Utah State head coach Gary Andersen is back as the Aggies head coach and his first game will be against a famiilar non-conference foe, Wake Forest. Andersen previewed the matchup from the Aggies perspective. Here is what he had to say at his weekly press conference.
On fall camp:"Fall camp was a positive. This team worked extremely hard. We had a lot of competition. The veterans did a great job, including the young kids on the team, and getting to know each other. They bonded very well, which to me, is a big part of fall camp. We really shifted gears into the middle of last week as far as not really breaking camp, but moving on to the opponent in Wake Forest. Fall camp was a good, solid camp."
On Wake Forest:"Wake Forest is a very good football team. They have a lot of momentum coming off of last season with the big bowl victory. They have an explosive offense and are very well coached on defense. They have good coaches and players. We'll have our hands full on both sides of the ball. They have a talented quarterback in Jamie Newman. He does a lot of good things, he likes contact, likes to run and he's a physical, tough-minded guy. The whole football team carries themselves that way, as far as tough guys who love to go out and compete and keep battling, which was evident in the bowl game. We're excited about the opportunity and much respect to Wake Forest in all three phases."
On DJ Williams' move from nickel to corner:"He may do both. We're going to rotate those back-end guys through there a little bit and DJ has the ability to come back and play nickel and outside. He is one of our best players and we'll put him in a position to be able to be successful and play both. I'm sure Wake Forest is going to play more than three or four wide receivers. We would like to be able to get a few of those corners different reps and that may mean sometimes DJ comes in and plays nickel."
On the hardest spot to decide for starters in fall camp:"Probably wide receiver. There was a lot of competition at wide receiver and there still is a lot of competition at wideout. That will become more clear as you play a game to see exactly when the ball gets in certain kids' hands, what takes place, who the play-makers are. That's the challenge in all three phases of a football team, is to make sure you get the player-makers a chance. There should be a lot of competition and a lot of people fighting for touches at the wide receiver spot. You have to catch them and you have to make plays because in this offense, if you're a guy that just catches it and falls down, it doesn't do much use for the offense. At the end of the day, you must have the ability to make big plays at certain times in certain situations. We'll see who is capable of doing that in 2019 very soon."
On what aspects of fall camp exceeded your expectations:"I was very happy with the progress and getting the defensive linemen back on the field was great. A bunch of them had injuries. A lot of them are staying healthy and have been in good spots. That's the real bright spot, because we haven't seen them live. We've seen them train, lift, run a little bit, but we didn't see those guys run live."
On Wake Forest's running game:"They want to run the ball with a physical presence. They're not afraid to run the quarterback and the quarterback isn't afraid to run the football. He likes it and you can see it on film. The play that always jumps out at me was when they hit a big pass in the bowl game. Memphis jumped offsides, they had a big pass play and the next play, the kid gets hit five times and runs right through the tackles and scores a touchdown. He's a competitor and in that point of the game, it was a couple of touchdowns for Memphis and (Newman) got them right back in the game in two plays. It shows his toughness, capabilities and his want-to, to carry that team on his back. They want to be able to run the ball with good running backs. They have a quality back coming back. The offensive line wants to be physical and get up in your face. They play football the right way and they're a tough-minded football team. They're tough, physical and want to play every snap, whether it's going their way or not. It's a sign of a tough football team."
On how good of a test Wake Forest's receivers will be for USU's secondary:"This will be a big test, especially with all of the run-pass option plays, and taking those shots down the field. Contested balls are a big part of football. We always tell our receivers that they have to catch the contested balls. I'm sure they're telling their receivers the exact same thing. They'll have a height advantage, there's no doubt about it. They're going to have a height advantage in that situation when you have those tall wide receivers. They do a nice job of creating some formations that don't let you disguise much. You have to show your hands and it goes back to the coaches over there. That will be a challenge and I'm excited to see how our guys will match up against them."
