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LOGAN — Cooper Legas, McCae Hillstead; McCae Hillstead, Cooper Legas.
The quarterback conversation for the Aggies this season has gone back and forth between Legas and Hillstead, somehow missing the transfer quarterback from Wyoming Levi WIlliams.
Utah State head coach Blake Anderson originally said of his decision to go with Hillstead over Williams that his passing was inconsistent and he typically tried to find answers with his feet more than his arm, something Utah State was not looking for in a quarterback.
All season long, the conversation was whether the quarterback should be Hillstead or Legas. All the while, Williams played on special teams and supported his teammates any way he could, not to mention the training he was undertaking to become a Navy SEAL after his football career.
Until, that is, the back end of the Aggies' penultimate regular-season game, when Hillstead went down with an injury for the third time this season. Legas had already exited the game with an injury, so Williams was tasked with helping the Aggies push through the final minutes of a loss.
"We knew that Coop's shoulder was bad, and that was the second time that McCae had gotten rolled up on the same ankle," Anderson said. "(We) felt very strongly that our best chance moving forward was to let a veteran, mature, grown up dude (Williams) go out there and lead us."
So the Aggies made some changes to their offense and designed it around Williams for their final regular-season game. And Williams did not disappoint.
The transfer quarterback racked up 153 rushing yards, 198 passing yards, and five total touchdowns against New Mexico, including a game-winning 13-yard rushing touchdown in the second overtime period.
It was enough to give Aggies six wins and secure bowl eligibility — and perhaps, according to Anderson, enough to make the head coach wonder whether Williams should have had a more legitimate shot at the starting job.
"I'm an idiot; should have played him probably earlier in the year," Anderson said. "I know we've gone back and forth. He and I have had great conversations throughout earlier in the year about, you know, why I chose to make the changes I did, and he was awesome about (it). 'Coach, I completely understand it,' and never, ever wavered. Just great teammate."
In any case, he made his opportunity count, and in a very Williams way, gave the credit to others.
"It's a pretty incredible moment, but this moment's really not about me," he said Friday. "It's about the guys downstairs. It's about the hundred guys in that locker room that come to work every single day and fight and grind and sweat and bleed every single day. … I play for them. I play for my Creator, and then I play for my teammates."
Where that leaves Williams going into the bowl game remains to be seen, but he's done enough in the opportunities he's been given to have a chance.
