Practice over for Aggie football squad
Aggie Fact of the Day:
Utah State’s game against Auburn on ESPN2 is one of two Western Athletic Conference games on “the deuce” on Saturday, Sept. 3, as Colorado plays at Hawai’i in an 8:15 MT kickoff also on ESPN2.
Aggie Tidbit of the Day:
The Aggies’ game at Auburn is USU’s lone game in the Central Time Zone, and is one of four different time zones that Utah State will play in this season, with eight games in the Mountain Time Zone (all six home games, at BYU, at New Mexico State), two in the Pacific Time Zone (at Fresno State, at Idaho) and one in the Hawaii-Aleutian Time Zone (at Hawai’i).
As preseason camp is winding down to its last few days, Utah State football head coach Gary Andersen is giving his squad a chance to get their legs back, taking a tactical approach to practice in Thursday’s single session.
The Aggies were in action on the turf of Merlin Olsen Field at Romney Stadium for just over two hours, focusing on game situations and scenarios, as well as offensive, defensive and special teams game plans.
“It was a solid day, this was our first complete day of going through the school day schedule, we got the kids up in the morning for meetings and we practiced in the afternoon. It is good to get them through the schedule one day and overall I thought that they came out and competed and handled it very well,” Andersen said.
Defensive highlights from the full-pad practice included an interception by freshman linebacker Kyler Fackrell, returning it for a touchdown. Offensive highlights included a long pass play to junior wide receiver Dontel Watkins.
Andersen also announced that former walk-on, redshirt-freshman tight end Brad Theurer, a local product from Logan (Logan HS), has been awarded a scholarship.
“Brad Theurer has been in this program for two years, he has worked extremely hard, he is a devoted to the program and every time that we get the opportunity as a staff to reward a young man that has been with this program that long is great to be able to do. It is one of those special things that I love most about this job, when a walk-on young man is able to earn a scholarship. For him to be able to do that is special and I think that our team will be excited about it tonight in the team meeting that Brad Theurer has a scholarship,” Andersensaid.
Utah State’s preseason camp is winding down, as the Aggies will practice twice on Friday, first at 9:15 a.m. and then at 3:45 p.m., in final preparation for the final scrimmage of preseason camp on Saturday at Noon, which marks the end of preseason camp. {see below for complete practice schedule, as of 12 p.m., 8/22/11}
All practices of preseason camp are open to the public. Fans are encouraged to stay in the stands when the team is practicing on Merlin Olsen Field at Romney Stadium and in the bleachers at the practice field. All open practices are subject to change.
The Aggies are in preparation for their season-opener on Saturday, Sept. 3 at No. 23/19 Auburn at 10 a.m. (MT), which will be aired on ESPN2.
USU’s preseason concludes with a scrimmage on Saturday, Aug. 27 at Noon as part of Utah State Aggie Football Family Fun Day, sponsored by Macey’s Foods. The event provides fans a chance to meet USU football players and coaches, participate in games and activities as well as purchase and pick-up season tickets. Activities sponsored by Macey’s Foods will begin on the South Concourse of Romney Stadium.
Season tickets as well as two-game packages will be also available for purchase at the USU Football Family Fun Day on Saturday, Aug. 27 at the Romney Stadium Box Office, which is located on the South end of Romney Stadium.
After its season-opener at Auburn on Saturday, Sept. 3, Utah State’s home opener is on Saturday, Sept. 10 at 6 p.m. (MT), taking on in-state foe Weber State, marking the first time that USU and WSU have squared off since 2001, and Utah State leads the all-time series, 11-1. The Aggie-Wildcat match-up will have special meaning for Andersen, who will be facing his mentor, Weber State head coach Ron McBride. Andersen played for McBride at Utah in 1985-86.
For USU football ticket information, contact the USU Ticket Office at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum, or by phone by calling 1-888-USTATE-1 or (435) 797-0305.
Fans can follow the Aggie football program at twitter.com/USUFootball. Aggie fans can also follow the Utah State athletic program at twitter.com/USUAthletics or on facebook at Utah State University Athletics.