On no-huddle offenses wearing out defenses:"When you play with pace, you're trying to wear them out and at the end of the day, offenses can be structured at times to not have to run around and move quite as much as the defense. That's the way the game is played. The second part is to absolutely not having to substitute. When you get into a drive and they don't substitute, you're going fast, whether you're going fast on the ball and you back off and look over and get the play call you want. You're not allowing the defense to bring fresh bodies. It's a huge weapon and it's one of those weapons where on defense you can't do anything about it. If they want to keep you on the field and you're stuck on the field, then you're stuck on the field. There is give and take in all things, but those are some of the things with the spread offense that causes issues."
On stopping Wake Forest's punt return game:"We take great pride in special teams and we spend a lot of time on it. We should be good in special teams and from what I know of their special teams program, they're solid. That shouldn't be a surprise to anybody from the way you watch them on tape and you gain respect for a good group of kids that play hard. They'll expect to change the game in a positive way for themselves just like we expect to change the game in a positive way for ourselves."
On Wake Forest senior defensive back Essang Bassey:"He has good pre-snap awareness. What I hear from our coaches on that side of the ball is he appears to be a student of the game. He has great reactive skills, which you have to have when you have that ability. When he gets into a position to get into a 50-50 ball or a contested ball, he does a very nice job of getting his hands in position or making the hit that causes issues to keep the ball in control by the receivers. He's a good player and well deserving. He's one of their main guys and he's played in a Power 5 conference and has done very well. He'll probably be playing football for a very long time."
On the Aggies' offensive line:"We have four new starters on the offensive line. We were all in with these kids in January and we're still all in with them. I'm excited to see them play. This will be a stiff test for them walking into that situation and setting with that defensive front. It's going to be fun to see what they can do and how they hold up. You need to be able to run your offense and you can't run your offense without an offensive line that can protect and block. We have to do a good job of getting the ball out and on time. We have to be able to run the football and that's going to be a big factor. It doesn't matter how good the back is if the room to run is not there. We'll sit back when this thing is all over in January and how that offensive line plays will be where we sat as a football team. They're young and we expect them to be good. The sooner they mature and show that they can do it, we can be special. Those five guys are going to have to get it done. We have eight of them that we feel pretty good about. It's the youth and you just don't know. They're teenagers and they have to grow up and grow up fast in a man's game. It will be fun to watch that."
On Siaosi Mariner, Caleb Repp and Nick Heninger coming in as grad transfers from Utah:"Nick is a little different because he has two years left. That's a real positive for us moving forward. I just got to know those kids when we were at Utah. Two of them were in my room with Nick and Caleb. Getting to know Siaosi from afar was awesome. He was a kid that was in our meeting rooms and crossed paths with. It took a while to get to know him, but while he was going through some things last year, we got a little bit of a relationship when I was there. I believe they all trusted me and it's awesome to have them here. If they were to go anywhere, I would've wanted them to be here. They're good players, great kids and they've adjusted so well to the system, and our kids have let them in the system and jump right in to be a part of this football team. I want them to be successful and I hope in January, they get all they want out of their senior years. They're special kids and I'm happy we could give them an opportunity and I'm happy they decided to come with us."
On Caleb Repp being able to play just offense this season:"Caleb is a tremendous athlete. He's a good football player, whether he was a defense end, tight end or wide receiver. He's been a really good player. We expect big things out of him and he's a natural. He can go out and play in any spot when you need him to, whether it's blocking in a scrimmage or it's running a pass route. He might even pop in there on some third downs and rush the passer, who knows.
"On Riley Burt transferring to Utah State:"When we found out Riley was looking to make a decision to play somewhere else, I talked to (BYU head coach) Kalani Sitake and tried to get information and see what the scenario was. We thought it would be a good, natural fit for us. We knew at that point we were looking for a couple more backs at that point. We now have two senior running backs and Riley was a natural fit for us. He's had some good games, he's been in a lot of college football games and has been in an environment of both good and bad. He's faced adversity, but is a better person and player because of that. He's been a great kid since he's been here and he's kind of coming home to play, too, which is important to him. He gets to be closer to home, and closer to his parents and family, and gets to play at Utah State for his senior year. He's excited and we're excited to have him."
