Utah State opens its fall football camp Wednesday, and with it comes the four-week countdown to its home opener against Idaho State.
The Aggies hosted media day on Tuesday, and the biggest questions surrounding this year’s team: How good can the offense be?
It’s a valid question, especially as the Aggies return only four offensive starters from last year’s team.
“It’s deep, and it’s quality depth. That was the first thing that jumped out at me was how great the quality of the players that were competing for the starting spot.”
— Utah State offensive coordinator Robert Anae on the Aggies QB room
The QB room is completely new, and the wide receiver room is virtually completely new. The rooms that look most similar are the offensive line and running back rooms.
Even the offensive coordinator is new, as Bronco Mendenhall yet again welcomed Robert Anae to be a part of his staff. But without the retention, it’s difficult to ascertain how good the offense can be.
Utah State did bring in quite a few transfers, including quarterback McCae Hillstead, who the team announced as its starting quarterback in April.
There’s also Virginia receiver transfer Eli Wood and Georgia State receiver transfer Javon Robinson.
With the turnover at both QB and wide receiver positions, Anae was asked if he would use a more run-heavy offense. If one thing was made clear Tuesday, it’s that he doesn’t see that as the case at all.
There are two reasons Anae gave for this belief.
First, he said, the idea that the run sets up the pass is a little outdated, and his philosophy is instead the opposite.
“In today’s football game, I believe 100% you’ve got to throw it to spread them out,” Anae said. “You’ve got to do that and attack a defense that way for the run lanes to open. The old brand of football used to be you run to open up the pass. But I believe the game has changed in that regard.”
Secondly, he said, this Utah State quarterback room is as deep and talented as he’s ever coached.
“It’s deep, and it’s quality depth,” Anae said. “That was the first thing that jumped out at me was how great the quality of the players that were competing for the starting spot.
“Grady (Brosterhous) and Caleb (Maryland) are also fantastic. Grady is outstanding in what he does, and Caleb is going to be a star. I’ve been at a bunch of places; not everywhere I’ve gone have I had three quality quarterbacks, and we do have them here.”
Of course, the main draw is Hillstead. This will be the first time in his collegiate career that he’ll be the starter and leader of an offense heading into a season.
Everyone in the offense and the coaching staff did nothing but sing Hillstead’s praises.
“As spring ball played out, dang, you could see things with McCae,” said Anae. “First of all, he was savvy to the offense. I found myself wanting to expand the playbook. I wanted to open it up. I wanted to really challenge how he could absorb and see how vast the offense can actually be. To my surprise, the kid kept up with it.
“Now it became everyday (opening it up), everyday, everyday, everyday. I’ve never been able to do that with a quarterback. He did it with a high level of ease and skill, with motions and shifting.”
There’s also understandable excitement for the running back room. Of course, there’s returning starter Javen Jacobs, and Noah White, who played in 12 games last year as a freshman.
However, Oklahoma State transfer Sesi Vailahi also joins the group. Vailahi spent three years with Oklahoma State and had 26 appearances with three starts.
“The running back room specifically, we have dogs in there,” said Jacobs. “Honestly, the young guys, they’ve grown a lot from last year to now.
“I think we can be as good as we want to be. I can’t wait to put it on display because we’ve been putting in a lot of time, work and effort on our own. Being able to put that on display throughout the season on Saturdays, I can’t wait for that. It’s gonna be explosive.”
With the hype and optimism within the program about the offense, a concern still looms with the offensive line.
Last year, quarterback Bryson Barnes was sacked 40 times, which was the fourth most in all of FBS.
What the offensive line has going for it is its three returners, new transfers and an offensive coordinator who has experience on an offensive line.
Still, injuries prevented the offensive line from getting the time Anae wanted for them to settle in. He said they’ll rely on fall camp to get the offensive line where it needs to be before the home opener.
“I’m an offensive lineman, former offensive line coach, so that is a sense of pride for me that group plays well,” Anae said. “Our spring group was snakebitten with injuries, and we had a couple of kids that we couldn’t get in for spring ball that we thought we could from the portal. So, that took us back.
“June, we’re working out. July, we’re working out. So come August now, we should have a better group to develop with more able bodies. I really like where we’re at right now going into fall camp with that group up front. But there’s no doubt that we’ve got to feel challenged and we’ve got to develop.”
