Big Plays Highlight USU's First Scrimmage Saturday

LOGAN, Utah - Going through just over 100 plays in their first scrimmage, the Utah State Aggies' action was highlighted by some big plays Saturday at Romney Stadium.

Sophomore Curtis Marsh opened the scoring after catching a short pass from senior quarterback and scampering 77-yards down the sideline to the end zone, running behind a wall of blocks from his linemen, tight ends and receivers. Redshirt freshman Robert Turbin replicated the play a little while later, snaring a short pass from sophomore quarterback Diondre Borel and rumbling 80 yards for a TD, also getting some path-clearing blocks.

Not to be outdone by the offense's big plays, the defense had some of their own with senior safety Caleb Taylor snagging two interceptions while junior cornerback Kejon Murphy snatched the ball out of the air off a tip at the line and darted 55 yards to the endzone for the defensive score. Junior defensive end Darby Golden and sophomore linebacker Jordan Glass had a sack each and the USU defense also recovered four fumbles.

On special teams, sophomore kicker Peter Caldwell hit all three of his extra points to go along with one field goal, while junior kicker Chris Ulinski hit three PAT's, with his fourth getting partly blocked, as well as hitting one field goal.

"We saw a lot of good plays today," USU head coach Brent Guy said. "That interception that Caleb Taylor made during the two-minute drill and ran out of bounds, his freshman year he would've probably tried to score, but that's the difference in having veteran experience back there. You get the interception and you go out of bounds to end the game."

While Guy saw several things to his liking, he also found things that the Aggie will need to work on for next week's scrimmage.

"Offense started very fast, you expect the offense to score in the red zone. We scored a couple touchdowns, but had to settle for some field goals, that's not as frustrating as getting down into the red zone and then turning the ball over," Guy said.

USU's offense scored six touchdowns in the scrimmage, but the Aggie defense held them for two field goals and forced the turnovers.

"The offense made some good plays today, making the right reads and getting some good blocks," Taylor said. "We as a defense had no choice but to redeem ourselves, we gave up two big plays in the beginning. Our defense just got in the mind set that we had to turn things around and do something."

Taylor played a big role in that turnaround with his two oskies.

"They weren't too hard, I just read my keys and from my workouts this summer on getting better at reading what the quarterback is trying to do, I was able to be in the right spot," Taylor said. "I give credits to my linebackers, they set it up."

Marsh's score came during the fourth series and opened the day's scoring.

"We were able to catch the defensive ends off guard. I caught the pass and got some blocks from my linemen and then I saw daylight and I just ran as fast as I could," Marsh said. "It was created by a big block from the linemen and then I was able to use my speed to get to the end zone."

The USU offense was able to convert seven big third-down conversions, something the Aggies have been emphasizing in practice.

"When we are in third-and-short and fourth-and-short situations, we the running backs have to win those situations. We've been working hard on those," Marsh said.

Turbin's big catch and run came just one play after the offense had fumbled the ball away.

"On the play before, we gave up the ball by fumbling it, so coach put us back out there and we needed to make a big play. Coach put us in a great situation and we needed to make up for our mistakes. I was able to swing to the outside, the quarterback opened it up wide open for me and I just had to catch the ball and run behind the blocks. It was a great play, everyone involved did their job great and made the play work."

Marsh and Turbin are part of the Aggies' large group at running back this season, as eight different running backs had carries Saturday. Sophomore running back Derrvin Speight led the team with 33 yards on five carries, including a five-yard TD run. Turbin also had a five-yard scoring scamper and freshman running back Kurtis Shaw added a one-yard run late. Junior fullback Micah Parker also had a four-yard catch for a TD.

"We've got a lot of depth at running back this season. Curtis Marsh is a great running back, Derrvin Speight can carry the ball really well too and we've just got a really good group of running backs. We're all good friends, we all want to work hard together to win football games," Turbin said.

"We have a great deal of depth at running back," Guy said. "Derrick Cumbee runs it up in there hard, he didn't get many carries today because of the situations we had, but today we saw what we've been seeing a lot of in practice. Turbin and Marsh are both great runners and have great hands. They both had some nice catches and big runs. Derrvin Speight had some good runs. We've got a lot of talent and options there."

