Freshmen adding depth to defense
opportunity to make an impact.
The four freshmen linebackers are no exception since all of them have seen time and made at least one stop for the Aggies this season.
The impact these first-year players have made for USU include a combined 65 tackles in five games this season. Among them there are two from Idaho, both walk-ons, and two from southern California. Despite their different backgrounds, they all have one thing in common: they, like most linebackers, love to hit.
Jake Hutton
An all-state selection and defensive player of the year at Highland High in Pocatello, Idaho, Hutton leads the team in tackles with 42.
Hutton has been playing football ever since the fifth grade, and it was a buddy who’s been around since those days who got him to walk on at Utah State and give the college game a shot, he said.
“I wasn’t recruited out of high school really, so I got an opportunity to walk on,” Hutton said. “And my buddy was coming here off his mission, so I decided to come here so I could play with him. Obviously, it’s a good program and I wanted to come here to see what I could do.”
Devon Hall
When Devon Hall was first brought to Utah State on a recruiting trip from his home in southern California, Cache Valley was in the middle of winter with the inversion in full effect. He reported to camp later in the year with the inversion lifted and clear skies. Suddenly, Logan was surrounded by mountains, which took Hall by surprise, he said.
Hall said he can’t imagine life without football. Although playing at the college level is a huge commitment of time and energy, Hall said he wouldn’t have it any other way.
“It’s not a sacrifice when you’re doing something you love,” Hall said.
Unlike his fellow linebackers, Hall doesn’t have a preference on defending the run or the pass. But he admits that, at this point in time, with his 6-foot-3-inch, 200-pound frame, he’s better at covering the pass until he puts on more weight.
Daryl Fields
In a time where the USU football program is in a period of transition with a new coach and conference, Daryl Fields has been through the same type of changes before. He went through a similar situation while playing for Crespi Carmelite High School in Encino, Calif.
“From my high school team, as a freshman, we just got new coaches too and we ended up winning the championship my senior year,” Fields explained. “So, I have very high expectations for Utah State.”
After football, Fields is planning on running his own company as an accountant.
“I want to own my own firm.,” Fields said. “Hopefully, one of these guys will go to the NFL and I can just manage their money.”
Clay Swan
Playing college football runs in Clay Swan’s family.
“I have two brothers, one played at Boise State and one played at Weber State and those were my other options besides Utah State, so I just wanted to try something new,” Swan said.
Unlike the other three freshmen linebackers who are fresh out of high school, Swan red-shirted last year, meaning he trained with the team but never played so that he would still have four years of NCAA eligibility. So, even though Swan is technically a freshman, he is the only one of the four young linebackers to have played under the old and new coaches.
It was the coaches’ last year that influenced Swan to walk on.
“I like the environment; I like the old coaches that we had so I decided to come up here and walk on,” Swan said. “These coaches are a lot different, they work a lot harder. They do different kinds of things. They’re more intense. It just brings the whole level of the game up.”
– stm@cc.usu.edu