Utah State had its first scrimmage of fall camp. Here’s what was said afterward

Utah State safety Ike Larsen (6) motions to teammates on defense during an NCAA football game on Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023 in Logan, Utah. | Tyler Tate

One scrimmage in, and a few things appear to be pretty clear about Utah State football.

The Aggies’ offense — so often among the best in the Mountain West Conference under former head coach Blake Anderson — appears to be in good shape, particularly at the quarterback position with Spencer Petras and Bryson Barnes, and at the running back position with Rahsul Faison and Robert Briggs

The Aggies’ defense — one of the worst in all of the FBS a year ago — still has some work to do ahead of the upcoming season.

At least according to interim head coach Nate Dreiling.

“The offense was and is currently way ahead of the defense,” he said in a release following Saturday’s scrimmage, the first of fall camp for Utah State.

“They did a good job throwing the ball and running the ball. They just have so many weapons and I think Spencer (Petras) and Bryson (Barnes), and all the guys that went in, did a great job of facilitating who needs to touch it. So, hats off to them. Defensively, we need to tackle a little bit better and get our feet set. The offense did a good job with tempo, which forces you to communicate fast, so we have to catch up in that regard.”

Dreiling noted that USU’s defense did turn things around in the second half of the scrimmage after the first 45 minutes heavily favored the offense.

“The offense came out firing right away, which is awesome, and the defense faced adversity,” he said. “They came back, and in the red zone, we held them to four straight field goals which is huge.

“Red zone defense is a main priority for us, keep making them snap it and once they get inside of the red zone, make them kick it. So that was great. More importantly,…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/utah-state-had-first-scrimmage-003418451.html

Author : Deseret News

Publish date : 2024-08-11 00:34:18

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