Keeton, Fackrell discuss recovery, expectations for upcoming football season
With Aggie football’s fall camp just around the corner, several storylines have emerged during the offseason. In last week’s media frenzy in Las Vegas, USU starting quarterback Chuckie Keeton and Preseason Defensive Player of the Year Kyler Fackrell discussed everything from injury rehab to potential impact players — here are a few of the highlights.
Keeton set for final chapter
The carousel of starting quarterbacks may finally be over for USU, as Keeton looks and feels ready to return to form after two years on the sidelines with knee injuries.
“Going into last year I’d say the toughest part was probably physically,” Keeton said of his initial ailment, an ACL tear suffered against BYU. “At the time I’d had a lot done to my knee, so my strength building was a little bit slower. I just got into squatting my second year out.”
With his strength back to what he describes as pre-injury levels, one-time Heisman candidate Keeton explains why he may have saved the best for last in his final year of eligibility.
“Everyone always says the game slows down the more you’re around it,” Keeton said. “I don’t think the game was happening particularly fast last year, I think my mind was moving a little bit faster than it needed to. I think me being involved in this last spring and actually getting every rep in every single practice is going to help me. I feel ready.”
Keeton has already gained high expectations for the coming season, earning preseason all-conference honors despite playing just three games in 2014. The dynamic starter says he’s felt 100 percent healthy since February, and feels compelled to live up to the preseason ranking.
New faces looking to make a splash
If last year’s standout receiver Hunter Sharp proved anything, it’s that every roster has a gem or two waiting to make a surprising impact on the team. Keeton discussed a few players who could step into that role this fall, starting with junior college transfer Devante Mays.
“First of all, he’s one of the strongest kids I’ve been around in a long time,” Keeton said. “Whenever that happens you have to find a spot for him. He really kind of keeps to himself. He brings a lot of strength, and with that he’s fast and he’s kind of underrated. Right now it’s all about getting him to learn the entire playbook and knowing what to do in certain situations. More than anything we’ve been trying to test his mind more than his body. As soon as he gets that aspect of it, it’s going to be a done deal for him.”
Keeton also cited junior tight end Wyatt Houston as an underrated threat.
“He’s played a little bit in the past two years but he’s been kind of been an under-utilized weapon,” Keeton said. “Depending on the play-call, I think he can give us a very good opportunity to move the ball down the field.”
Fackrell back in action
USU star linebacker Kyler Fackrell earned the Mountain West Preseason Defensive Player of the Year Award, despite playing in just one game last year before falling to an ACL injury.
“I’m very honored,” Fackrell said. “There are a lot of great players on my own team and a lot of great players on other teams, and so I’m very honored and very excited to live up to that award.”
Fackrell rejoins an experienced linebacking corps that terrorized the Mountain West in 2014-15, ranked as the conference’s best rushing defense and the NCAA’s No. 12 scoring defense. He’ll be joined by returning linebackers Nick Vigil, LT Filiaga and Torrey Green.
USU concerned with championships, not rivalries
Boise State has earned a great deal of preseason praise, and for good reason. The Broncos have long been the class of the Mountain West, and any team looking for a conference championship will have to go through BSU to claim it.
Utah State’s trip to Boise last fall was a disastrous affair. The Aggies’ typically suffocating run defense allowed NFL-bound Jay Ajayi to run wild, rushing for five touchdowns en route to a 50-19 clobbering and a berth in the Mountain West championship game.
Despite the recent history, both Keeton and Fackrell don’t feel the need to pick a fight with any of their conference foes.
“Same as any other game,” Fackrell said of USU’s matchup with Boise. “They’re obviously good, they’re very good at preparing. It’s on us to know the ins and outs of the game plan.”
Keeton added that veterans of the team were no strangers to high-pressure games.
“We’ve been in one of the biggest games we’ve ever played in against Louisiana Tech for a championship,” Keeton said. “They had one of the best quarterbacks — he never turned the ball over — and they had one of the best receivers, and we found a way to pick them off, and we found a way to score against their defense and come away with an overtime win.”
Though many Aggie fans have made a habit of sizing up different teams in the Mountain West as potential rivals, Keeton provided a simpler method of determining conference foes.
“They can pick us,” Keeton said. “They can pick us as a rival.”