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State of the Program: A familiar face in a familiar place, Gary Andersen hopes to find success once again at Utah State

Editor’s note: Part of a continuing series examining the Power 5 and top Group of 5 teams for the 2019 college football season.

If you’re a Utah State fan and you look at the television this season and think to yourself “I don’t recognize half of these guys!”, you don’t need to pinch yourself and you don’t need to sweat anyone calling you dramatic.

Because with more than 50 new players and coaches on the 2019 iteration of the Utah State Aggies, it’s true, you might not recognize about half of the people in the program.

The guy in charge, coach Gary Andersen, isn’t technically new at all. He’s just seven years and three jobs older since you saw him last. And the guy in charge on the field, quarterback Jordan Love, is just another season older and wiser. So Utah State fans will at least recognize those two important figures.

But everyone else? All 54 of them? It’s fair to keep an updated roster laying around because there are going to be a lot of new faces, including 46 freshmen/redshirt freshmen, four college transfers and nine junior college transfers. In total, it breaks down to 23 players on offense, 19 players on defense, three players on special teams and nine new coaches, including Andersen and new strength and conditioning coach Jordan Hicks.

“What we’re trying to get done is to strategically place ourselves for success in 2019 on our needs list,” Andersen said. “Then you try to space yourself out through the (classes) as much as you possibly can, and that has to do with transfers, that has to do with junior college kids, that has to do with high school kids, that has to do with kids who are going on missions and kids who are returning from missions.”

It’s a recipe that’s tough for every new coach to put together when he arrives at his new school, but what this current dish leaves Andersen with is a very young roster heading into 2019. There will be older, experienced players in this mix, but the Aggies will be one of the youngest teams in the country in Andersen’s first year back in Logan.

Biggest on-field question
Last season, quarterback Jordan Love and the Utah State Aggies had one of the best offensive seasons in program history.

The offensive unit ranked in the nation’s top 15 in several offensive categories including:

Points per game: 47.5 (second among FBS teams)
Yards per game: 497.4 (11th among FBS teams)
Third-down conversion percentage: 47.0% (14th among FBS teams)
20-yard plays: 81 (14th among FBS teams)
Love, the catalyst around which that offense was built, returns. But the redshirt junior signal-caller is without his top three pass catchers from a season ago, his top running back and four of his starting offensive linemen. Even with that kind of turnover (as well as a coaching change), the expectations are still high, and some might wonder what that does to a star QB who wants to both win and show his skill to those at the next level. How does the figure in the middle of that stave off the urge to play outside of one’s self?

Love said it’s simple: Make sure others know their roles and the expectations so he doesn’t even think he needs to do more than he should.

“We’ve lost a lot of people, but we’re getting a lot of new dudes in here,” Love said. “(Progress) comes with getting guys in here early through the summertime and really teaching them the offense so that when the season starts they can step into their role, fill those shoes so I really wouldn’t have to extend myself and do extra stuff that I don’t need to do.”

The area where Love said he will need to push outside of himself a bit for this offense to run at its highest potential is in his own leadership. Love, who is a relatively quiet person and hasn’t had to shoulder too much of the team’s vocal leadership in his Utah State career, said he’s trying to be a louder voice for the Aggies this season.

“I’m not that vocal as a person, but obviously I’m trying to get better at that,” Love said. “Because you need to be that as a leader.”

Depth chart analysis
Quarterback: Utah State has the Mountain West’s most talented player in junior Jordan Love, a quarterback who came to Logan with little pomp but could leave (even a year early) as a potential first-round NFL draft pick. Behind Love is redshirt sophomore Henry Colombi, who attempted 40 passes a season ago, and redshirt freshman Andrew Peasley, who retained his redshirt after appearing in just three games in 2018. The Aggies also signed two dual-threat, three-star quarterbacks in their 2019 class — Cooper Legas and Josh Calvin.


Jordan Love led the Mountain West in pass efficiency and was named second-team all-conference last season. (Chris Gardner / Getty Images)
Running back: Senior Gerold Bright should be able to step into the shoes of Darwin Thompson, but expect the Aggies to try to go three-deep with their ballcarrier situation this season. Battling for the reps behind Bright will be converted junior safety Chase Nelson and two of the Aggies’ newcomers — BYU grad transfer Riley Burt, who carried the ball 96 times in three seasons with the Cougars, as well as junior college transfer Jaylen Warren, who has two seasons of eligibility remaining. Also, keep an eye on freshman Enoch Nawahine, who went through spring ball and impressed. He could be a beneficiary of the four-game redshirt rule in 2019, which would set him up to have a big 2020 and beyond.

