USU football: Aggies eager to defy preseason predictions

Jul 21, 2023
The last time the Aggies were picked to finish near the bottom of the Mountain West in football, they defied expectations by capturing a conference championship, beating two Power 5 conference opponents and matching their single-season program record in wins.
That was just two years ago when, coming off a rough COVID-19 shortened season, Utah State's new coaching staff turned to the transfer portal and it paid off. Blake Anderson, who is entering his third season as USU's head coach, is hopeful a similar approach will work in 2023. Of USU's 39 new scholarship players, 30 are transfers from four-year programs or the junior college level.
Anderson talked about the upcoming season Thursday as part of the conference's football media days. Media days concluded Thursday at the Circa Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. The head coaches from all 12 Mountain West programs were made available to the media on Day 2 of the annual event.
Two players from each team were on hand to chat with the media Wednesday, and the two Aggies were senior quarterback Cooper Legas and senior defensive tackle Hale Motu'apuaka. Legas and Motu'apuaka are two of just nine returning non-special teams starters for USU, which lost a wealth of players to the transfer portal, including five defensive starters in defensive ends Daniel Grzesiak (Cincinnati) and Byron Vaughns (Baylor), linebacker AJ Vongphanchanh (BYU) and defensive backs Ajani Carter (Baylor) and Kaleo Neves (Nevada). Additionally, offensive lineman Weylin Laphuaho, who started every game for the Aggies a year ago as a true freshman, transferred to BYU.
Anderson and his staff have replaced those lost starters with a bevy of former Power 5 conference athletes, which includes offensive tackle Ralph Frias (Arizona State), safety Simeon Harris (Colorado), cornerback Al Ashford (Wisconsin), defensive tackle Sir Mells (Oregon), linebacker Gavin Barthiel (Washington State), cornerback Jaiden Francois (Nebraska and UCF), and wide receivers Colby Bowman (Stanford) and Grant Page (Colorado).
"We have attacked the portal in the most strategic way we can with where we're at," Anderson said in a Thursday interview with Bridget Howard and Jesse Kurtz of the Mountain West Network. "We won the championship Year 1 by allowing a great COVID senior class and a really good transfer class to gel. We did not have the success with that last year. Injuries played a big factor, but this year with the attrition, NIL, all of the things that happen, it's a little bit larger of a number."
Last season was an up-and-down one for the Aggies, who picked up nice victories against the likes of a 10-win Air Force squad and San Jose State, but also lost at home to Weber State and UNLV, plus were soundly defeated by Memphis in the First Responders Bowl. USU had high expectations going into the 2022 campaign, but ultimately fell short of those with a record of 6-7.
This year's squad will look a lot different as, not only did the Aggies lose 28 lettermen, they have several new coaches. Gone are two of the three major coordinators as Anthony Tucker of now the co-offensive coordinator at Indiana, while defensive coordinator Ephraim Banda is now coaching safeties for the Cleveland Browns.
Anderson will be calling the offensive plays this season and it was something he was asked about during his interview with the Mountain West Network.
"Probably I need to have my head examined, to be honest with you," Anderson quipped. "... Just in my mind I felt like there were some things that we needed to do a little bit differently to help us stay competitive yearly. We were really good offensively in Year 1, but we had talent ... move on and our roster was a little different (in Year 2), and there was just some subtle changes I felt like we needed to make. And I felt like the best way for me to do that was to step in and be involved in that process. It's something I've done in the past for very similar reasons at Arkansas State. This time was to come in and try to impact our offense in a way that might allow us to be consistently good every year."
Anderson went on to say he will "lean on Kyle Cefalo as my co-coordinator. He's been with me for 10 years now and he's been through this process with me before as well, (so) he knows what to expect."
More consistent play at the quarterback position is something the Aggies will need this season in order to place higher than eighth in the Mountain West. That's were they were slated to finish in Wednesday's media poll. Legas took over at that position last fall after Logan Bonner suffered a season-ending injury, and completed 61.1 percent of his passes for 11 touchdowns, but also 10 interceptions, in eight starts. Legas looked sharp during spring camp and Anderson is confident that will translate over into the '23 campaign.
