LOGAN, Utah – Utah State football held its sixth practice of fall camp Thursday morning and the Aggie defensive line is working on getting its veterans and newcomers acclimated to a new defense.
 
"We've got a lot of new faces that came in," said first-year defensive line coach Tevita Finau. "We have about 30 or so new faces just on the defensive side, so it's all about getting those new guys to work together and seeing what the new guys can do. We already have an idea of what the old guys can do, so it's more so just getting it all to mesh together. We're going to need every single day we've got here in camp for it, but they are doing awesome. They're making strides and buying in, and I'm proud to be around this group."
 
Potential would be the best word to describe Utah State's defensive line heading into the 2023 season as it returns two starters, to go along with four more letterwinners, while adding 12 newcomers, which includes one four-year transfer, six junior college transfers and five high school players.
 
Highlighting this group is a pair of returning starters in seniors Hale Motu'apuaka and Poukesi Vakauta.
 
"There aren't enough words and positive things that I can say about Hale," added Finau. "I'm blessed and fortunate to have him in the room. His leadership, how everyone looks up to him, the time he spends here and the influence that he has on the team and the community, I'm just grateful and blessed to have him in our room."
 
Motu'apuaka has played in 46 career games with 28 starts and 82 career tackles, which includes 7.5 sacks and 16.5 tackles for loss. During the 2022 season, Motu'apuaka started 12 games and posted 35 tackles, which included 5.0 sacks and 8.0 tackles for loss.
 
"There's been a lot of great energy throughout the defense this first week of fall camp," said Motu'apuaka. "We've just got to work on executing the plays. It's a new defense for all of us, so we are learning the plays quickly so we can get them down by the start of the season.
 
"We have a lot of new guys, so with that comes a lot of depth. Right now, we're just seeing who fits best where. Everybody's getting their reps so we can see who can help the team the best."
 
Vakauta started six of the 12 games he played in last season as he recorded 1.0 sacks and 3.0 tackles for loss as part of his 13 total stops. For his career, Vakauta has appeared in 27 games.
 
Other letterwinners returning along the defensive line for Utah State include junior John Ward and sophomores Bo Maile, Enoka Migao and Seni Tuiaki. Collectively, this group has played in 38 career games with one start as Ward recorded 10 tackles in 10 games in his first season with the Aggies, while Tuiaki had 15 tackles in just four games a season ago before missing the rest of the year due to injury. Maile appeared in 11 games last season and recorded seven tackles, while Migao played in seven games and had three tackles.
 
Furthermore, Utah State welcomes back two more defensive linemen that redshirted last season in freshmen Paul Fitzgerald and Adam Tomczyk, to go along with one more player that was part of the program in sophomore Kaden Jolley, who was named the Scout Team Defensive MVP.
 
Along with the nine players mentioned above, Utah State welcomes 11 newcomers along the defensive line, including one player that transferred from a four-year program in redshirt freshman Sir Mells (Las Vegas, Nevada/Liberty HS/Oregon), who appeared in one game last season at Oregon.
 
Utah State also added six junior college players here in juniors Siaosi Lauhingoa (Kahuku, Hawaii/Kahuku HS/Independence CC), Vaughn Mamea (San Jose, California/Independence HS/College of San Mateo), Clifton Mosley Jr. (Shreveport, Louisiana/Calvary Baptist Academy/Navarro CC) and Cian Slone (Rocklin, California/Rocklin HS/American River College), and sophomores Ioholani Raass (Lehi, Utah/Skyridge HS/Snow College) and Maka Tu'akoi (West Jordan, Utah/Alta HS/Independence CC).
 
Slone highlights this group as he was named a California Community College Football Coaches Association All-American and the state's Defensive MVP as a sophomore in 2022 at American River College as he finished the season with 84 tackles, which included 12.0 sacks and 22.0 tackles for loss.
 
Four freshmen round out this group of newcomers in Zion Andreasen (Salt Lake City, Utah/East HS), Emerson Conlon (Holladay, Utah/Olympus HS), Tanner Jolley (Fruita, Colorado/Fruita Monument HS) and Bryan Vogl (Eagle Mountain, Utah/Cedar Valley HS).
 
All fall camp practices – minus two scrimmages – will be closed to the public. Fans are invited to watch Utah State's first scrimmage on Saturday, Aug. 12, at 11 a.m., and its final scrimmage on Saturday, Aug. 19, at noon, as part of its annual Family Football Fun Day. Both scrimmages will be held on Merlin Olsen Field at Maverik Stadium.
 
Utah State opens the 2023 season at Iowa on Saturday, Sept. 2, while its home opener is the fol-lowing weekend against Idaho State on Saturday, Sept. 9. USU begins Mountain West play at Air Force on Friday, Sept. 15.
 
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 or on Facebook at Utah State Football, as well as on Instagram at instagram.com/USUFootball. Aggie fans can also follow the Utah State athletic program at twitter.com/USUAthletics or on Facebook at Utah State University Athletics.