LOGAN, Utah – When Devon Anderson landed at Salt Lake International Airport on his recruiting visit to Utah State and saw the mountains for the first time, he was in awe.
 
"I was like, 'Oh, my God. This is so beautiful,'" Anderson recalled. "Just the scenery in general caught my eye as I was driving up toward the canyon. Everything was so beautiful."
 
The beauty of Cache Valley, along with the family atmosphere, were two big reasons why Anderson chose to become an Aggie.
 
"On my official visit, it just felt like family, and that's what I was looking for coming out of junior college – finding something that was family oriented for me," Anderson said.
 
Anderson admitted he was hesitant about taking an official visit to Utah State, but his coaches at Dodge City (Kan.) Community College urged him to make the trip.
 
It's a decision he does not regret. Not in the least bit.
 
"My coaches at my junior college kept telling me, 'Hey, just get out of Kansas for one more weekend. It's not going to hurt you, just go out there and have fun. You never know what could happen,'" Anderson recalled. "Throughout the years that I've been here, it just made me fall in love so much more. Being around people that treat you like family, and being out in public, everybody still treats you like family, so there's nothing to switch off for me.
 
"I value every day that I have been here," Anderson continued. "What it means to be an Aggie, is being a hard worker. You put your hard hat on every day, because every day is not going to be easy, nor is it going to be hard. For me, it was just go to work every day, but have fun and always smile."
 
Smiling comes natural to Anderson, who recorded 27 tackles, including 13.0 tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks, as a freshman at Dodge City.
 
"He is just a great young man," said first-year USU defensive ends coach Bojay Filimoeatu. "He's respectful and does everything right. He works hard in the classroom, as well as on and off the field. He is just a good guy you want to be around. He is funny and talks a lot of smack with everybody, which is great. There are great vibes in that D-line room, especially with Devon. He is very funny."
 
Since arriving at Utah State, Anderson has appeared in 32 of a possible 33 games, recording 85 tackles, including 9.5 tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks. He has also forced three fumbles, recovered two fumbles and had two quarterback hurries.
 
"Devon is an athlete," Filimoeatu said. "For being that big and handling the inside, the three techniques, two high and zero, he's just really athletic for being that type of dude, and for being that heavy, as well. You can see it right away in his pass rush and when he's working his technique right and knocking back people, in the run game and controlling the line of scrimmage. It is hard to do.
 
"When you're a big man and you weight that much, he's just a pure athlete, and you see it every day."
 
The 6-foot-1, 295-pound native of Baltimore, Md., had numerous offers coming out of Dodge City CC, including Arkansas State, Buffalo, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Toledo and UNC-Charlotte.
 
Through the first seven games of his senior season at Utah State, Anderson has tallied 19 tackles, including 3.0 tackles for loss and 1.0 sacks, two quarterback hurries and one forced fumble.
 
In the Aggies' 34-24 Homecoming victory over Colorado State on Sept. 28, at Maverik Stadium, Anderson had four tackles, including 1.0 tackles for loss. Filimoeatu was very impressed with his big guy's performance in that game.
 
"Devon is a special player," Filimoeatu said. "Obviously, you can put on the Colorado State film and see his technique and his fundamentals coming into play, but also, just the pure effort of getting to the ball and getting off blocks. He basically handled the inside for us, so we took away the run game from them just off of one guy. He makes the guys around him better."
 
The son of Charles Turner and Chandra Dawn Anderson, who is majoring in interdisciplinary studies with an emphasis in social work and business, is on track to graduate in December. He is also working on getting a minor in sociology.
 
Anderson would love a shot at playing at the next level, but knows that opportunity may not present itself.
 
Regardless of what happens after Anderson's time at Utah State, one thing is certain: he has been a great teammate and leader.
 
"He is a good guy, and a good role model for the younger guys to look at," Filimoeatu said. "He is hard-working, and he busted his tail off during the offseason to get way better. He trimmed up and got a lot stronger, and you can see all of it paying off now during the season. Talking about the leadership standpoint, he and Chris ('Unga) do a great job with the D-line, and communicating to the young fellas to do what is right."
 
Before Anderson hangs his cleats up at Utah State, he would love nothing more than to bring the Aggies their first-ever Mountain West championship in football.
 
"Our fans have so much pride, they are loving and caring," Anderson said. "They hate when we lose, and we hate when we lose, so going out the best way for me would be to go out with a bang and bring the championship to Logan."
 
Outside of football and schooling, Anderson enjoys spending time with his girlfriend, Maizee Thompson, and his dog, a Siberian Husky named Stormie, and watching Anime.
 
"I love Anime," Anderson said. "It's something that I pride myself in, and I keep up with it daily. I watch it in Japanese and it's something that catches my eye every time. I'm always ready for a new episode. I binge watch it. When I get home, I do my homework, spend time with Maizee and then I go straight to Anime."
 
As good of a football player Anderson has been throughout his career, especially for Utah State, he might be an even better wrestler.
 
"I really wanted to wrestle more than I wanted to play football, but I was offered a scholarship in football, so I went that route," Anderson said. "Wrestling in high school was something I enjoyed. I placed third in the state of Maryland at 225 pounds. Overall, I finished 73-10, or something like that."
 
Anderson was wrestling in the heavyweight division at first, but had to drop 50 pounds to 225 due to a state champion transfer joining his team at Overlea High School in Baltimore.
 
"If I wanted to wrestle, I had to lose 50 pounds," Anderson said. "My coach woke me up every day to run. I had trash bags on going to class and every time I got my break, we were training in the wrestling room at 110 degrees."
 
How does Anderson want Aggie fans to remember him by?
 
"Cheerful," he said. "I love Utah State to the fullest, and I feel I always brought joy everywhere I went. I am always positive and always smiling. I just love Utah State and the city of Logan, in general, because it brought me the opportunity to get out of a bad place back home. Nothing against going back home or living there, but it gave me the opportunity to better myself not only as a football player, but as a person and as a student."
 
For Aggie football ticket information, fans can contact the USU Athletics Ticket Office over the phone by calling 1-888-USTATE-1 or 435-797-0305 during regular hours of operation. Fans can also buy their tickets in person at the USU Ticket Office inside the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum or online by clicking on the "Buy Tickets" tab at www.UtahStateAggies.com.
 
Fans can follow the Aggie football program at twitter.com/USUFootball. Aggie fans can also follow the Utah State athletic program at twitter.com/USUAthletics or on Facebook at Utah State University Athletics.
 
-USU-