Wide receiver: The Aggies lost their top three pass catchers off their 2018 squad, so the players competing to be on the receiving end of Love’s passes will mainly be a cluster of newer names. Junior Savon Scarver, who had four catches in the spring game, could have a break out season for Utah State after recording just nine catches last season. Juniors Jordan Nathan (the Aggies’ returning leader in receptions with 28 catches in 2018) and Taylor Compton, as well as sophomore Deven Thompkins, will all have shots to step into much bigger roles for Utah State. Newcomers who could make an immediate impact for the Aggies: Junior college transfers Derek Wright and Sean Carter, Utah grad transfer Siaosi Mariner and true freshman Ajani Carter, whose Hail Mary catch gave his high school team a Texas 6A state championship last fall.

Tight end: The Aggies lose two-time All-Mountain West selection Dax Raymond, who recorded 27 catches a season ago, so this is another position — like wide receiver — that will see an influx of competition between lesser-known players who’ve been on the roster and some newcomers. Junior Carson Terrell is the returning leader for tight end catches with 10 and had three grabs in the spring game. But he’ll face veteran challengers in junior college transfer Mosese Manu and Utah graduate transfer Caleb Repp. Manu has been injury-riddled since arriving at Utah State, so it’s hard to say how long until he’s really in the conversation for starting reps at this spot.

Offensive line: Utah State’s only returning offensive line starter, redshirt sophomore Alfred Edwards, missed spring practice while rehabbing an injury, so this already-young group looked even younger this spring. But Edwards will be back in time for fall camp, and he’ll battle for a starting tackle position with redshirt freshman Andy Koch and redshirt sophomore Kyler Hack, who both appeared in three games each in 2018, as well as redshirt freshman Jacob South, who appeared in two games. Rounding out the rest of the expected starters are redshirt junior left guard Ty Shaw, redshirt freshman center Heneli Avendano and redshirt freshman right guard Karter Shaw. Providing depth at the interior spots will be redshirt freshman left guard Wyatt Bowles, redshirt junior guard/center Demytrick Ali’ifua and redshirt junior right guard Mohelika Uasike. If that seems like a lot of freshmen, that’s because there are — of the 16 offensive linemen expected to be on the roster this fall, nine are either freshmen or redshirt freshmen.



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Defensive line: This is a Gary Andersen defense, so it’s going to be an odd-man front, but we’ll break it down with two ends (one being a hybrid linebacker) and two tackles to keep it straightforward for now as personnel will be the driving force. The two end spots will be redshirt junior Justus Te’i (nine career starts) and redshirt senior Tipa Galeai (All-Mountain West second team selection in 2018 after leading the Aggies with 10.5 sacks) while the tackle spots will feature heavy competition between Chris Unga, senior Devon Anderson and redshirt senior Fua Leilua. But Andersen wants to have a solid rotation of eight players who will all get major reps so senior end Dalton Baker and senior tackle Caden Andersen will also get a lot of playing time, and junior college transfer Jaylin Bannerman will also be in the mix. Keep an eye on Nick Henninger, a grad transfer from Utah who could be an instant impact player.

Inside linebacker: Junior David Woodward, the reigning Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year, is going to be the leader of this defense again. A season ago, he finished with 134 tackles (10th most among FBS players) and though he might not reach that total tackle number again, his impact will be even greater. Stepping into the spot vacated by Chase Christiansen, the Aggies’ second-leading tackler in 2018, is redshirt junior Kevin Meitzenheimer. The depth at this position will be provided by junior college transfer Noah Young, who has three years of eligibility remaining, and Maika Magalei, who appeared in four games a season ago and retained his redshirt. Redshirt junior Baron Gajkowski, who was expected to contribute here, is no longer listed on the roster.


David Woodward led the Mountain West with 134 tackles last season and was named the conference’s defensive player of the year. (Utah State Athletics)
Defensive backfield: Utah State led the nation with 22 interceptions a season ago, and half of those came from departed Aggies defensive backs — safety Aaron Wade (4), safety Jontrell Rocquemore (3), safety Gaje Ferguson (2) and cornerback Deante Fortenberry (2). So, not only does Utah State need to replace bodies in the defensive backfield, but it also needs to replace those big, momentum-turning plays. For that, the Aggies will turn to senior nickel DJ Williams, who had four interceptions and 11 passes defended a season ago. Redshirt sophomore Andre Grayson (12 appearances in 2018) will be the second nickel there. At the two corner spots, the Aggies have junior Ja’Marcus Ingram, who started five games in 2018 before suffering a season-ending injury, and redshirt sophomore Zahodri Jackson. They’ll be backed up by redshirt sophomores Jarrod Green (11 appearances in 2018) and freshman Dominic Tatum, son of former Utah State WR JerRon Tatum. At free safety, look for junior college transfer Troy Lefeged Jr. to make some noise while being pushed by fellow juco transfer Cash Gilliam. At strong safety, junior Shaq Bond, who started the first eight games of the 2018 campaign before suffering a season-ending injury, returns and will be backed up by senior Cameron Haney.

