Utah State quarterback Cooper Legas prepares to hand the ball off during USU’s 34-27 win over Air Force on October 9, 2022
This is the first article in a three-part series analyzing the three phases of the game for Utah State football for the upcoming 2023 season
Utah State went from an offensive powerhouse in 2021, aiding the team in its Mountain West title run, to a below-average and at times anemic offense in 2022. Reversing that trend will be a huge priority for head coach Blake Anderson who has taken over the duties of offensive coordinator (along with co-OC Kyle Cefalo) and play-caller after last year’s struggles. There are a lot of players to replace but a lot of newcomers and up-and-comers are poised to fill those shoes as best they can.
So how do each of the position groups fare as of now, post spring ball and pre fall camp? We’ll go over each group, from quarterback to the running back and wide receiver rooms, and to the offensive line.
Quarterback
Position Strength — Average
National Prognostication
- Phil Steele MW Unit Ranking – 7th
- Athlon Sports MW Unit Ranking – 8th
This is probably the one position group that is fairly settled. Cooper Legas is poised to be the starter with Levi Williams being really the only person in position to even have a chance of taking that spot.
Last year Legas threw for 1,499 yards, 11 touchdowns and 10 interceptions with a 61.1 completion percentage. That production came in 10 appearances with eight of those being starts, though he didn’t play the full game in two of those starts (Colorado State and Memphis). Cutting out some of the noise and taking Legas’ numbers from the games where he played the entire game, he averaged 223.3 yards per game with a 62.2 completion percentage and a 10-7 TD to INT ratio.
That isolated per-game sample would, on last year’s FBS leaderboard, have placed Legas at 56th in passing yards per game and T-62nd in completion percentage.
So just about average.
If Legas stays healthy and doesn’t take any major steps backward, the Aggies will have a capable, dual-threat quarterback who can be an effective part of an offense. Perhaps a tad interception prone, but workable nonetheless. But if Legas can take steps forward, he can become a weapon and a player opposing defenses must gameplan around.
Two areas of improvement stand out: touchdown to interception ratio, and overall passing load.
Last year Legas barely threw more TDs than INTs. In 10 appearances, he only had three games where he threw more touchdowns than interceptions, four in which he had more INTs than TDs. Legas’ three worst games from an interception perspective were BYU, Boise State and Memphis, three of the Aggies’ toughest opponents last year.
All of that has to change.
Head coach Blake Anderson, now also the co-offensive coordinator, has repeatedly said a reason for him stepping back into the offense was because of last year’s turnover woes. We know this will be a massive emphasis so there’s a good chance Legas throws a few less interceptions and a few more TDs by sheer force of Anderson’s coaching and play-calling emphasis. If Legas gets above 20 TDs with fewer than 10 INTs, it should be considered a major jump from last year. Even if the interception total sneaks into double digits it should still be considered a win if the TD-INT ratio is close to 2-1.
The other area of improvement is simply being more capable of leading the offense. In early games Legas didn’t throw the ball much, averaging just 26 attempts in his first four full-game starts. That volume would place Legas in the bottom third of full-time FBS quarterbacks. But Legas did increase his volume of pass attempts as the year went on as the coaches put more faith in him. He attempted 35 passes against San Jose State and 40 against Boise State. Now, 35-40 passes isn’t the ideal range for Legas to be consistently attempting, but something around 30 to 32 would be a healthy diet for him, assuming some improvement to justify putting the ball in his hands that much.
Running Back
Position Strength — Below Average
National Prognostication
- Phil Steele MW Unit Ranking – 10th
- Athlon Sports MW Unit Ranking – 9th
The Aggies must deal with the loss of Calvin Tyler Jr., who ran for 2,006 yards in the last two seasons combined including a 2022 campaign that saw him become the first Aggie to rush for 1,000 yards since 2018. Unfortunately, there isn’t a running back on the roster that seems like an obvious choice make the jump toward the production Tyler pulled off from 2021-22. Robert Briggs is the first man up and he was solid in a reserve role last year (4.8 yards per carry) but how that will translate to a potentially larger workload isn’t certain at this point.
Behind Briggs there are a couple of decent options, Davon Booth was highly productive last year, averaging 144.2 yards in 10 games for his JuCo team, Cerritos. Another JuCo transfer who could factor into the rotation is Rahsul Faison, a 6-foot-2, 215-pound back out of Snow College. Faison could find a role as a short-yardage and goal-line back. Both backs were solid at the JuCo level but how the transition to FBS goes is anyone’s guess.
