Defense Forces Turnovers In Utah State’s First Scrimmage Of Fall Camp
Aug 14, 2021, 10:00 PM
Utah State head football coach Blake Anderson (Courtesy of Utah State Athletics)
(Courtesy of Utah State Athletics)
LOGAN, Utah – The Utah State Aggies football team held their first scrimmage of fall camp under first year head coach Blake Anderson on Saturday.
According to Anderson, Utah State’s offense turned the ball over five times, which made the head coach happy and frustrated at the same time.
“I thought we played hard and physical today,” said Anderson. “The biggest concern, obviously, is turnovers and you can’t have five turnovers in a game and expect to win very often. I’m fired up about the defense for creating them and I’m frustrated with the offense for having them. I guess that is the way it goes when you go against yourself.”
Justin Rice and Crew Wakely each had an interception in the scrimmage. Andrew Peasely and Logan Bonner each threw a pick. Shawn Gates and Justin Rice each forced a fumble, while Rice recovered a fumble, as did Jaylin Bannerman and Kevin Meitzenheimer.
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“We came out and gave great effort on defense today,” said Rice. “We were pretty good on our assignments and everyone was running to the football and creating turnovers. We had a lot of turnovers today, and turnovers win games, so we did really well on that front.”
Kyle Van Leeuwen led the way for the receiving group with 11 receptions for 131 yards. The offense did not score a touchdown in the scrimmage. John Gentry had 12 carries for just 26 yards. Devonta’e Henry-Cole led the rushing attack with 44 yards on 11 attempts.
Utah State will open the 2021 season on Saturday, September 4 at Washington State. Kickoff is at 9 p.m. MT and will be televised on the Pac-12 Network.
