Utah State is nowhere near a finished product at the outset of spring football camp and, per coach Blake Anderson, that can only be considered a good thing.
Coming off back-to-back 6-7 seasons, the Aggies are looking to take a leap forward in 2024. Junior safety Ike Larsen said Tuesday that the goal is “championships.”
We’ve got 100 to 110 guys going through spring ball. That is a large number and it creates competition at every single position. I think that makes everybody better.”
— Utah State coach Blake Anderson
And with a new defensive coordinator in Nate Dreiling, plus a few new position coaches, and 30-plus new players — mostly on defense — Utah State has a long way to go in order to become a championship-caliber team.
Fortunately, according to Anderson, the team’s “biggest asset right now” is fierce competition for playing time, which should only lead to better players and a better team come the fall.
“Competition is our biggest asset right now,” he said. “The fact that nobody should be comfortable. Every position has someone fighting for a job.”
Anderson continued: “I really believe we’ve got that (competition for playing time) across the board. We’ve got more bodies to go to work with every day than we have ever had. ... We’ve got 100 to 110 guys going through spring ball. That is a large number and it creates competition at every single position. I think that makes everybody better.
“It is going to be interesting to see how some of those rooms change, even though we have veteran guys in some of them. Can some of these new guys come in and push them for some playing time or exceed what they are able to do? I’m excited about seeing how that works itself out.”
No position room will garner more attention this spring — and potentially fall — than the quarterbacks room. While returning Cooper Legas and McCae Hillstead, both of whom started multiple games last season, the Aggies also brought in transfers with experience starting for Power Four conference teams in Spencer Petras and Bryson Barnes.
The plan through the spring, Anderson said, is to be deliberate and fair with reps for all four QBs. The starting quarterback job is up for grabs.
“I hope it (the QB competition) is a lot of fun to watch,” Anderson said. “I’d like to think there is going to be really good competition every day. That they are going to push each other. They’ve worked well together in the room up to this point. Now when you start cutting it loose, start making decisions on the fly, you’d like to think guys will start to separate themselves.
“I’ve been very clear that they all have a shot at it and we are going to be deliberate about reps to give everyone a fair shake,” he continued. “Coop got the first rep with the ones, Spence went with the second group and I got equal reps with Bryson and McCae. All did decent things, all made some mistakes too, but we kind of have to let that thing settle out in the next week or two and see how they respond to good days and bad days and more install. I’m excited about what we are seeing from them so far.”
Legas noted that the increased competition isn’t a bad thing. He and the other QBs welcome the challenge.
“I think it has been cool, both Spencer and Bryson coming in,” he said. “Both are good dudes that have a lot of playing experience. So it is cool just hearing their thoughts about different things. About defenses and our plays, comparing it to the types of offenses that they’ve been playing their whole careers. It has been good to have them in the room. They bring a lot of good knowledge and we are all fine competing so it has been fun.”
Competition, of course, isn’t limited to just the quarterback position, and on defense the Aggies are also learning yet another new system.
For Larsen, Dreiling is the third defensive coordinator he’s learned from during his time in Logan, and while he concedes that so much change on defense can feel “a little weird,” he’s confident things will work out for the Aggies under their new DC.
“It has been super good,” Larsen said. “Coach Dreiling is a great guy and an even better person. ... I feel like he has proven (himself) to us and we have worked through the bumps and bruises. I feel like we can be a really great defense if we trust in him and he trusts in us and we build that family character that every defense needs. This far, it has been great, we all love him.”
The thing Anderson, Dreiling and company are paying the most attention to to start spring ball is the “fluidity” of practices. The more fluid practices are, the better retention and study has gone for the players. The more up and down, the more work USU has to do.
“We’ve thrown a lot at them over the last month, trying to get ready, and one thing you want to find out is how much retention they have,” Anderson said. “With as many new guys, especially on defense, do they go out and look confused or do they go out and you can tell they’ve been studying and retained from walk-throughs and meetings.
“It (Day 1) was a pretty fluid practice, not a lot of chaos, which is a good thing. Want to watch it consistently on a day-to-day basis.”
If that is there for Utah State, then the team is in position to accomplish what Anderson wants from spring ball. Which is largely a team of individuals coming together as Aggies.
“The new guys need to find their role,” Anderson said. “The veterans that have played some need to step up and become leaders. This team needs to find out who are they following. Who are the day-to-day leaders? They have to learn how to come together from all over the country. They need to forget the old logo and truly become Aggies and every day you’ll see a little more of that. If we can get that done in the next month, that would be huge.”
