COLUMN: Which players will have breakout seasons for USU football?

Are you an Aggie fan trying to get yourself hyped for the upcoming football season? Are you nervous about who is going to fill in for one of your favorite players that graduated last season? Or maybe you’re like me, and you’re just looking for any possible football fix to pass these final days ‘til football season starts. Regardless, I’ve got you covered. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you – this year’s USU football: breakout players watch list:

Darwin Thompson – Junior running back

Ever since I first watched his highlight video following his commitment to Utah State, I’ve been the self-proclaimed conductor of the Darwin Thompson hype train. For those of you who don’t know his name yet, you may recognize him as the dude built like a tree trunk who was front squatting the equivalent of two-and-a-half averaged sized adult men in a recent Twitter video. Thompson played his junior college ball at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M, where he LED THE NATION with 1,619 all-purpose yards, was second in the nation with 1,391 rushing yards, and averaged 7.5 yards per carry. Think about just how impressive that is for a second. This dude went from an average high school player who didn’t receive a single scholarship offer from any school at any level, to a JuCo All-American in just two years. The Aggies landed a special talent with this guy, and there is still plenty of room aboard the D-Train hype train.

Savon Scarver – Sophomore Wide Receiver

I’ll go ahead and admit it, this pick might be a year early. This year’s receiving corps is pretty ridiculous, and the depth at wide receiver has been one of the worst-kept secrets of fall camp. With eight of last year’s top 11 pass catchers coming back, and newcomers like USC grad-transfer Jalen Greene, JuCo product Devin Heckstall, and multiple very capable freshmen joining the squad, targets are going to be hard to come by. However, I still think Scarver could have a great season. Last season after the quarterback switch from Meyers to Love, Scarver’s yards per game jumped from 14 to 26. That’s nothing too dramatic, but it’s clear that Scarver’s beeline speed compliments Love’s deep ball. While defenses might at times assign their number one and two coverage guys to Tarver and Greene, that may leave some big play opportunities for Scarver. Not to mention, he’s pretty dang good at returning kicks, too.

Alfred Edwards – Freshman Left Tackle

You would think that a team which returns every starting offensive lineman (plus two more who rotated in frequently) from last season would have a depth chart at that position which is pretty set in stone. But Alfred Edwards has different plans. The 6’7, 310-pound behemoth of a freshman has taken the competition up front to another level, and Aggie fans should go ahead and get to know him now. It’s hard to say whether he’ll start or not, since he’s competing with Roman Andrus, a more than capable senior who had a fantastic junior year. However, he had plenty of opportunities to run with the starters during fall camp and looked every bit as comfortable as the veterans around him. There’s a reason he was named the scout team offensive MVP during his redshirt season last year. I expect we’ll see plenty of Alfred on the field this fall, and that he’ll have a very nice career with the Aggies.

DJ Williams – Junior Cornerback

This is one guy who I really don’t feel like Aggie fans have started to appreciate yet, but soon will. One of the big questions following last season, and definitely one of my biggest concerns, was how on earth USU could replace two NFL-calibur guys in the defensive backfield. DJ Williams is part of that answer. With Ja’Marcus Ingram moving over to play Safety this season, the Aggies really needed someone to step up in camp, and Williams climbed the depth chart like a ladder. After spending his freshman season at Chattanooga (go Mocs!) he transferred to Independence CC last season where he earned NJCAA first-team All-American honors. While there are still a lot of questions to be answered in the Aggie defensive secondary, I feel like Williams is going to have a very nice season and bring some much-needed stability to the cornerback spot.

David Woodward – Sophomore Linebacker

This one might be cheating, because I feel like he started to break out toward the end of last season, and I simply feel like he will continue to do so. But my column, my rules, and I say it goes. I really like what I saw from David Woodward last season. It felt like every time he was on the field, whether he was the guy making a tackle or not, he was making some sort of an impact on the play and doing exactly what he was asked to do. Woodward had an absolute monster game against Air Force in his only start of the season, leading the team with 13 total tackles, five solo and a tackle for loss. Now, with Suli Tamaivena and Kevin Meitzenheimer out for at least the first few weeks of the season I expect Woodward to step up big time and earn some serious attention and possibly more playing time down the road.

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Twitter: @jadenjohnson00