Blake Anderson, USU Football announce mental health awareness campaign
Editor’s note: This article contains content related to suicide and mental health issues. If you or someone you know struggles with mental health issues, you can contact on-campus Counseling and Psychological Services at 435.797.1012 or the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988.
LOGAN — “Mental health matters. I encourage you if you or someone you know is hurting — step up, speak out and do everything you can to help them find the resources they need. Staying silent is too costly.”
Utah State head coach Blake Anderson announced in a video message on Monday that Utah State Football is dedicating this week’s football game against UNLV to mental health awareness.
In February, Cason Anderson, one of Blake Anderson’s sons, died by suicide.
“Our lives changed forever on Feb. 28, 2022, just six months ago,” Anderson said. “When a phone call from my brother on a Monday morning told me that Cason didn’t show up for work this morning and nobody can find him.”
Cason’s family had reached out to him in the days leading up to his death. On Thursday, Blake had a conversation where they were joking and having fun. On Friday night, Cason played video games with his brother and friends and even reached out to them that he wanted to play games again the next day.
“He was always the biggest smile in the room. The biggest laugh in the room. Always the jokester, always the sarcastic prankster. That Cason was just being Cason. But somewhere in the middle of the night when everybody was gone, Cason went to a place that was so dark that he didn’t want to do it anymore. He didn’t want to be here anymore and he took his own life. And my brother had to call and tell me that we found Cason. He’s gone. He’s taken his own life.”
“Our lives forever changed that morning. A piece of me and a piece of our family is gone. It will never come back. Questions are all that were left of why didn’t I see it? How could I have helped more? What could I have done? I mean, he never let any of us know. There were no red flags. There were no warning signs. He always made sure to tell you that he was OK. If you are hurting. If you are dealing with dark thoughts. If you you are depressed. If you are dealing with grief so heavy that you don’t know what to do with it, please reach out. There are people around you that want to help you. There are people that God has put in your life that want to carry your burden. They would much rather carry your burden than carry your coffin.”
During the video, Anderson reached out to the audience and encouraged them to support the team in their effort to help those that are struggling and raise awareness.
“We’d love for you to join with us and support this cause and hopefully help those in need,” Anderson said.
In the video, Anderson also explained how he viewed mental health while growing up.
“I’m probably not that much different from most guys my age,” Anderson said. “I grew up in an era and a time where as a man you didn’t show that you were hurting. You didn’t show that you had pain or you didn’t cry. It was the get-up, dust yourself off, tape it up, get back to work kind of mentality.”
Anderson’s recent trials with mental health started when his wife Wendy Anderson was diagnosed with breast cancer. She died in 2019.
“Grief set in (for) my family in a way that we had never seen before,” Anderson said. “We didn’t really know what to do with it and so we leaned on Christ. Our faith is in him. We leaned on the people around us that God had put in our path. And honestly, kind of took the same approach that you get up, you dust off and you keep taking one step.”
After that tragedy, Anderson’s father died six months later. A year after that, his brother was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer.
The Aggies take on the Rebels on Saturday at 5 p.m. at Maverik Stadium. You can listen to the game on Aggie Radio 92.3 FM.
To hear Anderson tell his story himself, watch the video below.
#MentalHealthMatters@chbanderson 's Story 💚 pic.twitter.com/CpIJHMyF1S
— USU Football (@USUFootball) September 19, 2022
Fetaured image from 2021 game at UNLV. Photo by Bailey Rigby.