Fall camp quotes and takeaways: Day 1
Head Coach Matt Wells:
On how the first practice of the season looked: “It was good, good energy and good attention to detail I thought for the first day which is what I expected. I didn’t think we took the field very good at the end of practice for the last ten minutes of the drill but we’ll get that fixed. There’s a lot of bright spots, I’ll see more when I see the tape.”
On Kent Myers: “It’s still really early, there’s nobody really separating themselves at quarterback, but I think Kent had a good summer, came out and took charge today and kind of moved the ball a little bit.”
On looking back to last season: “There’s things that have been used as motivation, and we’ve referred back to it. We try to learn from the things we mess up on, we try to learn from the things we’ve done good on. I just referenced two fourth-quarter comebacks to the team right there. We’ll always go back and point and try to learn from things that were good or not as good.”
On his goals for fall camp: “There’s some spots we gotta fill. Linebackers, outside receiver, a starting deep snapper, a couple guards on the O-line. There’s some personnel stuff we’ve got to fill.”
On who stood out Day One: “The two guys that caught my eye offensively were Gerold Bright and Rayshad Lewis,” Wells said. “They made some really good plays and caught the ball outside of their body. That was the first thing that flashed, but I’m going to see five more things that stood out when I watch the tape.”
Starting* quarterback Kent Myers:
On the first day’s excitement: “I feel like it’s been the best day one since I’ve been here in the last three years. I’m excited about the receiving corps and the linemen, and the running backs coming back this year. We’ve got a lot of inexperienced guys at receiver but I feel like they’ll come in and play well.
On learning leadership from Chuckie Keeton: “I think really the encouragement is contagious, your mood is contagious out here so if I come out here not wanting to play. not ready to practice, then that’s gonna feed off the other guys. I just feel like if I come out here with a positive attitude like he did every day that helps me a lot with leadership.
On which WR stood out today: “Rayshad Lewis, he came out here and he was going against our best safety and he was putting some moves on him so as a freshman him doing that against a veteran safety, I think that’s big time.”
Completely subjective takeaways:
Intriguing answer from Wells regarding the starting quarterback spot. Common sense would indicate it’s Kent’s spot to lose, so the team is likely trying to avoid complacency at any starting position by playing things close to the vest. There does seem to be a band of talented young guys getting lots of reps in practice, and Hobbs provides some extra physical punch to USU’s option playbook, so this situation is definitely worth keeping an eye on.
— Ha, just kidding. Myers is getting the start, guys. Moving on.
Hard to tell if the receiving corps looks out of sync due to inexperience or simply shaking loose some of the offseason rust. Probably a bit of both.
Seeing Travis Seefeldt on the field motioning guys around is a welcome sight.
Once full-pads practices begin, the battle for starting spots throughout the front seven has potential to get heated. There aren’t many guys who can pull the experienced veteran backup card here. That’s frightening when you think about conference opponents running the ball up the gut for four straight quarters in late November, but it also makes for good competition in camp, which in turn makes my job more fun.
Similarly, the battle to be the Aggies’ No. 1 option at receiver is wide open. According to Wells and presumed starter Myers, Gerold Bright and Rayshad Lewis have officially declared candidacy.
Dallin Leavitt hype train tickets are now for sale in the front office. After performing admirably in 1-on-1s, he closed practice with a sideline interception off a pass that ought not to have been thrown in the first place — Wells’ words, not mine. Leavitt’s man coverage has obviously improved since his days as a run-stopping safety at BYU, but we’ll have to see how comfortable he is outside the box when the team dons pads.