July 25, 2007

Listen to Coach Guy's comments on the upcoming 2007 football season in windows media audio file

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Roughly 100 media members were in attendance at the Western Athletic Conference football media days, held Monday and Tuesday at the San Jose Hilton Hotel in sunny San Jose, Calif.

Utah State was picked eighth in both the coaches' and the media preseason polls, was represented at the two-day event by head coach Brent Guy and junior defensive end Ben Calderwood, taking their turn at facing the media in Tuesday's afternoon session. Guy and Calderwood rotated from talking to newspaper, radio and television reporters.

The WAC Media Preview included more national media members this season than in previous years, including ESPN.com's Ivan Maisel, USA Today's Jorge Ortiz and an ESPN television crew, as part of the roughly 100 media members in attendance, a record for the conference's nine-team format.

Guy and Calderwood echoed each other in saying that several changes have been made in efforts to improve from last season's 1-11 record, including adjustments to the strength and conditioning workouts, as well as adapting to a new offense under new USU offensive coordinator Darrell Dickey.

Utah State, which is entering its third season in the WAC, was 1-11 overall and 1-7 in WAC play last year, finishing tied for seventh after being picked seventh in both of last season's preseason media and coaches' polls. USU has 19 starters (11 defense, seven offense and one special teams), among 35 lettermen returning.

Incoming freshmen report Aug. 5, while returners report on Aug. 6. Practices start on Aug. 7, with the five-day acclimation period.

Utah State opens the 2007 season on Thursday, Aug. 30, hosting UNLV in a 6:05 p.m. kick off at Romney Stadium. After road games at Wyoming on Sept. 8 and Oklahoma on Sept. 15, the Aggies return for Homecoming 2007 on Sept. 22, hosting San Jose State. USU then faces in-state rival Utah on Sept. 29 at Salt Lake City, followed by a game at Hawai'i on Oct. 6. The Aggies open a three home dates in four games span with Nevada on Oct. 20, then Louisiana Tech on Oct. 27. After going to Fresno State on Nov. 3, USU's home finale is on Nov. 10 with Boise State. The regular-season concludes with games on New Mexico State and Idaho on Nov. 17 and 24, respectively.

Contact the USU Athletics Ticket Office at (435)797-0305 or at 1-888-U-STATE-1 (1-888-878-2831) for ticket information.

Calderwood Quotes:

On being picked eighth in preseason polls:
"Because of not doing so well last year, we probably should have been ninth with our record, but I guess some teams lost a lot of guys, so people were skeptical about how they are going to do and how we are going to do. We definitely have to improve on what we did last year, and either finish middle of the pack or toward the top, because that is what we are capable of."

On team expectations and goals for improvement:
"Big plays are a big key for us to improve. We definitely need to stop the big plays on defense and create them on offense. Turnovers are in that same aspect. We have to create more turnovers on defense and not turn the ball over when we're on offense. Big plays not only excite the crowd if we're at home, but also the players, it gives us that rejuvenating feeling that things are working and going right. On defense, a big stop gives us that same exhilarating feeling to keep rolling and let's do it."

On having all 11 starters back on defense:
"I think it helps to have everybody back, because when guys are new and they are trying to learn the plays when they get into games they are not only worrying about the atmosphere, the quarterback and all the different things, they are also having to make sure they remember the play and their assignment. As a defensive lineman, if we ran through the wrong gap or something, that could be hazardous for what happens in the play. A linebacker, safeties, or corners, they think they have their guy, but your teammate has that same guy and that leaves somebody free, that's devastating. If everybody is on the same page, and understanding the defense, you are just worrying about your guy. You don't have to worry about somebody being new and not doing the right thing or missing their assignment. That experience gives you the ability to think less about the play and what's going on with other guys, and just play football."

On all the preseason awards giving him any added pressure or expectations, and if offenses will gear toward stopping him:
"I don't really think so, the other teams are going to come out and just play football and do their normal stuff, if they want to run the ball they're going to try to run the ball and if they want to pass they're going to pass. To me, I just try and push all the hype to the side, keep a low profile and just out and play football."

