BLAKE_ANDERSON_PRESS_CONFERENCE_1

USU football coaching staff starting to fill out

When Blake Anderson was hired last month, the new head football coach at Utah State set out to put together the best coaching staff possible. 

According to Chris Vannini of The Athletic, Utah State had a budget of $2.5 million for Anderson to assemble his squad. 

 

“They’ve given me a pool where I can go out and hire some of the best coaches in the country,” said Anderson during his introductory press conference on December 14.“I have been very deliberate and very intentional about how I have put the staff together.”

Three weeks later, much of the coaches on the staff have been officially announced by the University, on Twitter, or reported by credible sources. 

What Anderson’s come up with is exactly what he promised in that press conference: “It’s going to be one of the most diverse staffs in the country.” 

Nine of the reported/announced coaches are ethnic minorities. Many have come with Anderson from Arkansas State. Some have coached at Utah State before. Some are coming from Miami. And there is a handful from elsewhere. 

Here is a glance at Anderson’s new staff as it stands now. 

Ephraim Banda, Defensive Coordinator 

According to Bruce Feldman and Manny Navarro of the Athletic, Miami co-defensive coordinator Ephraim Banda will be the new defensive coordinator at Utah State.

 

Banda spent five seasons with the hurricanes as safeties coach and two seasons as co-defensive coordinator. In 2019, the Miami defense ranked No.13 nationally in total defense and No. 12 in yards per play allowed. 

Banda has worked under Miami head coach Manny Diaz for nine seasons. He was a defensive assistant at Mississippi State in 2015 and at Texas from 2012-2015. He played football at Incarnate Word in San Antonio. 

Having grown up in Florida and coached there the past five years, played in Texas and coached at Texas, he has deep roots in two of the most lucrative recruiting destinations. 

Al Lapuaho, Defensive Line

Anderson announced Monday that Al Lauaho would be staying in Logan to coach the defensive line. 

The former Aggie player was a defensive graduate assistant at USU in 2018 and 2019, and was a strength and conditioning graduate assistant in 2020. He was also a defensive graduate assistant at Oregon State in 2016 and 2017. 

Lapuaho transferred from Snow College to Utah State where he started in all 26 games of the 2011 and 2012 seasons at defensive line, earning first-team all-Western Athletic Conference honors as a senior. 

Nick Paremski, Special Teams Coordinator/Outside linebackers

Paremski was at Arkansas State for three seasons, coaching the outside linebackers in 2018 and was the safety coach/co-special teams coordinator in 2019 and 2020. In 2019 he helped coach a pair of All-Sun Belt safeties: first-team choice Darreon Jackson and second-team pick BJ Edmonds.

“He was with me the last few years at Arkansas State,” said Anderson. “Done a great job on the defensive side of the ball.”

Before Arkansas State, Paremski was at West Texas A&M from 2006-2015, where he was defensive coordinator from 2013-2015.

Mike Zuckerman, Inside Linebackers 

Also reported by Bruce Feldman, Mike Zuckerman — Miami’s senior quality control analyst for defense — is coming to Logan to coach inside linebackers. 

He has been the senior control analyst for the past two seasons. From 2017-2018 he was a quality control analyst for the Hurricanes. He was a graduate assistant at Rutgers from 2014-16. 

Demarcus Van Dyke, Cornerbacks

According to multiple sources, Demarcus Van Dyke will also follow Banda out of Miami and join him in Logan. 

Van Dyke spent two seasons as the assistant director of recruiting and was a defensive control analyst for the Hurricanes in 2018. He was the cornerbacks coach at ASA college in 2017.

Van Dyke graduated from Miami in 2011 selected by the Oakland Raiders in the third round of the 2011 NFL draft. He played in the NFL for six seasons. 

Anthony Tucker, Offensive Coordinator 

As first reported by Football Scoop, UCF co-offensive coordinator Anthony Tucker will take over the reins of the offense at Utah State. 

Tucker joined UCF’s staff in 2017 as the running backs coach, he also became the passing game coordinator in 2019 and was promoted to co-offensive coordinator in January 2020. 

The Golden Knight offense averaged 38.4 points per game in 2020 and averaged 357.4 yards of offense per game, playing a similar up-tempo style of offense that Anderson has expressed he wants to run at USU.

Tucker also helped the UCF rushing attack break program records during his tenure in Orlando. In 2018, they ran for a record 3,448 yards and 265.2 rushing yards per game. In 2019, they ran for 223.8 yards per game on the ground and the top four rushers averaged 6.46 yards per carry. 

Before UCF, Tucker was the running backs coach for two seasons at Maryland and prior to that he was on Anderson’s staff at Arkansas State for three seasons. 