A late addition to the party is BYU transfer running back Sione Finau. A former three-star recruit, Finau spent four seasons with the Cougars, getting limited carries aside from the 2019 season. That year he carried the ball 59 times for 359 yards (6.1 per attempt) and a pair of TDs. He eventually lost his job to eventual NFL Draft pick Tyler Allgeier and is taking his talents to Cache Valley. At 5-foot-11 and 185 pounds he has a good size that most other USU backs lack. He ought to factor into the position battle this fall.
Utah State’s running backs are all unknown commodities, but there is potential. National projections are understandably bearish on the unit for now, but this is a unit that despite low expectations could have the highest breakout potential. It’ll only take one of these guys to break out for everyone to take USU’s run game seriously.
Wide Receiver/Tight End
Position Strength — Above Average
National Prognostication
- Phil Steele MW Unit Ranking – 7th
- Athlon Sports MW Unit Ranking – 6th
Aside from returning slot receiver Terrell Vaughn, the Aggies have a pitiful amount of Division I receiving production in their WR room. Despite this, there’s room for optimism about this unit as it ranks among the best for the team in national projections.
Vaughn is obviously a key reason for some of the optimism. After stepping into a starting role in late September, Vaughn caught 51 passes for 571 yards and five touchdowns over the last 10 games of the season. His role and production are likely to grow in a second season within the offense and more time spent with Legas.
While the remaining receivers are largely inexperienced (or at least haven’t been productive at the D1 level), the talent is clearly there and one of the players is bound to seize the opportunity. Colby Bowman, Kyrese Rowan and Micah Davis, in particular, have top-level speed that wasn’t really present in USU’s offense last year. Otto Tia, though not endowed with the speed of the other receivers, has the advantage in size with a 6-foot-4 frame.
Though it’s not possible to guarantee the breakouts of players, the sheer number of players with talent, and the opportunity to capitalize on said talent, makes it fairly likely somebody is able to become a quality receiver. If more than one of these newcomers/up-and-comers breakout then there’s great potential for the pass-catchers which would have a knock-on effect with Legas and his production (see also, Logan Bonner in 2021).
The tight end aspect of the WR/TE position group has some room for optimism, though mostly based on words and not the history of the offense during Anderson’s tenure. Throughout the offseason, Anderson has repeatedly attempted to address the growing discontent from the fan base about a lack of tight end involvement in the passing game. Whether that happens depends largely on whether projected starter, Josh Sterzer, is able to improve on his 2022 season where he saw limited targets in limited usage. Broc Lane is also a possible breakout candidate as an athletic, pass-catching TE. In spring ball (which Sterzer was out for) Lane was used in more creative ways in the passing attack such as splitting him out wide in a slot receiver alignment. If Lane, Sterzer and other tight ends are aligned in more passing-oriented ways rather than the glorified fullback role they largely played last year, there’s a chance Anderson will walk the talk he’s been putting out.
But unless Lane or Sterzer break out (or any other newcomers entering the TE room) there probably won’t be a big change in how the TE position impacts the Aggies’ offense. Lane has the best chance to change things but his inability to stay healthy is a big hindrance. If Lane stays healthy for at least 8-9 games, his pass-catching could give USU fans the receiving tight end they’ve been wanting for a few years.
Offensive Line
Position Strength — Below Average
National Prognostication
- Phil Steele MW Unit Ranking – 11th
- Athlon Sports MW Unit Ranking – 8th
Utah State got hit hard with graduations along the O-line, losing All-Mountain West left tackle Alfred Edwards, multi-year starter at right tackle, Jacob South, and a great interior leader in Chandler Dolphin. Add to that losing true freshman starting right guard Weylin Lapuaho and that’s four starters who left in the offseason.
While there was plenty to replace, the Aggies have multiple players ready to step in. Wade Meacham will reprise his role as the starting left guard with Falepula Alo and Cole Motes, both of whom were rotation linemen who played notable snaps in 2021 and 2022, will fill in at center and right tackle, respectively.
Newcomers or up-and-comers will fight for the remaining two starting spots at left tackle and right guard. Those position battles will likely get settled in fall camp as they didn’t get resolved in spring ball and there are newcomers, particularly at left tackle, that have entered the fray since the end of spring.
The offensive line seems mostly filled, but the issue seems to be that it’s a group of average O-linemen. It’s not a crew capable of blowing up opposing defensive lines and that’s probably why some national writers don’t like the Aggies’ O-Line all that much. Alo, Motes and Meacham have gotten minor preseason accolades but it’s mostly because they’re the known commodities with all being returners.
This year will depend heavily on how well the newcomers can pull their weight and if the guys finally getting their starting shot make the most of the opportunity. There’s a chance the O-line is the weakness of the offense. If the Aggies are to have a good season, that cannot happen.
