April 4, 2008

LOGAN, Utah - Utah State's football players were surprised with a pop-scrimmage Friday at Romney Stadium to complete the third week of spring drills and head coach Brent Guy was pleased with what he saw both offensively and defensively.

"We've done some live work during team but we completely blind sided them with this 100-play scrimmage, which we felt like we needed to do to put them in game-type situations so we can see and get some reactions," Guy said.

Practice began just like normal before the coaching staff surprised the players with the scrimmage.

"They had no idea about the scrimmage. We started practice with a normal practice routine, beginning with our kicking situations, then did our team tackle drills, and then we started the scrimmage," Guy said.

The Aggies went through 109 plays total, counting the extra points on the two touchdowns that were scored as well as two field goal attempts.

"We had good work today, we had a 109 plays total counting the PAT's and field goals," Guy said. "We divided the players up with first team defense and second team offense on the home side and just the opposite with the second team defense and first team offense on the visitor side. The home side came out ahead, 14-3, but we had some guys on both sides make some nice plays."

Offensive highlights included a 20-yard pass play from sophomore QB Diondre Borel to redshirt-freshman WR Stanley Morrison, followed by an eight-yard scamper by Morrison on an end-around, part of a 19-play drive.

"The big thing that happened was the home team had a 19-play drive, they didn't really have a big play in there, just a nice drive with some key third-down conversions," Guy said. "They had a 20-yard play in there but nothing big."

Despite not coming in that drive, there were some big plays in the scrimmage. Junior QB Jase McCormick had a 58-yard run, setting up a two-yard dart for a TD by sophomore RB Derrvin Speight, and senior QB Sean Setzer hit junior WR Xavier Bowman for a 40-yard gain.

Another one of the big pass plays of the day, a 25-yarder from redshirt freshman QB Ben Longshore to Bowman was negated by a holding penalty.

"We had officials here today and we had a few penalties that hurt some drives," Guy said.

Speight also had a four-yard gain on a third-and-three play, which was later matched by sophomore RB Curtis Marsh doing the same. Senior QB Sean Setzer hit classmate WR Otis Nelson for a nine yard pickup on a third-and-four play, one of the many key third-down conversions.

"We had a lot of three-and-out situations at the beginning of the scrimmage, but then we got things going and had some good third-down conversions," Guy said.

Defensively, the two big position changes of the spring were seen, as senior De'von Hall, who moved to safety from linebacker this spring, made several key stops, including forcing a fumble on a first-and-goal situation that was set up by an interception return from sophomore LB Kyle Gallagher. The other position switch, moving senior Roy Hurst from safety to corner was featured when Hurst ran down Morrison on a third-and-11 play to give his side the ball back.

"Turnovers were a big part of today," Guy said. "(Kyle) Gallagher had an interception return to set things up at the three-yard line and the very next play we turned the ball back over. That's one of the things were learning."

Sophomore PK/P Peter Caldwell made 22-yard field goal and later had a 36-yard attempt clank off the top of the left upright.

Overall, Guy was pleased with what he say on the field Friday, with positive plays coming on both sides of the ball.

"That's what we wanted to see. We wanted to surprise them and put them in a game situation," Guy said. "We're trying to create the fourth quarter affect to things and get us over the hump."

USU will practice Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, in final preparation for Friday's Blue-White scrimmage to conclude spring drills. The scrimmage will start at 4 p.m. at Romney Stadium and is open to the public.

"We'll put them in another game type situation, where we stress the importance of winning and losing," Guy said.