Aggies prep for T-birds
Utah State is set to begin the season tonight in Maverick Stadium against the Southern Utah University Thunderbirds.
“It’s going to be exciting to watch our guys come together,” said USU head coach Matt Wells. “On offense, you have to play as one and that’s how you defeat a bunch of individuals on defense. You have to play as one, whether you’re playing Southern Utah, next week’s opponent or a Mountain West game, it doesn’t matter.”
Last season, SUU was 3-9 while playing at the FCS level but Utah State coaches don’t want to overlook the Thunderbirds.
“I’ve been told there have been 40 wins in the last four years of FCS beating FBS teams,” Wells said. “Out of those 40 wins, Southern Utah has two of them. That tells you right there that they’ll show up and play. It always happens early in the year, usually the first couple of weeks, and there’s no question we’ll have to be ready.”
The Aggies come into the season after finishing 2014 with a 10-4 record and a win in the New Mexico Bowl. Top returners for USU are senior quarterback Chuckie Keeton and junior linebacker Nick Vigil.
“Football is back,” Keeton said. “It was a fun camp, but I’m glad everything is over with and now I can get back into the thought process of going against an opponent versus just going against our defense. Throughout the entire camp, guys were stepping up, guys were working as hard as they could, and we’re in a place we want to be.”
Although Keeton is back, the Aggies will be without their top wide receiver, Hunter Sharp, and one of the best offensive lineman, Tyshon Mosely. Both players are suspended for the first two games of the season. Ben Wysocki, a transfer from UCLA, is expected to start in Mosely’s place.
On defense, Utah State lost starting nose guard Travis Seefeldt for the season when he was injured in a car accident. David Moala will take his spot. The defensive line also graduated B.J. Larsen after last season.
“The defensive line was probably the most impressive this fall camp,” Vigil said. “Ricky Ali’ifua, David Moala, Jordan Nielsen and young guys like Gasetoto Schuster. After the car accident, and with all the guys we lost, they did the best job of stepping up and having a really good fall camp.”
Coach Wells said he has a lot of respect for SUU and knows it will be ready for the game. He said the key to a USU win rests with the defense.
“Defensively, we’re going to have to get pressure on the quarterback and there’s no question about that,” Wells said. “You’ve got to disrupt timing and you’ve got to disrupt lanes … Everything that our defense is always predicated on is stopping the run. Those are the keys to the game to me … I know the students are excited, so it will be fun to get them all riled up and loud in Maverik Stadium on Thursday night.”
— kalen.s.taylor@aggiemail.usu.edu
Twitter: @kalen_taylor