Special teams: Senior placekicker Dominik Eberle should be a Lou Groza Award contender this season. He scored 141 points a season ago (22 field goals, 75 extra points) and made nine of his 12 field-goal attempts from 40-plus yards. The Aggies should also be strong at punter. Though they lost Taylor Hintze, they return redshirt senior Aaron Dalton, who was injured during the 2018 season, but had 210 punts between the 2015 and 2017 seasons. On kickoff returns, junior Savon Scarver, who led the nation with a 33.7 yard per return average in 2018, will be back to help give his offense excellent field position while junior Jordan Nathan will handle punt returns.

How the Aggies have recruited from 2016-19


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Typically, in the first year of a new coaching staff, the recruiting numbers might dip a bit — especially now, between the early signing period and how much sooner high school players are being recruited by college coaches, any coach (like Andersen) who’s hired in early December is already behind. But rather than any kind of a dip, Utah State’s recruiting ranking has actually improved quite a bit with Andersen’s first class.

Since Utah State joined the Mountain West in 2013, its average conference recruiting ranking was eighth and its average national ranking was 104th. The 2019 class ranked fourth in the Mountain West and 88th nationally, just the second time the Aggies cracked the FBS top 100 during their tenure in the Mountain West (also 2015).

Andersen believes they were able to hit the ground running because he made it a priority to not change (if possible) recruiting territories that coaches held at previous stops. That way, coaches already knew many players and didn’t need to spend any time acquainting themselves with a new location as a new coach at a new school. So, for instance, wide receiver coach and passing game coordinator Jason Phillips, who had recruited the Houston area for Andersen at Oregon State before coaching an AAF team in Salt Lake City last season, remained in Houston for this staff. Defensive end coach Bojay Filimoeatu, who had been at San Jose State and recruited Northern California, will continue to recruit that area for Utah State.

“It helps for a smoother transition,” Andersen said.

And the Aggies were able to address certain personnel deficiencies immediately with this class. They signed five offensive linemen, a position that was an immediate concern, and added six defensive backs, a position group that will likely see the majority of its reps taken by juniors and seniors. At quarterback, Utah State managed to sign two three-star dual-threat players, addressing the fact that the Aggies had only three signal-callers on the roster including Love, who could potentially depart after the 2019 season. On top of that, Utah State was able to add 12 newcomers who are either graduate transfers, transfers or junior college players, bringing a bit more experience to a youth-loaded roster.



Impact of coaching changes
Andersen, though not the elder statesman of college football, has entered a unique span in his three-decade coaching career: He has begun to recruit the children of his former players and recruits.

And though he didn’t hire his two coordinators for anything other than their fits, it doesn’t take anyone with too close of an eye on the program to understand the benefit in Andersen’s having hired two younger coordinators — offensive coordinator Mike Sanford (37 years old) and defensive coordinator Justin Ena (41 years old).

“Their résumés and their track records show the proof is in the pudding,” Andersen said.

Andersen had met Ena several times through the years through camps and clinics (typically the coaching fraternity of guys who’ve coached at schools in Utah seems to be a group that really keeps track of one another, and Ena followed Andersen at Southern Utah and Utah). However, the two got to know one another well last year when Ena was coaching linebackers and working as a co-special teams coach at Utah.

But Andersen, as a defensive-minded coach who initially thought me might call the defense, really wanted to make sure that he went about his defensive coordinator search with a fine-toothed comb. He wanted whoever he brought in to have the same belief system and Andersen knew he developed a lot of those thoughts and principles at Utah. So, taking Ena from Utah, where he had also developed many of the same thoughts and principles, made a lot of sense.

“When I found out he was interested and excited about the opportunity, it was a no-brainer for me,” Andersen said.

And as far as Andersen’s OC hire (here is where his age shows a bit) — Sanford’s father, Mike Sr., coached with Andersen at Utah in 2004 and then came to Utah State to be the associate head coach/running back/tight ends coach for Andersen during the final year of his first stint in Logan.

So, though Andersen hadn’t coached with Mike Jr., he did know the family tree quite well.

In terms of cohesion, Andersen retained only two coaches from the previous staff — assistant head coach/tight ends coach Frank Maile (who worked as an assistant head coach/co-defensive coordinator/defensive line coach the last three seasons) and special teams coordinator/running backs coach Stacy Collins (who coached inside linebackers the last two years in Logan and special teams the season before that).

