LOGAN — You could feel it walking in the shadow of Maverik Stadium on the campus of Utah State University late Tuesday afternoon. Before long, you could hear it too; the whistles and the shouts. After rounding the corner of the Jim & Carol Laub Athletics-Academics Complex there was no denying it — spring football is officially here.
Utah State opened spring camp Tuesday, with the first of 15 practices that will take place from March 10 to April 9.
“When you have a young football team and as many young kids competing as we do, it’s important that they understand that and they practice the right way, which they did today.” — Utah State coach Gary Andersen
The excitement was palpable.
“It’s great to be out here,” Utah State head coach Gary Andersen said.
“The guys’ energy was really high,” added offensive coordinator Bodie Reeder.
It was by all accounts a typical opening day, with athletes working to get back in shape, familiarize themselves with new playbooks and schemes and perhaps catch a coaches eye or two, hopefully only in a good way.
“It was good to get back out here with the boys,” senior defensive end Justus Te’i said. “I gotta get in shape, get my lungs back, but otherwise, today was pretty good.”
What is atypical are the Aggies themselves. Out of the 95 players listed on the USUs 2020 roster, 54 are freshmen and sophomores. More than half of the Utah State’s football team could use a little more college football experience and everyone knows it.
“Today was more of a mental day for us,” senior linebacker Troy Lefeged Jr. said. “We have a lot of new faces out here.”
“There are still a few heads spinning, but that is natural,” added Reeder.
Throw in new schemes on both sides of the ball and the first day of camp was about taking things slow.
“We will probably keep it a little simpler early on, to get these guys their feet under them,” co-defensive coordinator Stacy Collins said. “Focus on effort, alignment and technique.”
The biggest changes are on defense, which is interesting considering Reeder is the newcomer to the Aggies’ coaching staff, whereas co-defensive coordinators Frank Maile and Collins are settled at USU.
Maile and Collins are remaking the team’s defense, though, moving largely from a four-man front to a three-man front.
“Taking on double-teams is a lot different than playing on an island,” said Te’i. “I’m getting comfortable, but it is day one so I felt a lot of mistakes out there.”
“I’m just trying to lead by example,” added Lefeged, “trying to get down new calls with our defense, because we have changed a lot of things.”
The most important thing this early in camp is dependability, Maile explained.
“For a lot of these guys, because they are new, dependability is really their best ability,” he said. “We need to find out who we can depend on mentally and physically. To me that is what spring ball is about.”
On the offensive side of the ball, the focus was on installing new schemes, which understandably is a process.
“I think they are handling the install really well, but any time a scheme changes there is going to be a learning curve,” said Reeder.
Reeder was encouraged by the play of the “ones,” the expected first-string, and he hopes that as they grow more comfortable, so will the young players behind them.
“I think a rising tide raises all ships,” Reeder said. “As the first (string) guys get better, the guys behind them have to or they are going to get left behind. We just have to continue to push the younger guys and we are a young football team and we have to continue to build that depth.”
Junior quarterback Henry Colombi drew some rave reviews, which was to be expected considering his experience.
“Henry’s experience showed today and that was fairly obvious,” said Andersen. “He was by far the best quarterback out there and it was nice to see him do what he did.”
Being the most experienced was a little strange for the 6-2 signal caller, though.
“This spring has been a lot different for me, personally, being the most experienced guy in the room,” Colombi said. “It’s exciting and it felt amazing being back on the field with my teammates.”
Building depth on both sides of the ball was the overarching theme of day one and that depth will ultimately come down to competition, something Andersen harped on prior to spring camp and also on Tuesday.
“The challenge for this football team is to understand to execute against each other and that there is going to be a winner and a loser with everything we do,” said Andersen. “When you have a young football team and as many young kids competing as we do, it’s important that they understand that and they practice the right way, which they did today.”
Which was all anyone could ask of the first day of spring football.