This is the third article in a three-part series analyzing the three phases of the game for Utah State football for the upcoming 2023 season Utah State has a good history in the special teams department, even winning games almost on the strength of the third phase alone (see also last year’s win over New Mexico). There’s a solid chance this year will be as good as any previous season. Most of the players at the top of the special teams depth chart return with the only major turnover coming at placekicker. Previous breakdowns have listed each position group with national prognostications for each unit from the Athlon Sports and Phil Steele preview magazines. And while Steele gave special teams ranks relative to other Mountain West teams, neither broke down special teams in the way it’s split up here (isolating both kickers and the returners). But given the placekicking, punting and returner units usually boil down to one or two players, you can get an idea for how these outlets think of them based on whether or not certain players received spots on the preseason all-conference teams. As a whole on special teams, the Aggies ranked third in Steele’s rankings