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LOGAN — Utah State’s 2013 football campaign faced a major shift when a dominant offensive player went down with a knee injury less than midway through the season — but he’s back.
And the Aggies also add a healthy quarterback Chuckie Keeton, too.
Senior running back Joe Hill, an explosive ground pounder, is ready to pick up where he left off after going down at San Jose State last September, an injury that almost eerily foreshadowed the loss of Keeton a week later.
“I felt pretty good, then in my first scrimmage back I went out and got hit,” Hill said. “I can honestly say that my knee feels 100 percent now.”
Hill was speaking at the Aggies’ first pre-game press conference of 2014, where head coach Matt Wells and a few players discussed the team’s opening opponent, at Tennessee on Sunday. The emotions were a mix of excitement and nerves over a brand-new opponent to kick off the 2014 college football season.
“It’s game week, and kids walked in early this morning excited to start the week off with Tennessee and game week,” Wells said. “We as a staff are excited to play in a historical venue as Neyland Stadium. Some great players have played there. It’s pretty cool for these kids to know that they’re going in there.”
I felt pretty good, then in my first scrimmage back I went out and got hit. I can honestly say that my knee feels 100 percent now.
–Utah State senior running back Joe Hill
Not lost on Wells or his team is that the Aggies are 1-16-0 against the Southeastern Conference, though the school has never played Tennessee. Utah State’s lone win came before Wells was born, a 35-6 thumping at Kentucky on Oct. 10, 1970.
Hill, who rushed for 252 yards and a touchdown on 53 carries before tearing his anterior cruciate ligament, is excited about the prospects of playing Tennessee — another big, road game to start the season after openers at Auburn and at Wisconsin.
This time around, the three-year starter hopes to send the Aggies’ first game off with a win.
“We just have to finish,” Hill said. “I feel like all the other big games, we just didn’t finish. I feel like we can get this game if we come out there with tenacity, excitement and not backing down at all. Just finish.”
The Aggies have shifted into full game preparation mode as they launch their campaign against the Vols on Sunday, when it will be one of the first college football games on the new SEC Network.
That national television exposure is good for the program, Wells said.
“You know that the coverage you are going to get is nationwide,” Wells said. “You are going to be in a lot of living rooms. The programs are going to be wrapping up their Sundays, and we’ll be on every complex in America. Every college football team will be watching us. To be able to play in that atmosphere is an opportunity to expose our program, show the country what we’ve done, and hopefully continue to add to that.”
Conferences aside, senior linebacker Zach Vigil is just excited to play a real opponent.
“It’s huge, whether we play Tennessee or some Division III school,” Vigil said. “I think the opening game is always important.”
Even with an entirely new offensive line under second-year head coach Butch Jones, the Vols have plenty of offensive threats, Vigil added.
“Their WRs are specimens, to say the least,” he said. “They aren’t afraid to go up and get the football. We’ll have to push the quarterback to mess up their timing.”
