Aug. 16, 2008

PHOTO GALLERY

LOGAN, Utah -

Aggie Fact of the Day:
Utah State and Nevada are the only two WAC teams to play more than one Top 25 team in the AP poll, the "official" poll of college football, which was released Saturday... The Aggies tangle with No. 16 BYU (Oct. 3) and 21st-ranked Oregon (Sept. 6), while the Wolf Pack of Nevada plays sixth-ranked Missouri and No. 12 Texas Tech... Four other conference teams play one AP Top 25 team: Boise State (No. 21 Oregon), Fresno State (No. 13 Wisconsin), Hawai'i (No. 5 Florida) and Louisiana Tech (No. 14 Kansas).

Aggie Tidbit of the Day:
USU has two players with birthdays on game days: senior running back Chris Forbes (Sept. 13-Utah) and senior defensive end Gregg Clark (Oct. 11-at San Jose State).

After two weeks of practice, film and meetings, Utah State head coach Brent Guy and his staff were impressed with the Aggies' continued improvement Saturday at their final scrimmage of the fall at Romney Stadium, part of Aggie Football Family Fun Night, sponsored by Macey's.

During the nearly 80-play scrimmage, the roughly 3,000 fans in attendance cheered on the Aggies, sampled food from Macey's and played games on the concourse of the stadium. Following the scrimmage, fans went on the field to get autographs, as well as playing games and activities including playing catch with Aggie players on the field.

One of the main points of the night was getting the quarterbacks experience and Guy and his staff liked what they saw out of senior Sean Setzer, sophomore Diondre Borel and freshmen Exavier Johnson and Robert Fuller.

"I think we're making improvements," Guy said. "We saw a lot of good things from all of them. I think our quarterback play is getting better. We opened it up and threw it some today."

Setzer ended the night 8-of-17 passing for 98 yards and one TD, a 24-yarder to redshirt freshman Stanley Morrison during the overtime simulation. Borel was 4-of-9 for 35 yards and also had eight rushes for 80 yards, highlighted by a 47-yard run. Johnson was 3-of-6 for 41 yards as well as five rushes for 11 yards.

Borel led the Aggies in rushing, while freshman Marquis Butler had six carries for 21 yards, including a three-yard TD run. Redshirt freshman Robert Turbin had seven rushes for 10 yards and also scored on a three-yard plunge.

Freshman Eric Moats had two catches for a team-high 30 yards, while Turbin had 28 yards on three catches and Morrison had three catches for 27 yards, as well as a 22-yard pass to Borel.

"Stanley Morrison obviously showed his versatility in throwing and catching it and we had some good plays like that on offense," Guy said.

Defensively, junior linebacker Paul Igboeli, who was named to the Butkus Award Watch List on Thursday, had two sacks and one tackle for loss, one of the five Aggies to tally a tackle for loss.

"I thought our defense did a good job of holding the offense in the red zone and making them kick field goals," Guy said.

An additional area of highlight from Saturday's scrimmage were kick off returns, another of USU's points going into the season, replacing Kevin Robinson, who was an All-American kick returner before being drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs, but the Aggies return almost all of the kick off return blockers.

"We lost Kevin Robinson and we can't replace Kevin Robinson. The thing that we keep emphasizing to our teams guys and that they take great pride in is that we have nine guys back that were blocking for him. We led the nation in kick returns last year, not all of that was Kevin making guys miss, we had some nice blocks for him," Guy said.

Junior cornerback Kejon Murphy opened the scrimmage with an 89-yard yard return, while sophomore cornerback Chris Randle later had a 44-yard return, as well as a 43-yarder by freshman wide receiver Chris Harris and a 39-yard return by Morrison.

Guy and his staff will evaluate film from the scrimmage in order to determine the depth chart in preparation for the Aug. 30 season-opener at UNLV.

"We as a coaching staff will be watching a lot of film, to evaluate not just that position, but all the positions on both sides of the ball as well as special teams," Guy said.

Utah State opens the 2008 season on Saturday, Aug. 30 at UNLV at 8 p.m. (MT). After playing at 20th-ranked Oregon on Sept. 6 at 1:30 p.m. (MT), the Aggies host in-state rival Utah in their home-opener on Sept. 13 at 6 p.m. (MT). USU continues its three-game homestand by opening WAC action against Idaho on Saturday, Sept. 20 for USU Ag Day. The Aggies then host another in-state rival in BYU on Friday, Oct. 3. After road games at San Jose State and Nevada on Oct. 11 and 18, respectively, USU hosts Fresno State in its annual Homecoming game on Oct. 25. The Aggies remain at home to take on Hawai'i on Nov. 1 on USU Military Appreciation Day. USU plays at Boise State on Nov. 8 and Louisiana Tech on Nov. 15 before concluding regular-season action on Nov. 29 against New Mexico State on Aggie Appreciation Day.

The Aggies were picked ninth in the Western Athletic Conference preseason poll despite finishing seventh in last season's standings with a 2-10 overall record and 2-6 in WAC action. USU has 17 starters returning among 39 lettermen. Of those lettermen, 12 are seniors, which matches last season for the most in Guy's four-year tenure.

Aggie football tickets are available in person through the USU Ticket Office at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum, online 24 hours a day at www.UtahStateAggies.com and clicking on "tickets" in left column, or by phone by calling 1-888-USTATE-1 or (435) 797-0305.

Utah State Football Scrimmage Stats
08-16-08
Offensive:
Passing: Sean Setzer 8-17, 98, TD; Diondre Borel 4-9, 35; Exavier Johnson3-6, 41; Stanley Morrison 1-2, 22.
Rushing: Diondre Borel 8-80, Marquis Butler 6-21 TD, Robert Turbin 7-10 TD,Derrick Cumbee 5-9 TD, Exavier Johnson 5-11, Josh Flores 1-4,Derrvin Speight 1-3, Kurtis Shaw 1-1, Robert Fuller 2-(-6),Sean Setzer, 3-(-11).
Receiving: Eric Moats 2-30, Robert Turbin 3-28, Stanley Morrison 3-27,Austin Alder 2-24, Diondre Borel 1-22, Doug Barbour 1-16, Otis Nelson 1-12,Chase Griffiths 1-11, Marquis Butler 1-8, Curtis Marsh 1-8.
Defensive Highlights:
Sacks: Paul Igboeli 2
Fumble Recovery: Leti Faitala
Tackle For Loss: Bobby Wagner, Quinn Garner, Kyle Gallagher, Paul Igboeli,Jordan Glass
Pass Break-Up: Jason Moore, James Brindley, Marquise Charles
Special Teams:
Field Goals: Peter Caldwell 44, Chris Ulinski 43, 19
Extra Points: Peter Caldwell 3, Chris Ulinski 1
Kick off returns: Kejon Murphy 1-89, Chris Randle 1-44, Chris Harris 1-43,Stanley Morrison 1-39, Curtis Marsh 1-25, Roy Hurst 1-22.
Scoring:
Marquis Butler 3 run - Chris Ulinski kick
Robert Turbin 3 run - Peter Caldwell kick
Ulinski 19 FG
Derrick Cumbee 1 run - Caldwell kick
Caldwell 44 FG
Ulinski 43 FG
Stanley Morrison 24 pass from Sean Setzer - Caldwell kick