On individual goals and team goals:
"My individual goal is to make the better. If what happens that I do my job, and it makes someone else play better and they get the tackles and the sacks and everything, that's exactly what I want. It's not about me, it's about making this team the best it can be. If me playing hard encourages another guy to play harder and get all the tackles and sacks, then more power to him - that's exactly what we need for everyone to rise up to a new level."

Coach Guy quotes

On where USU is picked in polls:
"I thought that we would be in the eighth or not spot, just because of our performance the last two years. Until you win enough games that you will picked in the middle, that is what is going to happen. What we have to learn from previous years is that teams like San Jose State have been in the lower spots and they fought their way out of it and jumped out of there. You can see a team come from the bottom half to the top half. That's one of our first goals that we need to set is to get out of there, and that starts with winning games, and that has to start with the UNLV game. Our main focus going into camp, is that I'm not concerned about the whole season, or where the polls have us or where we will end up, it is just concentrating on winning that game because we have said all along that until we win a game and get the taste of last year out of our mouth. Until we win a game this year, we are having to answer for last year, and then after that it will all be over and done with. We need to get that monkey off our back, and the kids all know that. We've adopted the simple slogan to "win." We're not going to talk about anything else but win and what it takes to win. The polls don't really mean a whole lot and they don't surprise me much with where we were picked. I think that's where we deserve to be right now with where we are in the program and we need to focus on winning, especially winning the first game."

On the importance of winning season-opener, in which USU is 3-17 in its last 20 openers, winning in 1993, 1996 and 1997:
"One big thing that I'm going to point out to our guys is that in the last 20 years in the history of Utah State football, any team that has won the season-opener, has had a winning season, been to a bowl game or in some cases shared or won the conference title. So that game is critical and that is what we are going to focus on. When you look at the history and what has happened, that is the one thing that has jumped out at me. We have great opportunities in this opener, first of all we get to play at home with the opportunity to win at home and win the opener."

On summer workouts:
"We've had a lot of guys stick around this summer. We revamped our strength and conditioning program, with our strength levels and our weight gains. I've heard from some guys that they are all in great shape, but not physically worn out, because sometimes you can wear those guys out before you get to camp with their summer training program by running them too much. [Strength & conditioning] Coach Uyeyama has really controlled their workouts with the amount of yards they have done, not so much with the number of sprints and types of runs, but their distances. We've actually ran Old Main Hill, on some Fridays for some incline training. I wanted to tie in the "A" for Aggie pride with it being blue or white depending on a win."

On having 17 seniors returning, the most in Coach Guy's tenure:
"That's what has to happen for us to make a similar jump like San Jose State did last season, because they had a lot of seniors that performed well for them. It has to start with that senior group, like the Kevin Robinson's of the world, the Leon Jackson's, Shawn Murphy's, Pace Jorgensen's and the Frank Maile's of the world; guys that have been in the program for a long time. Things start with those seniors that have played a lot of snaps and been in the program for awhile. How they lead the team by example and how they perform on the field are critical. I feel that one of the problems that we have had from a leadership standpoint is that a lot of times we have had seniors not in a position to play on the field, where they didn't feel they could lead because they weren't playing. Now we have guys who are in a position to lead and perform well, which in itself serves the purpose for what you need to make guys follow you, because they can say `I'm playing, I make the plays and do it like we're told to do it.' A guy can call another guy out, if necessary. We are in a position where those guys are in the majority and not the minority. I've only got (redshirt freshman offensive tackle) Spencer Johnson on the offensive side as the only underclassman starting then we just have a couple on defense, but underclassmen are no longer the majority, they are the minority, which is what it should be. Now we've just got to keep establishing that and building it through redshirting some players so that every year we have primarily juniors and seniors in those starting positions and not underclassmen like we have these first two years.

As a coach, one of the things that make me feel the best going into the season is knowing how much experience we have. We've got players who have played in WAC football games, and know what to expect, know that we have to go on the road for some tough games, know how to act and everything that we have to do. The bottom line now is that we have to put it all together and win."