Schedule analysis


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The Aggies will have the honor of being in the second-ever game broadcasted on the ACC Network when they travel to Wake Forest for a season-opening Friday night game on Aug. 30. Of the two Power 5 games on the Aggies’ schedule in 2019, this is the more favorable matchup considering the other comes during Week 6 when Utah State travels to LSU. The Tigers are considered by many to be a top-10 team coming into 2019 (whether it stays that way by Week 6 remains to be seen), but regardless, these are two big opportunities to make statements against Power 5 opponents as the Aggies continue to build their brand as one of the top Group of 5 teams in the country.

The good news about Utah State’s Mountain West schedule is that it gets Boise State at home, and that matchup — which could well decide the Mountain Division of the Mountain West Conference — doesn’t fall until the penultimate weekend of the season. This game, which will feature plenty of new offensive players on both teams, could prove to be a lower-scoring affair, but the game coming late in the season could allow for the Utah State offense (as well as Boise State’s) to find its identity a bit.

The bad news about the Mountain West schedule for Utah State is that it kicks off conference play in Week 4 with a road trip to San Diego State, and the Aggies will have both of their idle weekends in the first half of the season (Weeks 3 and 7).

Final assessment
Last season the Aggies were within striking distance of the Mountain West Championship game. Given the new coaching staff, the number of new faces on this roster and the loss of so many starters (especially on the offensive side of the ball), it seems a little crazy to say that Utah State could be in a similar position again this season, but the Aggies are right there. After all, a stout, playmaking defense and one of the country’s top quarterbacks can make up for a lot of other deficiencies as long as the Aggies don’t cause too many self-inflicted wounds.

Fresno State and Boise State will both be contenders in the Mountain West, but the Aggies don’t face either team until the final third of the season, by which time Andersen hopes his team will be running at full speed.

The Gary Andersen 2.0 version of Utah State kicks off this fall, and though there’s more in the cupboard than the first time he arrived in Logan, the amount of upheaval and change for the team since December mean the challenge may be every bit as great.

Now it’s time to see what Andersen does with this program the second time around.

Not saying Gajkowski is or is not playing this fall, but he is still on the online roster.

Thanks quack. I still bright is the fastest back we’ve had since about about 2012.

Overall not much new. 22 articles have better/more in depth information than this one.

What info do we have on the Olineman from Utah? I don’t remember hearing about him.

This was well written and really illustrated the amount of turnover the program has gone through since last year. Honestly, it tempers my expectations a little bit. I can’t wait to kick off.

Thank You for posting that!

I believe that Baron has been medically disqualified.

22, there were two players mentioned that had transferred to USU. Was the article correct? They were DL Nick Henninger and WR Derek Wright.

SlumJum wrote: ↑

July 14th, 2019, 9:39 pm

I believe that Baron has been medically disqualified.

22, there were two players mentioned that had transferred to USU. Was the article correct? They were DL Nick Henninger and WR Derek Wright.

wright has tweeted a lot of USU stuff.

Posting this full article is the same thing as stealing. Do you go into the grocery store and steal candy bars? If you want the content, pay for it.

As a grad student with no money, I certainly appreciate it. I thought he plugged the service pretty well, too. If he copied every article, it would be another story, but I think this was certainly above the belt.

rAggie wrote:Posting this full article is the same thing as stealing. Do you go into the grocery store and steal candy bars? If you want the content, pay for it.

I have a subscription to the new York times. If I read an article I think my coworker could use, I'll bring him my copy of the NYT and hand it to him. He didn't pay for it. Is that stealing?

Besides, the article is available for free. You get 4 free a month.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

rAggie wrote: ↑

July 15th, 2019, 11:37 am

Posting this full article is the same thing as stealing. Do you go into the grocery store and steal candy bars? If you want the content, pay for it.

Have you ever gone to a friend’s house to watch a game because you didn’t have the channel?? If so, I hope his cable provider sent you an invoice and you were quick to pay it. LOL

Naked Bull Rider wrote: ↑

July 15th, 2019, 6:12 pm

rAggie wrote: ↑

July 15th, 2019, 11:37 am

Posting this full article is the same thing as stealing. Do you go into the grocery store and steal candy bars? If you want the content, pay for it.

Have you ever gone to a friend’s house to watch a game because you didn’t have the channel?? If so, I hope his cable provider sent you an invoice and you were quick to pay it. LOL

I think that is a false equivalency. The similar situation would be recording an event and then giving it out to a friend that didn't have the channel.

My take on this whole thing is, if they offer a couple free articles a month, its okay to post the link. There is a difference between sharing an article with one friend and an entire forum. But as long as they offer a couple free articles a month, or whatever, this isn't equivalent to ripping them off.

Tony Jones writes for them covering the jazz and he just wrote this good piece on Donovan Mitchell https://theathletic.com/1076925/2019/07 ... rked-jazz/

I got the subscription half for reading Tony's stuff this season and half for CFB.