried Ryan Bohm at tailback along with some walk ons.
Chris Forbes, who came on toward the end of last year, returned to contact drills last week so the Aggies won’t finish spring without a running back they expect to play next season.
All of the injuries have put a lot up in the air, but that hasn’t worried Guy as much since he came in with a lot of patience regarding decision making.
“We haven’t established all positions,” Guy said. “Don’t plan to, won’t name starters at a lot of positions. We still have Monday and then 29 more practices in August. We’ve got plenty of time with the new staff to not make drastic decisions right now. We’ve got time to work on some of those positions.”
The one thing that has gone as planned is the conversion from a 3-4 defense to a 4-3. Guy said it would be an “asset to the personnel.”
Guy, who was defensive coordinator at Arizona State last year, might be a good coach because he keeps things simple on the defensive end.
“The defense is easier than what we were used to,” cornerback Andre Bala said. “It’s get it, go out on the field and apply it and be a football player.”
It just might be something that will help the team focus on its opponents and what they will need to get done this season as they’ll face three high powered offenses in Boise State, Hawaii and Fresno State.
“We know what we’re going up against,” Bala said. “They’re two or three of the best teams in the nation in my opinion, we’ve got to play hard and be on top of our game and we can’t make it easy for them. We know what they do so we just need to keep practicing hard and keep working hard.”
As for the offense, it has struggled with the injuries, especially on the offensive line and in the running back corps, Guy said.
With almost all the receivers returning from last year Jackson said that position isn’t as much of a worry and, he said, they are doing a wonderful job.
“We have a lot of guys stepping up on the offensive line,” Jackson said. “As a QB, you can’t do anything without those big boys up front. It’s great to have wideouts like [we do] but without those big guys up front we can’t get the ball to them.”
Guy said the Ags haven’t established the running game like he wanted to but they’re still going to try.
They’ll either do it with the tailbacks at the line of scrimmage or get it to the wideouts on screens, he said.
But, as Guy emphasized, there is still plenty of time and what there is now could be very different come the home opener against McNicholls State.
-krn@cc.usu.edu
Aggie football players compete in drills Fridayin Romney Stadium. (Photo by John Zsiray)