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LOGAN — Utah State held their first scrimmage of fall camp at Maverik Stadium Saturday evening. To the surprise of very few, the defense dominated nearly the entire scrimmage.
"Both the one and two defenses played well. They came out and established some physicality. But on the flip side, I don't think it was real sharp on the offense's end," head coach Matt Wells said after the scrimmage.
The Aggie defense dominated the 90-snap scrimmage, recording 17 tackles for loss and 10 sacks. The defense was lead by the usual suspects in Kyler Fackrell and Nick Vigil. The two combined for eight tackles, four tackles for loss and two sacks. "The defense played really, really well," Fackrell said. "It was one of the cleaner first scrimmages of a fall camp that we've had. There's still a lot of things we can improve on, but overall, there were less mistakes. People knew where they needed to be and did a good job."
Junior Brock Carmen continued an impressive fall camp:
Junior college transfer LB Brock Carmen continues to shine this fall as he records a safety. Defense is dominating the scrimmage big-time. — Utah State Football (@USUFootball) August 16, 2015
The Aggie secondary made some big plays including interceptions by Jontrell Rocquemore and Kevin Ogwu.
Junior defensive end Ricky Ali'ifua seemed to knock down about every pass thrown his way. The depth at defensive line was there tonight, as Suia Taufa, Gasetoto Schuster, Clark Jeppeson, Ian Togiai, John Taylor and Eric Bernston spent time with the second-string defense. They all looked capable of holding down the front to allow the great Aggie linebackers to make plays.
The scrimmage started with the defense forcing five three-and-outs during the first seven series, while holding the offense scoreless the first 14 series.
The Aggie offense was able to flash some nice highlights towards the end of the scrimmage. Chuckie Keeton had a pair of 5-yard touchdown runs. He was 11 for 19 for 137 yards and two interceptions passing the ball. Keeton looked incredibly comfortable both inside and outside the pocket. Among the receivers, red shirt freshman Zach Van Leeuwen stood out. He finished the scrimmage with four catches for 40 yards.
Junior Kennedy Williams might have been the offensive MVP of the scrimmage. He had 54 yards over five touches. Sophomore LaJuan Hunt showed how quick he is on a 25-yard touchdown run late in the scrimmage.
Brock Warren is ahead of Jake Thompson for kicking duties as the Aggies continue through fall camp. "The kickers got better as we went on, but it was pretty nasty early on. They'll be all right, they'll figure it out," said Wells.
Being the first scrimmage of fall camp take everything with a grain of salt. It is not time to panic about the offense, particularly the offensive line. The defense played great today but it is still to be seen how the defensive line holds up. The second scrimmage of Utah State's fall camp will take place Wednesday, Aug. 19, from 6-7:30 p.m. at Maverik Stadium. All practices during fall camp, which concludes on Saturday, Aug. 29, are open to the public.
Parker Robertson is a graduate of Utah State University, a freelance contributor, and an avid fan of sports. Follow me on Twitter @ParkerRob78 Email: ParkerRobertson18@gmail.com
