Offense wins games, but defense wins championships, yada yada yada...
Look at USU football in the Andersen/Wells era though. The offense was very good from the start back in 2009 with the likes of Robert Turbin, Diondre Borel, and Stanley Morrison racking up stellar numbers and putting up points. 2010 wasn't as great with the injuries to pretty much everyone who mattered. But in 2011, the offense was back at it.
As good as the offense was though, USU only racked up a combined record of 15-22 from 2009-11. Put in an elite defense, and the 2012 Aggies win 11 games and a WAC championship. No other evidence is really needed. So let's get at the grades after camp.
DEFENSIVE LINE
It's tough to get a feel for how the defensive line has progressed through camp, both with the quality of offensive line they have to go against, as well as how little they really get to go full speed in pressuring the quarterbacks in red jerseys. Connor Williams is as solid as they come and should undoubtedly keep up what he did last year. A.J. Pataiali'i had a pretty excellent finish to last season too, so if the worst case scenario has those two and an all-WAC pick in Jordan Nielsen starting up front, this unit will be more than alright. Nielsen might not even be starting either for how good B.J. Larsen has looked as he follows up a junior season that was both excellent, but somehow also felt under the radar. Larsen could be in line for a monster senior season out there.
The quality of the depth isn't entirely proven, but there's still a fair amount of veteran presence with the likes of Travis Seefeldt, Elvis Kamana-Matagi, and Paul Piukala. Every one of them are ready for a bigger role and have plenty of potential waiting to be unleashed.
Having seen promising things from a handful of these guys in the smaller sample size in camp, there's plenty of reason to be very encouraged about this unit all over again.
Preseason grade: B+
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LINEBACKERS
Kyler Fackrell, Jake Doughty, Zach Vigil... What else do you need to know? It's looking like Terrell Thompson is going to go into the season as the other starter outside, and for a defense built on speed, it doesn't hurt having a guy recruited as a defensive back bringing that speed to outside linebacker.
When it comes to depth, this position is still stellar. You could roll out an entire second unit consisting of any four of Tavaris McMillian, Nick Vigil, Keylon Hollis, La'Bradford Harold, and Torrey Green, and still feel really good about things. One thing to potentially keep an eye on is the possibility of Zach Vigil sliding to the outside at times with Nick filling his place in the middle. It happened a little bit in camp, and could be an indication of something we could see more of given Zach's ability at getting to the quarterback we saw all last season. Regardless, this is the best unit on the entire team, and I'm not sure it's even close.
Preseason grade: A+
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CORNERBACKS
I predicted this position to be a lot deeper than most people thought at the start of camp. And while some of the younger guys I had counted on to impress maybe didn't do so quite like I thought, I did not see the two-deep being as impressive as they were. Nevin Lawson is a lockdown cover corner and fantastic open-field tackler. Opposite him looks to be Rashard Stewart, who had an amazing camp, answering the call for someone to step up in a big way to fill in for Will Davis.
Tay Glover-Wright is an impressive athlete, and still capable of being very very good. And along with him, Jeremy Morris looked awesome in camp. Also right in the thick of things is uber-veteran Quinton Byrd, who is bouncing back from injury like a champ.
With those five in the mix, this position looks great all over again. My only reservation is wondering if part of how good they've looked is due to the struggles at wide receiver opposite them. They're going to get tested from the start with Utah's wideouts, so we'll get the real feel about where they're at come Thursday. Still, things look very promising.
Preseason grade: A-
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SAFTIES
The pass covering abilities of Brian Suite and Maurice Alexander might only be above average, but as run-stuffers, those two are straight-up ELITE! Cam Sanders has the speed and agility to shine in pass coverage when needed and Frankie Sutera has just looked solid all-around in camp. Sutera might not be the biggest playmaker or best athlete, but he just looks solid in everything he does. He and Sanders both bring very quality depth into the equation.
I'm still a skeptic about how good they'll perform in pass coverage, but even if they were sub-par there, they'd still be a very good unit based on the run-stopping ability.
Preseason grade: B+
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