LOGAN — It only took a minute to make things seem obvious. A quick look, a slight hitch, and Kent Myers was flying up the alley for 34 yards in the second quarter. Two plays later he was gliding around the end, 26 unobstructed yards for a touchdown.
So … what took them so long to decide this?
Myers should have been Utah State’s quarterback from the season’s first game.
Sometimes reality reveals what emotions obscure.
Saturday at Maverik Stadium, Utah State’s new starting quarterback rushed for 124 yards on just seven carries in the first half. That alone set the school record for rushing by a quarterback in a game. The rest was frosting. He finished with 191 rushing yards, another 137 in the air.
The coaches have been saving him for what, a Valentine? Myers was the best quarterback at Utah State at the end of last season. He was the best this year, too, though he never got a chance to show it until Saturday. USU started the season with the guy coach Matt Wells loves, a player who has seen more hard times than Jean Valjean, someone who deserved one last chance to lead his team: Chuckie Keeton.
But he shouldn’t have started the year at quarterback.
He should have been the insurance policy.
Wells went with his heart, not his head, right?
“My head said go with Chuckie,” Wells said. “He was the best quarterback in the program at that point. Whether it was my head or my heart, it’s probably a little of both. But until the kid can’t play, we were going with Chuckie.”
In a world where winning isn’t just the only thing, but the job-enhancing thing, Wells felt confident starting the season with a guy with gossamer knees. The results were only modest. Against Southern Utah the Aggies only generated 250 yards total offense. Keeton accounted for seven yards rushing and 110 passing in a 12-9 win. Next, Keeton limped his way through a loss against Utah. In that game he was hit in the legs, late in the first quarter, and arose slowly.
It was a courageous showing, a convincing one, too. With Keeton, it’s hard not to buy in. He came back and had some nice running plays after the hit. But he wasn’t the same. After USU’s 31-17 loss at Washington — though he had 171 passing yards and 22 rushing — it was announced he had a sprained knee and would be out four to five weeks, opening the way for Myers.
This certainly wasn’t Keeton’s first encounter with the medical field. He knows hospitals like the route to Brigham City. He missed three games his freshman year after starting eight of the first nine. In 2013 he played six games, until season-ending knee surgery intervened. Last season he played 2½ games before reinjuring his knee.
This year he was good to go … except maybe he wasn’t.
Anyone who saw him as a freshman knew there was only a good resemblance in 2015. Coaches said he had become wiser, which is true. But it wasn’t the original unbridled Chuckie.
Just don't try to argue that with Wells.
“I disagree with that from early on,” Wells said. “He got dinged against Utah, dinged against Washington. I thought Game 1 he was unbelievable.”
To see Myers starting at this juncture should surprise no one. Keeton is as fragile as spun glass. So when it was announced after the game with Washington that he was on the injured list, Aggie fans didn’t blink. Mostly they sighed. They knew the story well.
In 2014, Keeton was followed by Darell Garretson and Craig Harrison. By the time they got to Myers, the coaches were checking Craigslist. But Myers was exceptional under the conditions, going 5-1, including a New Mexico Bowl win.
So again in 2015 he patiently waited for his chance. When he got it, he led the Aggies to a 33-18 win over Colorado State.
Hard as it is to lose quarterbacks, it would be hard to find a better-prepared group than the Aggies. Backup quarterbacks at USU are a combined 15-5 the last two years. Thus it was without hesitation that Wells started Myers for Game 4.
Maybe Keeton started the year because a general football code says a player shouldn’t lose his starting job due to an injury. Maybe Wells really does know Keeton was the best. Either way, they’re back where they left off — which should bode well for the Aggies. Myers wasn’t perfect, but he was enough to beat a strong Mountain West team, breaking big plays early and managing the clock down the stretch.
He didn’t look like a backup.
That’s something the Aggies can take to heart.
Email: rock@desnews.com; Twitter: @therockmonster; Blog: Rockmonster Unplugged