Aggie defense holds back offense in first fall camp scrimmage

LOGAN – For most of Saturday afternoon’s fall camp scrimmage the Aggie defense did what good defenses are supposed to do. After 10 drives the Utah State offense had seven three-and-outs and no points. If a score was kept during the scrimmage, the Aggie defense would have been winning at that point. Linebacker Brock Carmen tackled running back Devante Mays in the endzone for a safety to finish the seventh drive of the game.

Aggie linebacker Kyler Fackrell, who sat out most of 2014 after being injured in the season opener, looked to be back to his old self and made several tackles for loss. He said he was pleased with how the defense played and mentioned there were no “busted coverages” from the safeties and that the newer defensive players played well together.

“It was one of the cleaner first scrimmages of fall camp that we have had,” he said. “There are obviously a lot of things we can still improve on, but overall I think there were less mistakes. People knew where they needed to be and did their job.”

Head coach Matt Wells said he though the defense “won the night,” but said the slow start by the offense contributed to the defensive domination.

“(The defense) came out and established a physicality, but on the flip side I don’t think it was real sharp on the offense’s end,” he said.

The offense finally got moving late in the scrimmage. It started when senior quarterback Chuckie Keeton completed a pass to tight end Wyatt Houston in the red zone. A few plays later, on third-and-goal from the 5-yard-line, Keeton scrambled and found the end zone for the offenses first points. The next time he took the field he scored in a very similar way, running into the endzone for another touchdown.

“He’s the same old Chuckie,” running back and wide receiver Kennedy Williams said. “Same mentality. If anything he is a lot better. He’s coming in with a lot more passion, a lot more heart. Once you have something taken away from you like that, you come back stronger. I can tell that he’s ready.”

Keeton’s 35-yard pass to Williams on the next drive helped set up the last touchdown of the scrimmage.

“That was a key pass, man,” Williams said. “That was a dime. That’s the only thing I can phrase it with, is a dime. He put it right on the money. He just made it easy for me to catch it.”

Both kickers struggled during the scrimmage and missed field goals. Wells said right now Brock Warren is ahead of Jake Thompson for the starting spot, but neither one of them pulled further ahead of the other during the scrimmage.

“I thought the kickers got better as it went on,” he said. “It was pretty nasty early on, but they’ll be alright. They’ll figure it out.”

Wells said the scrimmage provided good video the team will be able to learn from. Two more scrimmages will be held in preparation for the season which starts against Southern Utah Sept. 3 at 7 p.m. in Logan.

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