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LOGAN — Utah State's season opener against UConn kicks off on Aug. 27, a week before the majority of college football begins — it's a Saturday traditionally coined as "Week 0."
But don't tell that to head coach Blake Anderson.
"I don't understand Week 0; that's Week 1 for us. I don't know, that's beyond me," Anderson said Thursday in a press conference with local media.
Whatever you want to call it, Utah State's season starts earlier than usual, which means fall camp begins a week early, as well. On Thursday, with the July summer rays still beaming down, players and coaches reported to camp. Utah State also held its annual on-campus media day before fall practices begin Friday.
With the start of camp, Anderson enters his second year with the Aggies. But a tricky schedule looms, with upcoming road games against Alabama, Boise State and BYU, and an expectation has been set after an unexpected conference championship in his first season with the program.
"The expectations are through the roof, both with the fan base and within the building," Anderson said. "We'll get to work and see, hopefully, what we can create over the next month before we get the opportunity to play UConn here at home."
The following are some key storylines ahead of fall camp as the Aggies prepare for its Week 0 matchup.
Leaders return
Deven Thompkins, Nick Heninger and Justin Rice, among others, graduated after last season and are difficult players to replace. Fortunately for the Aggies, they return several leaders from last year's championship squad.
Senior quarterback Logan Bonner, who missed spring ball due to a knee injury, will be ready to go in fall. He'll look to build upon last year's success, where he set a single-season program record with 3,628 passing yards and 36 touchdown passes. Starting running back and Doak Walker Award preseason candidate Calvin Tyler Jr. is also back and looks to lead the ground game.
"It feels good, but it also comes with a great responsibility," Tyler said. "They expect more; they expect me to do more than what I did last year; they don't want me to get comfortable at all."
Along the defensive side of the ball, senior AJ Vongphachanh is the lone starting linebacker to return; he's been mentioned as a leader by several people in the program. Junior defensive end Byron Vaughns has all-conference potential and is a vocal leader in the locker room, while senior defensive tackle Hale Motu'apuaka is "kind of the father" of the defensive front, according to Anderson.
Having defined leadership that knows how to win going into fall camp is a major asset to the program and will help shape the team.
Replacing the interior
The offensive line depth took a hit in May when senior starting guard Quazell White was suspended by the team. With White and guard Demytrick Ali'fua (graduated) both off the roster, both guard positions are open.
"It's likely that maybe even a young guy that hasn't played a whole lot or at all is going to have to step into those spots," Anderson said. "Those two guard spots have to materialize in a way that we can run the ball better than we did a year ago. We were adequate, but not explosive,"
One of those young players may be true freshman Weylin Lapauaho. The freshman out of Bingham High gelled well in spring ball and could be a starter. Senior Wade Meacham has the experience, but Southern Utah University transfer Austin Leasusa and redshirt freshman Elia Migao will also be in the mix.
The good news is that three starting seniors return: right tackle Jacob South, left tackle Alfred Edwards and center Chandler Dolphin. The experience supplemented by some youth may be the right blend to fix the deficit of losing two starters and perhaps add some depth.
"I feel good about where we're at in the room right now," Dolphin said. "I think we got a solid pool of experience and a lot of guys who are hungry to play. We're gonna have the same attitude coming back as we did last year. We might not be ranked first in the preseason, but we're gonna do everything in our power to make sure our presence is felt every game."
Striker by committee?
With Cash Gilliam graduating, the "striker" position — a hybrid linebacker/safety role created by defensive coordinator Ephraim Banda — seemed to be in good hands entering spring ball. But presumed starter Anthony Switzer, an Arkansas State transfer, suffered an ACL injury in the spring game. While Switzer's recovery is ahead of schedule (Anderson didn't completely rule out Switzer coming back later in the season), he'll likely take a medical redshirt year.
So who's going to take the position?
"That's going to be a little bit of a position by committee early," Anderson said. "To me, that is a position that on a daily basis may see a different guy, hopefully by scrimmage two it is settled in and solidified."
The front-runner appears to be inside linebacker Kaleo Neves, who played all 14 games last year — mostly on special teams — but has been in the program since 2019.
"He's been patiently waiting for his time, so I feel like he's going to ball out," redshirt freshman Sione Moa said about Neves. "He's going to be the main guy at striker this year; I feel like he's going to have a really good year."
Other guys competing for the striker job are junior college transfer Omari Okeke and true freshman Lofa Fonoti-Maikui out of Northridge High.
Anderson continues to grieve
In late February, Anderson's 21-year-old son Cason died. Anderson, who lost his first wife, Wendy, to cancer in 2019, opened up during Thursday's press conference about the difficulty of losing his son five months ago.
"I'm glad to be getting back into football and around the guys every day, but we're broken, and we're gonna be that way for a while," he said. "We have to learn how to do life that way. The support has been amazing. We appreciate everybody's respect and support for what we've gone through, but I'm a different person than I was in February, and I have to learn to do my job and be the person God wants me to be in the face of adversity.
"It's been the toughest four months of my life, and I'm hoping and praying that as the season progresses that I can share our story, share our witness and our faith in Christ in the midst of the toughest time in a way that helps other people; and also hope that I can be what these guys and the staff and our fans need me to be every day. I would just encourage people to continue to pray for us and lift us up where you can."
