Jason Shelley’s Aggie debut didn’t go as planned.
The former Utah quarterback, who helped the Utes make their first Pac-12 Championship game in 2018, struggled from start to finish in Utah State’s season-opening loss to Boise State.
Shelley completed only 14 of 27 passes for 92 yards against the Broncos, while also throwing a meaningless late-game interception. On the ground, he carried the ball nine times for only 4 yards (remember, in college football sack yardage counts against a quarterback’s rushing total).
Aside from a long third quarter touchdown drive, during which he had a key 13-yard scramble for a first down, Shelley was mostly forgettable — you could argue unforgettable — in his first start wearing Aggie blue.
Why Shelley struggled as much as he did could be a matter for debate, though not in the eyes of Utah State head coach Gary Andersen. As far as he is concerned, the Aggies let Shelley down, not the other way around.
“It wouldn’t have mattered if it was Bart Starr back there, or Joe Namath. I don’t think anyone would have been effective in that football game, because we were covered up in the back end and the quarterback got smacked around pretty good.” — Utah State coach Gary Andersen
“The key thing for a quarterback is he has to be able to get the help to be able to do his job,” Andersen said, “and we need to do that from a coaching standpoint, a protection standpoint and a wide receiver standpoint.
“It wouldn’t have mattered if it was Bart Starr back there, or Joe Namath. I don’t think anyone would have been effective in that football game, because we were covered up in the back end and the quarterback got smacked around pretty good.
“Jason is a competitor. He’ll fight back. Jason is our quarterback and has proven to be a really good quarterback in the past. He’s proven that. It is on tape, against three really good teams. He got his team (Utah) to a championship game in their conference. Without him, they wouldn’t have had a chance to get there. Now he has to go out on the field and do it for us and we have to allow him to do that.”
Shelley may bounce back and be exactly the quarterback Andersen and the Aggies hope, but his debut left much to be desired. In fact, it was arguably the worst first start by a Utah State quarterback in the past decade, among the eight players who’ve started for USU since 2010.
Here is a look at how those other quarterbacks performed in their Aggie debuts under center:
Jordan Love
First start: Oct. 21, 2017
Opponent: UNLV (finished 5-7 overall, 4-4 in MW)
Taking over for senior quarterback Kent Myers, who started the first seven games of the season, Love — a redshirt freshman — led the Aggies to to a come-from-behind 52-28 victory over UNLV in his first game as QB1. He completed 19 of 27 pass attempts for 316 yards and two touchdowns and also rushed for 42 yards and a 5-yard score.
“Hats off to Jordan Love,” former Utah State head coach Matt Wells said in his Monday press conference following the win. “Not only in his first start playing very well and very efficient, he was stingy with the ball, but you’re starting your first game on the road and you have a 14-point deficit and you lose your best wideout. It could be easy to go in the tank and he did not.”
How his Aggie career turned out:
Love arguably had the greatest career by a quarterback in school history and went on to be drafted in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft by the Green Bay Packers.
The records set by Love in the three years he spent in Logan are many, whether they be USU career records, single-season records or single-game records.
Among the most notable are:
- Love tallied a school-best 9,003 yards of total offense in his career.
- Had 12 career 300-yard passing games, another school record.
- Had four completions of at least 80 yards.
- Ranks second all-time in school history in passing yards (8,600) and completions and attempts (689 of 1,125).
- Is tied for second all-time in touchdown passes (60).
- Is third all time in completion percentage (.612).
- Had three-career 400-yard passing games, which are the second-most in school history.
- Was 21-11 (.656) as USU’s starting quarterback, the second-most wins in school history.
Kent Myers
First start: Nov. 2, 2014
Opponent: Hawaii (finished 4–9 overall, 3–5 in MW)
An 18-year old true freshman, Myers was practically perfect in his first collegiate career start, a 35-14 win over the Warriors. Myers completed his first 12 pass attempts in the game, and finished 14 of 15 for 186 yards and three touchdowns, all three of which came in the first half.
After the win, Wells said of Myers, “I like his dual-threat ability. He obviously did some things that I thought were going to be conducive to what we do on offense. He throws the ball on the run very, very well.
“I thought his preparation was very good for a true freshman. He’s still learning how to figure it out. I thought he was very poised, he’s very calm, he’s very accurate and for those reasons I’m very proud of him.”
How his Aggie career turned out:
While not as impressive as that of his successor, Myers’ career in Logan was still something. He threw for 6,126 yards and 39 touchdowns as an Aggie, and rushed for an additional 1,406 yards and nine scores.
A native of Rowlett, Texas, Myers set single-game MWC records — his 93.3% completion percentage in his first start being one — and ranks in the top 10 in school history in multiple categories, including:
- Third all-time in school history in completion percentage (.610).
- Third all-time in completions (534).
- Fourth all-time in total offense (7,532 yards).
- Fourth all-time in attempts (876).
- Tied for fourth all-time in touchdown passes (39).
- Fifth all-time in passing yards (6,126).
- Ninth all-time in rushing touchdowns (19).
Darell Garretson
First start: Oct. 20, 2013
Opponent: New Mexico (finished 3–9 overall, 1–7 in MW)
A true freshman from Chandler, Arizona, Garretson helped lead Utah State to a 45-10 road win at New Mexico in his first stint as a collegiate starter. Garretson completed 15 of 23 pass attempts for for 144 yards and a touchdown.
Wells credited Garretson’s success to his teammates, in an interview with Cache Valley Daily.
