Football: Continuing the tradition
Despite the graduation of a senior leader and a new coach, Utah State’s linebacking corp is reloaded for the 2014 campaign.
The USU football team rode its defense past a multitude of injuries and a 1-3 out-of-conference record to an appearance in the inaugural Mountain West championship game and a Poinsettia Bowl victory last season. The Aggies were No. 7 in the nation in points against last season and No. 8 in rushing defense.
“I think we have the potential to be a top-10 or a top-five defense in the nation again,” said junior outside linebacker Kyler Fackrell, who was third on the team in tackles last season. “That’s what we’re shooting for. A goal of ours is just to be, if not the best defense, one of the best defenses in the nation.”
The linebackers were major contributors to the success on defense last season. The top three tacklers on the team were linebackers in Fackrell, Zach Vigil and Jake Doughty.
The current group of linebackers point toward the example that the graduated linebackers set as a reason for their success.
“It’s just a testament to the guys that came before us. They all worked their buts off, you know, like Jake Doughty, Bobby Wagner, Kyle Gallagher,” said sophomore inside linebacker Nick Vigil. “They were all great linebackers, and that’s kind of a compliment to them, to what they’ve done, and we’re just trying to keep the legacy going.”
It was a sentiment Fackrell echoed.
“It started all the way back to Bobby and Kyle, and then Jake and then Zach took over, and it’s just kind of continued as being a good mentor shift all the way down,” he said.
Doughty, who led the team in tackles last season and provided leadership for the linebackers, won’t be returning this season due to graduation. However, Zach Vigil is ready to step in to the leadership position left by Doughty.
“I think that the team looks to us as an example. If I show up slumping my head and slumping my shoulders, I can see the effect it has on the team,” Zach Vigil said. “I mean, I’m not perfect. I don’t show up every day always head hot, ready to run around and fly around, but you’ve got to try to do it.”
Former linebacker coach for the Aggies Kevin Clune went to Hawaii to take over the defensive coordinator position. As a result, the first few weeks of spring football have been overseen by a new coach for the linebackers in Joe Lorig.
“They went pretty good with coach Lorig,” Zach Vigil said. “He’s still learning the defense. We run a lot of stuff though, so you can’t really blame him for that. We’ve got a lot of things to go in, but so far he’s doing a good job.”
Lorig has been excited to work with his new group, but he is still figuring them out.
“It’s been great. I’m excited about the group. We’ve got some really good players,” he said. “I didn’t really know the level of talent, and I still don’t know because I don’t know what to compare it to. I knew that Utah State had some good players, and I knew that I felt that I could bring some things to the table to make them better.”
Lorig said he has high expectations for his players this season.
“I expect them to be All-Americans,” Lorig said. “First and foremost I expect them to have great character off the field, that’s the most important thing, and I expect them to have great grades, then I expect them to be great players. There’s no reason they can’t be the best players in the Mountain West, then from there you expect them to be some of the best players in the country. My expectations for them are very high.”
The rest of the linebackers also expect great things from their unit and their team this season.
“We have a great opportunity to improve upon last year and to actually win the Mountain West championship,” Fackrell said.
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Twitter: @dahdahUSU