It’s incredible. I never really thought this would happen for me coming into college. I’m extremely privileged to be able to do it. – Chuckie Keeton on his fifth season at USU
LOGAN — With kickoff days away, the seemingly never-ending wait is almost over as Utah State kicks off against Southern Utah on Thursday at 7 p.m.
The Aggies hosted the Thunderbirds to kick off their 2012 campaign as USU took a 34-3 victory. Chuckie Keeton led the way, completing 22 of 25 passes. Unfortunately for SUU, Keeton is back full blast.
The Aggies are ready, but they are far from overlooking the Thunderbirds, ranked eighth in the Big Sky preseason poll.
“What you’re going to get is a well-prepared team. It’s a team that has some senior leaders. They should be very confident because they’ve played well as individuals and down the stretch, they played better,” USU coach Matt Wells said of SUU. “I have a lot of respect for those guys and what they do. It’s going to be exciting to watch our guys come together.”
HANDLING THUNDERBIRD DEFENSE: With the preseason attention received by Big Sky defensive MVP James Cowser and STATS FCS Preseason All-America third Team’s Miles Killebrew, Utah State’s offense has its work cut out.
“They definitely have some good players on defense. That’s the thing with every single defense: They’re always going to have some good players,” Keeton said. “An offense is 11 guys working together as one. So if we take care of everything that we do, everything that we can handle, it will cancel out the talented players that they may have.”
EYES ON SUU’S QB: No question, the Aggies will be keeping close tabs on SUU quarterback Ammon Olsen.
“(SUU’s) quarterback is a good player. He has a good completion percentage, he’s smart with the ball, he can run it, so you have to be disciplined.” Linebacker Nick Vigil said. “He’s very accurate when he gets hot and has very good games. So we’re going to have to try and get some pressure on him.”
FIFTH-YEAR AGGIE: Keeton is about to embrace an opportunity most players don’t have: five years of college ball.
College Football Performance Awards National Player of the Year Trophy Watch List, First-Team All-Mountain West, College Sports Madness First-Team All-Mountain West and a handful of others. — Keeton is ready to put those preseason honors to show.
“It’s incredible. I never really thought this would happen for me coming into college. I’m extremely privileged to be able to do it,” Keeton said. “We’ve got some great fans and we’ve got a great team, so being able to be put in a position to lead them is a tremendous opportunity.”
FAMILIAR FACES: From Plain City to Logan and Cedar City, Vigil will line up against five former Fremont High School teammates when he storms the field against SUU on Thursday.
“There are a bunch of them I played with in high school. They’re good friends of mine and I’ve known them for quite a while,” Vigil said. “I haven’t seen most of them because a lot of them went on missions and came back, so it’ll be exciting to play against them.”