Setzer ended the day 11-of-16 passing for 162 yards with one TD pass and two interceptions while Borel was 7-of-11 for 112 yards with two TD's and one INT. Freshman quarterback Exavier Johnson was 3-of-10 for 21 yards and added 28 yards rushing.

Turbin was the leading receiver with 98 yards on four catches while Marsh ended with 90 yards on three catches. Junior tight end Jeremy Mitchell added three receptions for 26 yards, as a total of 13 different players caught a pass.

The next major scrimmage is slated for Saturday, Aug. 16 as part of Aggie Football Family Fun Night, sponsored by Macey's Foods with free admission. The scrimmage starts at 4 p.m., while games and activities for fans getting underway on the South Concourse of Romney Stadium at 4 p.m. as well. Following the scrimmage, from 6-7 p.m. fans can get their favorite Aggies' autographs and play catch with an Aggie on the field. Fans can also pick up their season tickets or purchase tickets at the Romney Stadium Box Office.

Utah State opens the 2008 season on Saturday, Aug. 30 at UNLV at 8 p.m. (MT). After playing at 20th-ranked Oregon on Sept. 6 at 1:30 p.m. (MT), the Aggies host in-state rival Utah in their home-opener on Sept. 13 at 6 p.m. (MT). USU continues its three-game homestand by opening WAC action against Idaho on Saturday, Sept. 20 for USU Ag Day. The Aggies then host another in-state rival in BYU on Friday, Oct. 3. After road games at San Jose State and Nevada on Oct. 11 and 18, respectively, USU hosts Fresno State in its annual Homecoming game on Oct. 25. The Aggies remain at home to take on Hawai'i on Nov. 1 on USU Military Appreciation Day. USU plays at Boise State on Nov. 8 and Louisiana Tech on Nov. 15 before concluding regular-season action on Nov. 29 against New Mexico State on Aggie Appreciation Day.

The Aggies were picked ninth in the Western Athletic Conference preseason poll despite finishing seventh in last season's standings with a 2-10 overall record and 2-6 in WAC action. USU has 17 starters returning among 39 lettermen. Of those lettermen, 12 are seniors, which matches last season for the most in Guy's four-year tenure.

Aggie football tickets are available in person through the USU Ticket Office at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum, online 24 hours a day at www.UtahStateAggies.com and clicking on "tickets" in left column, or by phone by calling 1-888-USTATE-1 or (435) 797-0305.

Utah State Football Scrimmage Stats

08-09-08

Offense

Passing: Sean Setzer 11-16, 162 yards, TD, 2 INT's; Diondre Borel 7-11, 112 yards, 2 TD's, INT; Exavier Johnson 3-10, 21 yards.

Rushing: Derrvin Speight 5-33 TD; Exavier Johnson 7-28; Robert Turbin 8-26 TD; Diondre Borel 16-19; Curtis Marsh 7-19; Kurtis Shaw 4-13 TD; Derrick Cumbee 3-3; Ronald Scott 2-3; Jacob Actkinson 1-3; Micah Parker 1-1 TD; Sean Setzer 2-(-4).

Receiving: Robert Turbin 4-98 TD; Curtis Marsh 3-90 TD; Jeremy Mitchell 3-26; Omar Sawyer 2- 20; Stanley Morrison 1-14; Chris Harris 1-9; Chase Griffiths 1-9; Jacob Actkinson 1-8; Otis Nelson 1-7; Josh Flores 1-6; Emmanual Ojeriakhi 1-6; Derrvin Speight 1-5; Micah Parker 1-4 TD.

Defensive Highlights

Interceptions: Caleb Taylor 2-10; Murphy 1-55 TD

Sack: Darby Golden, Jordan Glass

Fumble Recovery: Chris Williams, Robert Tidwell, Maxim Dinka, Kyle Gallagher

Pass Break-Up: Darby Golden

QB Hurry: Alan Bishop

Blocked PAT: Roy Hurst

Special Teams

Field goals: Peter Caldwell 1-1, 23; Chris Ulinski 1-1, 19.

Extra Points: Peter Caldwell 3-3; Chris Ulinski 3-4.

Related topics