He also has ties out west, as he was a wide receiver at Fresno State and coached at Idaho State and Colorado. 

Kyle Cefalo, Pass Game Coordinator/ Wide Receivers Coach

Kyle Cefalo was the wide receivers coach/co-special teams coordinator for the past two years at Arkansas State. He was also a grad assistant for the Red Wolves from 2013-2015 and inside receivers coach from 2017-2018.

Cefalo helped lead the Red Wolves offense in 2019 to No. 10 in the country in passing offense (312.1 ypg), and No. 14 in team passing efficiency (157.55). 

“Kyle’s also coming with me from Arkansas State, been with me for basically the last seven years,” said Anderson. “And if you look at our wide receiver numbers and our pass game numbers…wideouts are going to want to play for that guy.”  

Chuckie Keeton, Running Backs

After spending two years as an offensive graduate assistant with Matt Wells at Texas Tech, Keeton returns to Logan, where he was a graduate assistant in 2018. He was also an assistant at Oregon State in 2016 and 2017. 

Keeton was an Aggie quarterback from 2011-2015, earning first-team all-Western Athletic Conference honors in 2012 and leading USU to a WAC championship. He is largely credited with helping bring Utah State football to its highest standing. 

“You couldn’t ask for a better ambassador of Aggie Football than Chuckie Keeton,” Anderson said. “He understands our culture as well as anyone and has invested a great deal into this program as both a player and coach. Chuckie will bring great energy and knowledge to the offensive side of the football and his familiarity with the state of Texas, from a recruiting standpoint, is an added bonus to the future success of our program.”

“I’m extremely grateful to be able to return to my alma mater and help lead Aggie football back to national prominence,” said Keeton. “I’m even more privileged to be able to coach a position group with such tremendous historical success. I’m excited to get to work with the players and other coaches!”

DJ Tialavea, Tight Ends 

DJ Tialavea spent the 2020 season at Utah State as a graduate assistant coaching tight ends and now takes the reigns of the position group. 

He played from 2010-2013 at Utah State, both at defensive line and tight end and was a three-year captain. From 2013-2017 he was in the NFL, where he played for the Jaguars, Bills, Falcons, and Bears. 

Micah James, Offensive Line

According to a report last week by Yahoo Sport’s Pete Thamel, UMass offensive line coach will take over the same position at USU.  

 

James was hired by UMASS in 2019. That season, despite starting four new guys on the line, the Minutemen offensive line cut down on sacks allowed by 69.2 percent from the previous season. 

James was a graduate assistant at Arkansas State in 2015 and 2016, Maryland in 2017 and UCF in 2018. He played offensive line at Middle Tennessee State in 2011 and 2012, earning all-Sun Belt honors in 2012. 

Dave Roberson, Director of Player Personnel 

Dave Roberson joined Anderson’s staff at Arkansas State as director of player personnel in 2014. He also handled recruiting coordinator responsibilities for the Red Wolves for the past three years.

“He came with me, spent seven years with me at Arkansas State, did a great job,” said Anderson. “He’ll be responsible for helping us build the recruiting base and the personnel of our football team because it’s all about recruiting and development. 

Before Arkansas State, Roberson spent time at Savannah State, Southern Mississippi and Penn State. 

Tim Burmeister, Quality Control

Tim Burmeister returns to Utah State after spending a season as a special teams administrative assistant. Previously, he coached defensive quality control at Washington State and spent four years at North Texas — three as a grad transfer and as quality control specialist. 

BJ Edmonds, Recruiting Analyst

Edmonds spent a year as an assistant at Kansas Wesleyan University in 2020. Before that, he played defensive back for Arkansas State from 2016-2019 where he earned All-Sun Belt second-team honors as a senior. 

Ethan Morriss, Defensive Quality Control

Morriss was a defensive graduate assistant at Arkansas State in 2019 and 2020. Before that, he spent two years as a graduate assistant at Harding University. 

He played defensive back at West Texas A&M from 2012-2015, where he earned All-Lone Star Conference honors as a junior and a senior.

“Morriss is a young guy on his way up, that did basically everything I asked him to do,” said Anderson. “He’s one of those guys that I started thinking about when that plane takes off, how in the world am I going to leave this guy behind.”

Alex Devine, Senior Defensive Analyst

Also reported by Bruce Feldman, Alex Devine is a third coach that will follow Banda from Miami to Logan. Devine spent five seasons at Miami, where he was the assistant director of player development in 2019 and 2020. Devine also spent time as a student assistant at Mississippi State. 

—sports@usustatesman.com

@jacobnielson12

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