Anderson defends Bonner after Weber State loss

LOGAN — After a tough USU Football loss to Weber State, fans in the stadium and on social media were quick to blame starting quarterback Logan Bonner. So much so that fans booed his return to the field in the third quarter and let out one of the loudest cheers of the night when Cooper Legas replaced Bonner at QB. 

To be fair, Bonner did struggle. He finished with 120 yards and three interceptions on 31 pass attempts. His longest completed pass went for just 19 yards. 

But at the same time, mistakes came from all over the USU team as head coach Blake Anderson pointed out after the game. 

“There’s plenty of blame on that sideline to go around, not just one guy,” Anderson said. 

Anderson defended his starting quarterback with tenacity and conviction in the postgame press conference.

“That’s the same quarterback that won the Mountain West Conference Championship last year. The first one ever at this university. He’s coming off a knee injury in less than nine months and he’s not the only person to make mistakes,” Anderson said. 

He continued by rebuking the Aggie crowd that turned on Bonner. 

“It’s just really easy to sit in the stands and boo,” Anderson said. “They can be mad at me and hey, we didn’t get it done. We didn’t win. But there’s plenty of blame on that sideline to go around, not just one guy. And he did help us win the conference title last year and it ain’t been that long ago. I wish people would remember that.”

Anderson said a lot of the crowd “showed their true colors” when they turned on Bonner. He was also very clear that he won’t “be swayed by people in the crowd” that wanted Legas to take over much earlier. 

Anderson said he loves Legas to death but noted that he had a chance to become the starter in the offseason and lost the battle to Bonner. 

“I want nothing better than Cooper Legas to have a great career here when his time has come,” Anderson said. “He’s a great number two and he’s going to be a really good number one, but right now Logan Bonner is the starting quarterback.”

Anderson finished by saying Bonner “deserves that opportunity” to be a starter and “he also deserves respect.”

Anderson, Bonner and the rest of the Aggies will have a bye week to sort things out before they take on UNLV in their conference opener.

Featured image from the 2021 UNLV game.