"He's better, really, in every aspect," Anderson said of the former Orem High three-sport standout. "He's physically better. He's probably added 10, 15 pounds of muscle. Our strength staff does a great job, but he buys into it and does the little things right. ... I would tell you — and I don't want to speak out of turn — but I feel like he likes the subtle changes that we've made. We communicate well together. He had a great relationship with coach Tuck. That wasn't broken, but there's a great line of communication between me and him, and I've seen him really progress this spring. He's at a place that I think he's very comfortable in. He's got a confidence about him that to me is a big part of being a quarterback and giving us a chance of being successful."
Legas has some talented receivers at his disposal, headlined by '22 honorable mention all-league selection Terrell Vaughn. Vaughn, a junior college All-American at Ventura, finished with 624 yards and five TDs on 56 receptions, plus carried the ball 13 times for 72 yards and a TD, during his first season in Logan. The speedy 5-foot-7 slot receiver also returned a kickoff 100 yards to the house against Weber State.
"I felt like the first half of last season he was still trying to get a grip of what the league was like, what he really needed to do inside the offense," Anderson said of Vaughn. "But the last few games of the year, he could have been one of the best in the league, if not the best at his position. And he picked up right where he left off this spring. It was clear that he felt comfortable in his own skin. He understands what we're asking him to do. ... It's my job to get him the ball a lot because every time he touches the ball, we've got a chance."
The Aggies should be loaded in the slot this season as Kyle Van Leeuwen has returned from his injury, plus former Air Force playmaker Micah Davis has been signed from the JUCO ranks and he looked explosive during spring camp. Davis torched the Aggies to the tune of 110 yards receiving, which including a 56-yard TD, and another 32 yards rushing in USU's wild 49-45 triumph over Air Force two years ago.
"When we knew he moved on to junior college, we identified him early and recruited him the whole time," Anderson said. "The thing about Micah that I love is how versatile he is. He literally can play inside or outside. He could go in the backfield if you wanted him to and he's a great return man. And so I see him being sprinkled in all over the field. We targeted him in the slot during the spring, but quickly moved him to the outside spot. At the end he was getting more and more comfortable."
Anderson went on to compare Davis to Vaughn and quipped, "I'm hoping when we play Air Force, they get to see a lot of him."
Despite having some proven playmakers, the Aggies won't be able to gel offensively unless they get their rotation solidified in the offensive trenches. USU's only returning starter on the offensive line is left guard Wade Meacham, although Cole Motes and Falepule Alo have each started multiple games in a pair of seasons.
"That's a big question mark for us and it is across the board on our roster," Anderson said when asked about his O-line. "We've got a lot of new bodies. We're no different than anybody else in college football right now (in that) we had a large attrition number this offseason. That offensive line, I think we've got a good eight or nine guys that we can work with, but we don't know who that five is yet. How quickly we can get those guys all on the same page is going to be a big factor in our ability to be successful, especially early in the season."
USU also has a lot of questions to answer on the defensive side of the field as, Anderson asserted, "we were so thin last year on the defensive front." Fortunately for the Aggies, their five returning starters — Motu'apuaka and fellow D-tackle Poukesi Vakauta, stellar safety Ike Larsen, cornerback Michael Anyanwu and linebacker MJ Tafisi — are all proven performers. Four of them were on the ballot for all-conference honors a year ago.
Tafisi was potentially emerging as a candidate for Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year honors before suffering a season-ending injury against Wyoming. Motu'apuaka, who is entering his third season as a starter, is arguably the best defensive tackle in the league, while Larsen is arguably the top safety.
Motu'apuaka, who also represented the Aggies at media days a year ago, helps anchor the entire team from a leadership standpoint.
"He is such a consistent guy," Anderson said. "You get the same thing from him every single day — weight room, running, practice, meeting room, it doesn't matter. So, there's this tremendous amount of maturity and consistency from him that just kind of draws everyone else to him. And I think he's really comfortable in the role he's in. ... We get better by having him involved in as much as we possibly can."
USU's special teams units are headlined by punter Stephen Kotsanlee, who is entering his fourth season as a starter, Vaughn and Larsen, who blocked three punts last season.