‘Life lessons’ have come from walking on for Lesue
UTAH STATESMAN: Who’s your favorite running back, either past or present?
LESUE: My favorite running back would be Barry Sanders. Definitely Barry Sanders. He’s a good runner. I wish he would have stayed in the league for a couple years longer.
US: Who do you pattern your game after?
LESUE: That’s interesting, since I was a receiver but now I’m running back. To be honest, Terrell Davis is a running back that really read his reads real well and exploded through the hole. And I think he ran really strong, and I like to be a lot like Terrell Davis.
US: What are your strengths as a back?
LESUE: Definitely making the reads. I trust my linemen. And laterally, side-to-side quickness, and being able to explode through the hole.
US: Weaknesses?
LESUE: My weakness has always been – even though I consider myself a pretty strong guy for my size and a fast guy – I would say when I get out in the field and open it up, just not getting shoestring tackled.
US: What lessons did you learn from being a walk-on?
LESUE: Life lessons. I learned a lot of them. It was a humbling experience. I learned to do what I was told. I learned how to be part of team, not just to be an individual. I learned to do whatever the team needs first. And that’s how I got where I am now.
US: How important is versatility to your game?
LESUE: It’s everything. It means everything, especially with my size and speed. Being able to go out of the backfield and catch the ball can spread the defense out a lot. It also helps avoiding big hits.
US: Who’s the hardest hitter on the Aggie defense?
LESUE: Can there be more than one? To be honest, there’s too many to list one. There really is. We have a defense that flies around and a lot of people that can hit, and hit hard. I would have to say that one of the very first times in the spring, it was probably one of the first times I ran the ball in the spring, Devon Hall smacked me and gave me a pretty good stinger down the right side of my arm.
US: What’s the perfect Aaron Lesue performance?
LESUE: The obvious answer would be to win, no matter what the stats are. I’d like to have that game where you have the all-around game – rushing, receiving and returning kicks. Since I’m on the kickoff return team, I think to break the USU all-purpose yards record would be a really nice night for me.
US: How many people mispronounce your last name?
LESUE: Everyone, literally. I’ve never had one person on the first try get it right. I used to move high schools a lot, but I was at a high school for almost a whole year and they were still announcing me over the thing, le-sue. (It’s pronounced leh-sway).
US: What’s the best part of college football for you?
LESUE: There’s a few things. One is the faces of the fans and my family and the people that are there to cheer you on. It’s very motivating. Even more than that, I love what we do as a team. When you work as hard as you do and you go out together as a team, you’ve put in the time and effort and then to go out and accomplish something, it’s just that sense of accomplishment. There’s not a lot of people who do what my teammates do, and do what I do.
US: What position would you want to try for a day?
LESUE: Linebacker. I’ve always wanted to be a bigger guy and play linebacker. I played defense a little, I played safety. I was never the big guy to play linebacker. I’d love to do that.
US: If you could play any other sport at the Division I level, what would it be?
LESUE: I was a big-time basketball player, but I was just too short, way too short. It wasn’t working out for me with basketball. I would almost call it my first love, as far as sports. But then when I stopped growing and everyone else kept growing, I just kind of realized.
-da.bake@aggiemail.usu.edu