Crawford goes down for season
With the season-ending knee injury of junior college transfer Marcus Crawford, the Utah State football team will be looking to a young running back core to carry the load in the backfield this season.
“I would have been more concerned if it had happened two days before the season opener,” Dennehy said. “You know obviously we’re disappointed Marcus [Crawford] got hurt in the first place. He was doing a great job and all indications were he was going to be a darn good football player.”
In the short period of time during camp, Crawford had earned the attention and respect from most of his older teammates before he went down with injury.
“Unfortunately in the game of football those things happen,” Dennehy said.
Now Utah State will look for a young running back group to share the load at the tailback position. Chris Forbes, a 5-foot-11-inch freshman from Miami, Fla. and Beau Herbert, a 6-foot-3-inch freshman from Brigham City.
Players such as Peter Shields, Raymond Hicks and Rod McNeal will also find the ball in their hands more often this season.
“The way it looks to me, instead of throwing one guy to the wolves, we’ll try and get both those young kids ready to play and give them both an opportunity to play,” Dennehy said. “I think we’ll get more out of that position like that, just in terms of not wearing one guy down.”
Even though it is going to be somewhat of a running back by committee, Chris Forbes will most likely get the call to be the starting tailback at the beginning of the season.
Herbert missed a few practices in the middle of camp this summer due to a tender hamstring, but Dennehy said it looks as though he has rehabilitated well.
Dennehy said Herbert’s missed practices were a main factor in giving Forbes the starting nod.
During the Aggies’ last two scrimmages, Forbes spent the majority of the time in the backfield and had the highest average yards per run at nine rushes for 42 yards.
At the quarterback position, however, the Ags have had little, if any, controversy over who was going to be its starting quarterback.
After a good junior campaign, Travis Cox will surely be hoping to improve on his 2003 numbers. Last season Cox completed over 56 percent of his passes, averaged more than 230 yards of passing a game, and threw 18 touchdowns, compared to only seven interceptions.
There was, however, somewhat of a controversy over who would be backing Cox up in the 2004 season. Matt Crivello was the number two quarterback last season until he was sidelined with a season ending injury.
Coming off his redshirt season, Long Beach, Calif. freshman Leon Jackson III will be battling Crivello for the backup job.
“Right now, I think going in, Leon [Jackson] is, in my mind, a little bit ahead of Matt [Crivello],” Utah State Head Coach Mick Dennehy said. “I think both of them can play and I think they can both move our football team.”
The Aggies will travel to Tuscaloosa, Ala., this weekend where they will kick off their regular season against the Crimson Tide on Saturday, Sept. 4. The game is scheduled to start at 5 p.m.
-kcaustin@cc.usu.edu