March 26, 2007

LOGAN, Utah - After three days of non-padded practices to open spring drills, the Utah State football teams put on full gear for its Monday workout. USU had live hitting in three different sessions, concluding the workout with a 35-minute session featuring third down situations.

"We had one of our tackle days," said USU head coach Brent Guy. "We get eight of those where we get to do live team work. We had 40 snaps today and had good tempo. We emphasized third downs. The first 12 plays were third and one or third and two and we are trying to find guys to hold gaps on defense, spill the ball outside and make tackles and find guys on offense who can knock people off the ball and if not, find a guy who can run over someone for third and one or two."

While nobody in particular jumped out to the third-year head coach, Guy pointed out the physical improvement his team has made in the off-season.

"I thought we had a lot of good hitting," Guy said. "You can tell we spent the time in the weight room. We are bigger, stronger and more physical."

Defensive lineman Ben Calderwood, who was a second-team all-Western Athletic Conference selection a year ago, was one of a number of players excited about putting on the pads.

"People came out with intensity, but we were a little rusty," he said after the first day of pads. "The defense missed some tackles. The last couple of days we really worked on our technique and form, but something with putting the pads on, it slipped our minds a little bit."

Did Calderwood attribute that to putting pads on for the first time this spring?

"People were excited," he said. "You get that high and excited and you forget some things. We need to settle down and play football like we should and can."

The Aggies will continue practice this week with workouts on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Friday's practice will feature more live work. All practices are scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. on the grass practice fields pending weather.