Utah State held its third and final scrimmage of fall camp Saturday night on Merlin Olsen Field at Maverik Stadium as part of the 10th annual Aggie Football Fun Day.
In all, third-year head coach Matt Wells ran his team through roughly 90 plays, which included special teams and red zone situations. A majority of the Aggies’ first team players didn’t play or saw very limited action.
“There was some good stuff early on by the offense, not a lot of touchdowns, probably from how we were playing it from the thud standpoint,” third-year head coach Matt Wells said. “There was good execution. There were a lot of young guys because we were holding some guys out precautionary with injuries. I look forward to getting into next week. We have a few more days of training camp, then we’ll start Southern Utah prep.”
Like the first scrimmage of fall camp, the defense dominated as there were two interceptions returned for touchdowns. Redshirt freshman strong safety Aaron Wade returned the first pick 38 yards for a score, while freshman defensive end Ryan Garrett capped the scrimmage with a 65-yard interception return for a touchdown.
Senior strong safety Marwin Evans recorded a scrimmage-best five tackles, while junior defensive end Eric Berntson and redshirt freshman free safety Jontrell Rocquemore added four tackles apiece. Four other Aggies recorded at least three tackles on the evening.
Senior cornerback Promise Amadi, a transfer from Boise State, had three of the five pass breakups recorded by the defense. Senior defensive end Jordan Nielsen had the lone sack of the scrimmage. In all, Utah State had five tackles for loss.
“Compared to our last scrimmage, I thought we did very well,” junior defensive end Ricky Ali’ifua said. “Our first scrimmage was very physical, very hard. We came out the second scrimmage kind of flat. There wasn’t too much energy. People weren’t flying around like the first one. That was the main focus of today, just getting back to where we normally play Aggie football and Aggie defense.
“Obviously, it was a little hard to play as physical as we want to because it wasn’t a full go, it was thud, but for being thud, we had a really good scrimmage as far as the defense goes. A lot of guys showed up and made big plays. We ended on a good note with a pick-six from one of our young guys. It’s always nice to see young guys come out like that and make a play to end the game. It was good.”
Special teams played a big part in the scrimmage as junior placekickers Jake Thompson and Brock Warren kicked well during field goal situations. Thompson was 5-for-6 with a long of 51 yards, while Warren was 4-for-6 with a long of 50.
“The bright spots were the kickers kicked well on field goals,” Wells said. “Jake and Brock have had a good competition through training camp and it’s really going to come down to the wire the next couple of weeks.”
Offensively, freshman wide receiver Chad Artist led all receivers with three catches for 51 yards, including a long of 38, while six other receivers had one catch apiece.
Sophomore running back LaJuan Hunt rushed for 42 yards on five carries, while redshirt freshman running back Justen Hervey and junior running back/wide receiver Kennedy Williams each added nine carries for 23 and 15 yards, respectively. Williams scored from a yard out for the offense’s lone touchdown of the scrimmage.
Williams also showcased his skills on special teams as he blocked a punt early on in the scrimmage.
“They just put me on that today,” Williams said of being on punt block. “That’s something we’ve been working on the past couple of days, and it’s something that they felt I could get the job done. I went out there the first time, and I kind of surprised myself because I came free. I didn’t really expect that. I thought (Jentz) Painter was going to come in on the outside, but I came in free and was able to get it.”
Redshirt sophomore quarterback Damion Hobbs passed for a scrimmage-high 51 yards as he was 3-of-9.
Besides the scrimmage, Aggie Football Family Fun Day featured activities on the concourse, including sales by Aggie Nation, the gameday branch of Locker 42, along with games for fans of all ages. Utah State fans could also purchase season tickets for the 2015 campaign.
The Aggies open the season at home against Southern Utah on Thursday, Sept. 3 at 7 p.m. Utah State begins Mountain West play by hosting Colorado State on Saturday, Oct. 3.