“It was all the guys around (Garretson),” Wells said. “Our O-line, our running backs, our tight ends. I thought we made some plays out on the perimeter. … The front seven won the game for us on both sides of the ball.”
How his Aggie career turned out:
Garretson ultimately played in 13 games for USU, starting 11, before transferring to Oregon State in 2015. In his two seasons in Logan, Garretson completed 217 of 344 passes for 2,586 yards and 18 touchdowns.
As far as USU records go, Garretson set a few, including:
- Won his first five career starts at quarterback.
- Set the freshman record for passing yards by a quarterback with 1,446.
- Completed 60.3% of his passes as a freshman, fifth all-time in school history for a single-season.
- Set the single-game passing record by a freshman with 370 yards against Hawaii (11/2/13).
- His career completion percentage (.631) ranks second all-time in Aggie history.
Craig Harrison
First start: Oct. 12, 2013
Opponent: Boise State (finished 8–5 overall, 6–2 in MW)
Stepped in for an injured Chuckie Keeton — Keeton suffered a season-ending injury against BYU the week before — and completed 7 of 17 passes for 105 yards in the first half of his first career start at USU, a 34-23 loss to Boise State.
Harrison was replaced by Garretson in the second half of the loss, with Wells noting, “I thought we were dead. I didn’t have a whole lot going. We didn’t have a whole lot of momentum and it was close to decide who would start.”
How his Aggie career turned out:
Harrison went on to start one additional game at USU, against UNLV in 2014 as a senior, but played in only three games his final season before suffering a season-ending injury. In his career in Logan, which was three years in total — he transferred to USU from Snow College ahead of his sophomore season — Harrison played in 19 games, throwing for 746 yards and five touchdowns.
Adam Kennedy
First start: Nov. 12, 2011
Opponent: San Jose State (finished 5–7 overall, 3–4 in WAC)
A JUCO transfer from San Joaquin Delta College, Kennedy threw a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns to help USU rally to defeat San Jose State 34-33. He finished the game with 255 passing yards and two touchdowns (he completed 21 of 27 passes and threw an interception).
That performance came on the heels of an even more impressive one. A week prior, Kennedy filled in for an injured Keeton and helped USU rally from a 28-7 halftime deficit to defeat Hawaii 35-31.
Kennedy completed 8 of 12 passes in that game, to go along with 163 yards and two touchdowns.
“Adam Kennedy stepped in and did his job,” then USU head coach Gary Andersen said in his weekly Monday morning press conference following the win (Andersen of course has since returned to Logan). “Adam has actually given us a chance. He is throwing it up, he is giving the receivers a chance in making some big plays for us. Not only for him, but for our offense and our team, our fans and everybody in Logan.”
How his Aggie career turned out:
His junior season was basically it for Kennedy and the Aggies. He played in eight games in 2011, starting the final five after Keeton was hurt. His senior year, Kennedy played sparingly in the season opener against Southern Utah, then suffered a season-ending injury, after which he transferred to Arkansas State.
In his career at USU, Kennedy played in 15 games and threw for 972 yards and 11 touchdowns.
Chuckie Keeton
First start: Sept. 3, 2011
Opponent: Auburn (finished 8–5 overall, 4–4 in SEC)
Keeton made his Aggie debut as a true freshman, against the defending national champion Auburn Tigers, and he did not disappoint. He completed 21 of 30 passes for 213 yards and two touchdowns — he also rushed for 33 yards — as USU came oh so close to upsetting Auburn, in what ended up a 42-38 loss.
“He did a great job,” then USU running back Robert Turbin told Deseret News contributor Tim Cottrell. “You’re talking about an 18-year-old true freshman who is coming straight out of high school, and not only playing at the Division I level, but being on the road and playing against the defending BCS national champions. To perform the way he did just shows that he has a great career ahead of him.”
How his Aggie career turned out:
Talk about a loaded question. Keeton’s career was absolutely a great success — you can make a legitimate argument that he is the greatest quarterback in program history — while also being defined by tragedy and disappointment.
Keeton was injury plagued almost his entire career — injuries that limited him and/or knocked him out of the season in 2011, 2013 and 2014 — and still managed to account for over 8,800 yards of total offense, including 7,393 pass yards and 1,415 rushing yards.
He holds a place at or near the top of all kinds of school records, including:
- First all-time in school history in career completion percentage (.654).
- Second in career touchdown passes (58).
- Second in career completions (568).
- Third in total offense, third in career passing yards and 20th in career rushing yards.
- Fourth in career passing attempts (869).
- Ranks first all-time in school history with an interception percentage of 0.020 (threw just 17 interceptions in 869 career pass attempts).
- First all-time in school history with a passing efficiency rating of 145.2.
Diondre Borel
First start: Sept. 20, 2008
Opponent: Idaho (finished 2–10, 1–7 WAC)
After playing in eight games as a freshman, almost exclusively at wide receiver, Borel made his Aggie debut under center in the fourth game of his sophomore season. The move proved apropos, as Borel threw for 191 yards and two touchdowns, and rushed for 93 yards, including a 33-yard score. Thanks in part to his efforts, USU handily defeated Idaho 42-17.
“Their young quarterback did a hell of a job,” Idaho head coach Robb Akey told the Herald Journal afterward.
How his Aggie career turned out:
Borel went on to become a three-year starter at quarterback for Utah State, a true dual-threat option.
He finished his career in Logan with 6,698 passing yards and 36 touchdowns. He also rushed for 1,398 yards and an additional 18 scores.