Junior Quarterback Jordan LoveOn the offensive side of the ball during fall camp:"Fall camp was a really good camp. Going into camp, offensively, the offense had a lot of inexperienced people coming in and new faces. Every day at camp, the offense got better. We grinded, just came together and built the chemistry we needed to build. I'm excited for the season to start, and I like where we're at on the offensive side of the ball."O
n the last time Utah State played at Wake Forest:"That was a tough game last time we went down there. I didn't get to come in until about the third quarter. It was just tough. Their offense put up a lot of points, and our offense couldn't get much done. It was cool when I got to come into the game and throw that touchdown to (Gerold Bright). That was a really cool first college touchdown pass. It was fun, but at the same time, we were getting smacked, so it wasn't too much fun. It'll be a different story this time we go down there."
On if the timing of the last Wake Forest game affected the outcome of the game:"It just played a huge role in my career being able to go and do that. I can't remember what the score of the game was, but we were down a lot. Despite that, we were still fighting and still trying to come back. Obviously, it was tough."
On if the last Wake Forest game changed his approach:"It definitely changed. It really jumped-started my career and showed me what I could do. It just helped me a lot."
On how excited he is to get another crack at Wake Forest:"I'm really excited, especially since I didn't get to play too much in that game, so I'm excited to go back down there and show them what we're really all about now. It's going to be a different story this time when we go down there. I'm excited to start the season off down there."
On the development of the wide receivers:"It's a really good group. We have a lot of talent in that group. Through camp, they've gotten better. There was a lot of competition out there just to find out who was going to be the guy. We have so many guys at the position, still, that are capable of making plays. You'll see a lot of faces out there. They'll be rotating and stuff, but I'm excited to get them the ball. They're ready to show the world what they can do."
On the development of the offensive line:"It's the same in that area: a lot of competition there, moving guys around and seeing who's going to fit. That's one group that got a lot better. You can just tell from the first day of camp to the last day, pass-pro, run-blocking, all that, just the tremendous amount of work they put in. I have all the confidence in the world in them, and am excited to get behind them."
On what aspects in fall camp he felt the team exceeded expectations at:"Just how much we got better every day. You could, honestly, go out there and see it. The chemistry is there. It's clicking. The offense is getting better. With our offense and the pace, you can go out there and just see how much faster we've been getting. People are getting the pace down. It's about learning the offense and getting comfortable with it. That's the one thing we got a lot better at, was getting comfortable with the offense and knowing what we need to be doing every play. Obviously, we're going to continue to get better with that once the season starts and we get into some real game experience. That's what got better."
On wanting to get out on the field and show people what Utah State is all about:"We're super excited to get out there and just show out. Coming off last year, obviously, we got a lot of hype for our team. I don't think people are understanding what we're going to do this year. It's going to be a special season and a real big thing. I can't say much because we're just going to get out there and show you what we can do."
On if the offense can do the same things this season as last year:"Our offense can do the exact same things even better. Just with the offense, our tempo and high-speed offense is hard for defenses to stop it, especially when we get going. The main thing for us is to just get that first play, that initial first down. That's when we start rolling. That's one area we just have to keep getting better at is taking the field and getting that initial first down and just letting the offense handle itself and continue to make plays."
On how much confidence having an experienced defense gives him:"We have all the confidence in the world in our defense. We have a lot of returners coming back on defense. That's one of the best defenses we'll face all year, and we go against them every day, so they're making us better. It's easy for us on offense as you never want to see three-and-outs and bad drives, but we know our defense is going to go out there and handle their business. They did a great job last year at getting a lot of turnovers and getting the ball back to us fast. That helps us really go score fast. It goes both ways. Defense gets a lot of takeaways, and we try to put up points in a hurry."
On if he still gets butterflies before the first game:"Oh yeah, you still get butterflies. I'll definitely still get butterflies the first game, or every game, really. It's just that excitement building up. But, not as much as the first time I hit the field and stuff like that. It's just that excitement building up to finally get out there."
