HS.11-10-18-23

Underappreciated All-Stars: Utah State vs. San Jose State

Football is often referred to as the ultimate team sport, yet we often only focus on a handful of players as the key to a recent victory, and even among those players we only recognize a handful of plays. In reality, there are countless numbers of players and unseen plays that are absolutely crucial to a team’s success, yet these rarely receive the recognition their play deserves. Every facet of the game has these underappreciated all-stars, and this column seeks to recognize them. After every Aggie game, we’ll take a look back, win or loss, at the unheralded players responsible for Utah State’s success. These are the Underappreciated All-Stars.

Active hands on the defensive line

If you’ve ever turned into a single edition of Monday Night Football, you’ve probably heard some color commentator remark about how the defensive line keeps their hands active even if they’re not sacking the quarterback. It certainly qualifies as a cliche, but what does it actually mean. Allow the Utah State defense to demonstrate.

The Aggies have been clogging opposing QB’s passing lanes for the entire season. USU already ranks third in the Mountain West with 25 total sacks on the season, but the Aggies also rank second in the conference with 44 pass breakups on the season. That signifies a strong secondary (all four of DJ Williams, Shaq Bond, Ja’Marcus Ingram, and Cameron Haney have over 4 PBUs on the year), but also denotes the success of the defensive line in being aware while rushing the QB. 14 different Aggies have recorded at least one PBU this season, with Tipa Galeai leading the non-secondary players on the season.

That ability led to the dismantling of an important SJSU drive on Saturday. This screen pass, if it gets past Galeai, has a solid chance to pick up the first down.

Several blockers out in front and a lot of open turf are all made moot by Galeai’s awareness to disrupt the passing lane. This is the type of play that the defensive line has repeatedl, and it’s helped to further boost a secondary which has struggled at times this season.

Recruiting

Remember this video?

It’s no secret that the work in the weight room leads to plays like this.

And plays like these.

We all know the terrific job that Utah State’s strength and conditioning program does in maximizing the potential of their players, but a key part of that program is the players that USU brings to Logan in the first place. Darwin Thompson is new this season. He hasn’t had several years in USU’s offseason workouts. Yet, head coach Matt Wells and the staff were still able to lure Thompson to Utah State.

The Aggies have perennially ranked near the bottom of the MW in recruiting rankings, and while those rankings may be largely speculation, they do point out the fact that USU has often had to do more with less.

That might be starting to change, however. The Aggies currently rank second in the MW for next season’s recruiting rankings according to 247sports.com. Already, we’ve seen several extremely talented recruits choose to come to USU over other options. Players like USC graduate transfer Jalen Greene.

https://twitter.com/USUFootball/status/1061382482921054208

Or mid-career transfers like Deante Fortenberry…

Utah State is starting to land the kind of recruits that consistently allow the Aggies to hold their own against the best teams in the nation. That’s a huge credit to the work of Wells and his staff over the previous seasons.

Thompson and Bright’s offensive versatility

The duo have proved themselves worthy of comparison to some of the great RB duos in Utah State history. There’s a solid chance both top 1,000 rushing yards on the season, and both have shown the capability to score from any place on the field. With that kind of ability, offensive coordinator hasn’t shied from deploying both RBs in the backfield at the same time.

https://twitter.com/USUFootball/status/1051219076444385281

But Bright and Thompson really flex their versatility in the passing game. Both have two receiving touchdowns on the season, and Thompson ranks third on the team with 331 receiving yards.

Thompson’s receiving total is already the most by an Aggie running back since Kerwynn Williams totaled 697 receiving yards in 2012.  Defenses are already stretched thin attempting to corral the tandem in the running game, and have frequently snapped trying to further account for them through the air.


With a wide receiving corps that features Ron’quavion Tarver, Jalen Greene, Dax Raymond, and a whole slew of dangerous options for Jordan Love to choose from, Bright and Thompson aren’t necessary to keep the passing game moving. But their involvement has taken the Aggie air attack to another level, and proven almost impossible for defenses to stop.

 

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