Aggies compete in first spring scrimmage
Hunter Sharp led the offense and the defense provided a team effort in the Aggies first spring football scrimmage.
“There’s a lot of stuff we’ve got to clean up,” said senior quarterback Chuckie Keeton, who is preparing for his final season at Utah State. “We weren’t really on the same page at the beginning of the scrimmage, but things started to click at the end.”
The scrimmage lasted nearly to two hours and totaled close to 100 plays.
“It’s fun to get out in good weather,” said head coach Matt Wells. “I thought there was really good competition early, a lot of good give and take.”
Sharp had four catches for 133 yards and scored two touchdowns.
“There’s some stuff we can work on, but as a whole we did good,” Sharp said. “It’s a big confidence booster coming off my first spring ball. It’s a good way to start it. I can’t wait for the future, me and Chuckie Keeton.”
His second touchdown was as 42-yard strike thrown by Keeton on the last play of a two-minute drill.
“I’m the winner today,” Wells said. “Head coach walks off in the spring as a winner. From an offensive standpoint, that’s a timing route. A smooth dropback by Chuckie and good protection by the O-line, good execution by Hunter Sharp. On the other end those are mistakes that happened on defense. They’ll learn from that.”
Oregon transfer Damion Hobbs played quarterback with the second team, and DJ Nelson played with the third. Darrell Garretson missed the practice due to personal reasons, and Kent Myers is playing wide receiver for the Aggies.
Wells said it was Myers’ idea and he will continue playing there through the spring. The staff will evaluate his position over the summer.
Besides the big plays on offense, the defense was the winner on the day. There was a safety recorded as well as seven sacks and 12 tackles for loss by 12 different players.
“It’s a starting point for us,” said Devin Centers, a junior free safety and one of the few returning players in the defensive secondary. “We know where we need to get better. A lot of people are getting opportunities. We all need to step up and be better next time.”
The defense seemed to focus on shutting down the inside run game, holding the offense to 100 rush yards on 44 attempts. Senior Rashad Hall led all rushers with 34 yards on seven carries.
“I thought we ran the ball pretty good on the perimeter,” Wells said. “We’ve got to work on the tackle-to-tackle game. On the D-line I thought that David Moala and Ricky Ali’fua showed up early, and I flat out thought they all got tired at the end. Good and bad in everything.”
Centers said on defense they never want to give up any explosive plays.
“I didn’t really like the way we played,” Centers said. “That’s on me, being the returning guy. I need to get my guys together. I need to get them together, get in the film room, make corrections and be better next time.”
Wells agreed with Centers and said that the defense can’t give up big plays in end-of-game situations.
“In the two-minute drill, a plus for one team and a negative for the other,” Wells said. “That was a learning situation for the first-team defense. You can’t ever get beat that way.”
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Twitter: @kalen_taylor