The three R’s of Ag bye week
Rest.
Recoup.
Recruit.
These are the three R’s of Utah State football’s off week.
“It’s a time where we can give players a couple days off and start new, start fresh, come back with six games still to play,” Head Coach Brent Guy said.
The rest is a long time in coming – the Aggies haven’t spent a Saturday at home since the middle of September. It’s also especially timely after a long trip to Hawaii that didn’t put Utah State back on the mainland until Monday morning.
For several Aggies, the rest should help them heal some battle wounds.
Guy said, with the off week, they are looking to get senior tight end Jimmy Bohm, freshman tailback Curtis Marsh and sophomore wide receiver Nnamdi Gwacham healthy and ready for the second half of the season.
The trio have all missed game action recently, but Guy said the outlook is good for them to return to the field when the Aggies take on the University of Nevada-Reno at Romney Stadium Saturday, Oct. 20.
Although it is an off week, there is still work going on. Guy said the Aggies have been in full pads, working hard, during their practices this week.
“During the open week, the main thing you want to do is reinforce the things you’re doing good and correct the mistakes that you’re consistently making,” he said.
Giving most of the older players a chance to rest a little bit during the week also gave the coaches a chance to look at younger, scout-team players during a scrimmage they had, Guy said.
The bye week not only gives coaches a chance to look at some of the talent already on campus, but provides time for them to go see the possible future of Aggie football.
Seven Utah State coaches will be out on the road this weekend watching potential Aggies play live in high school or junior college games. Six coaches will be spreading out to their assigned recruiting areas around the country, and one coach will be watching Utah’s best and brightest. USU coaches got a chance in September to see most of the kids in Utah.
“This is a good time of year,” Guy said. “Most teams have played six games so you have a lot of film to watch, and then you can actually watch some guys play live.”
With all the positives of a bye week, there are still potential dangers lurking in the time off, like a loss of focus or too much free time for players.
Guy doesn’t seem too worried about any of these possible negatives.
“These guys are really focused because they’re really frustrated with the first half of the season,” he said.
Turning the frustration into focus and the focus into a win will be the biggest task for the Aggies in the second half of their season.
But Guy is still believes they can win.
“I’m confident these guys are going to finish the season strong and there won’t be any guys throw in the towel like a lot of people think an 0-6 team might do,” he said.
-da.bake@aggiemail.usu.edu