If there's a single story for this scrimmage, it's that the defense was absolutely dominant! They are fast, instinctive and fly to the ball in swarms. For anyone who remembers watching those Gary Andersen-run defenses at Utah a few years back, this Utah State defense is starting to really resemble that same style. It's really just a total treat to watch.
As the scrimmage wore on, the offense finally put a few points on the board, but usually when they were starting drives from only 25 yards out. There were other small flashes of moving the ball, but for the most part, the defense just stomped out almost everything the offense wanted to do. Part of that could be due to them having practiced against that offense so much by now that they can read it with ease, but I'm going to give the D their credit. They're just fast, tough and smart.
Since there's so much to cover and elaboration isn't really necessary, let's just cover the rest of the points in bullet-point form...
- Chuckie Keeton has been an absolute stud through all of camp and today was no different. I was fully a member of Team Adam since the end of last season, but Keeton has continually won me over, and it really looks like an easy decision at this point that he will be the starting quarterback.
- Adam Kennedy still is a great football player, and he's shown it plenty in camp. He started today very slow though. In his defense, the plays he was in for weren't exactly giving him chances to take shots downfield. Later on though, Kennedy was on fire, bringing back plenty of memories of late-game, go-ahead touchdowns to Matt Austin from last season.
- Speaking of Matt Austin, nice to see him get some serious reps today, and he didn't hold back on thrilling everyone. Dude is just unreal. His hands, speed, body control, route-running... everything!! He looks primed for a monster season.
- Chuck Jacobs also showed today why he's sat out the bulk of contact drills this camp, much like Austin. He's a big play waiting to happen, but showed he can do plenty more than just go deep today. Jacobs looks like a game-changer in the return game too.
- Kerwynn Williams was pretty much himself today. Knows how to find holes, beat guys around the edge, catch passes, etc. Another guy we finally really got a good look at who lived up to everything.
- Keegan Andersen and Travis Reynolds are a pair of guys who have caught my eye at each practice and scrimmage I've seen this fall. Both look to have taken serious steps forward to become solid contributors offensively who could probably have some huge games this year against teams without much depth in their defensive backfields or linebackers.
- The defensive line has been something I've been skeptical about throughout all of camp. They got dogged on pretty hard early on, but then earned a ton of praise not long after. I've been reserved in becoming a believer, but the more I see USU's quarterbacks pressured into throwing away passes, I almost can't help it anymore. It seems like a total collective effort too, with no guys really standing head and shoulders above the rest in performance. We might really have a solid unit here after all.
- While the D-line might be a solid unit without any true superstars (yet), the linebackers look to again be a great unit made up entirely of superstars! Today, Kyler Fackrell stood out in particular. He's just relentless, and that's a hell of a quality to have when you're as big and strong as he is. If the defensive backs can maintain coverage downfield like they look to be able to do, the pressure on quarterbacks from the D-line and linebackers is going to cause a lot of lost yards and turnovers for opposing teams!
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