LOGAN — After a bad day at practice or a bitter defeat, Utah State defensive lineman Frank Maile knows neither will mean a thing the moment he walks into his home.
There, his wife, Heather, and his 23-month-old son, Maximus, greet him.
"He (Maximus) is excited to see me as if I won a Super Bowl or something," said Maile, who has been married nearly three years. "I can't wait to get home and see him because he's happy to see me no matter what happens."
Maile, 24, is one of several players on the Utah State team who is married with children, and so far, he's been successful in balancing football, family and school.
"It's not easy," he said. "It's a good thing that my wife is so supportive of me and that's what makes everything easier than it is. My wife is great. She's the reason I haven't fallen apart yet."
Although the juggling is tough, he knows it will all work out in the long run.
"Education has been big with my family," said Maile, who will graduate with a degree in exercise science in 2008. "My dad always raised me that school is important, especially in these days when it's hard to do anything with a high school diploma.
"Education is very important to me, especially that I have a family and need something to fall back on to support my family. Education is for my family."
He sees football as a means to get his education.
"It's a blessing to have my school paid for," he said. "It would be even harder if I worked and had a family at the same time (while going to school). It's a blessing to have a scholarship to play. I love football, and it's great to be here."
Maile graduated from Alta High in 2000. He earned all-state honors with 63 tackles, 15 for loss, and seven sacks. He chose to serve an LDS Church mission before enrolling at Utah State.
"(My recruiter) tried to get me to come here first and then go on my mission," he said, "but I had already made up my mind that I would go on my mission before anything, and the coaches respected it."
As a freshman in 2004, he played in 11 games and recorded just four tackles, while last year he tallied nine before suffering a season-ending ankle injury at Alabama.
"I felt like I let my teammates down," he said. "I felt we worked so hard there to be where we were. I really did miss it. It was hard being on the sidelines and watching the games. It's great to be back, though. I missed playing. I feel like I owe it to my team to do more, to be a bigger part because I missed out on what we tried to do last year."
Maile (6-foot-1, 261 pounds) started in the Aggies' season-opening loss to Wyoming on Saturday, in which he recorded three tackles.
Although he's just a junior, Maile is the elder statesman of the defensive line. He even feels more pressure to succeed without teammate Brain Soi, a freshman all-American last season who is academically ineligible this year.
"I love Brian like a brother and we all miss him and he's got big shoes to fill like everyone saw last year," Maile said. "All I can do is work hard to fill those shoes. I feel like a lot of these guys look up to me because I'm older and so that's a pressure to be an example for the younger guys coming in."
Maile file
Name: Frank Maile
Position: Defensive tackle
Height: 6-1
Weight: 261
Class: Junior
High school: Alta
Of note: Had three tackles in Aggies' loss at Wyoming last week.
E-mail: jhinton@desnews.com