There are 163 days remaining before Utah State football’s 2023 season begins — at Iowa on Sept. 2 — but football has nonetheless returned to Logan.
In the last three days, spring camp has begun for the Aggies, who also hosted their annual pro day on Wednesday.
When it comes to the latter, representatives from 10 NFL teams were on hand at the iFIT Sports Performance Center and the Stan Laub Indoor Training Center at Utah State to watch nine former Aggies make a case for why their football careers should continue at the professional level.
The former Aggies who participated in workouts were:
The prospects performed a variety of position-specific on-field drills, had their heights and weights measured and went through multiple speed and strength tests.
Notable performers included Bonner, Reynolds, Edwards, Cobbs, Hall and Tyler.
Per Utah State, Bonner (6-feet, 223 pounds) ran a sub-4.8 second 40-yard dash, had a 32 inch vertical and a 9-foot-8 broad jump.
Reynolds (5-foot-11.25, 204) bench-pressed 225 pounds 17 times, ran a sub-4.55-second 40-yard dash, and had a 7.33 second three-cone run and 4.57 second short-shuttle run.
Edwards bench-pressed 225 pounds 16 times, ran a sub-5.05-second 40-yard dash, had an 8.45 second three-cone run, and had marks of 8-foot-3 in the broad jump and 32.0 inches in the vertical jump.
Cobbs bench-pressed 225 pounds 13 times, ran a sub-4.65-second 40-yard dash and a 4.41 second short-shuttle run. He also had a 7.33 second three-cone run, and had marks of 9-foot-11 in the broad jump and 33.5 inches in the vertical jump.
Hall ran sub-4.45-second 40-yard dash and a 7.09 second three-cone run, and had a 10-foot-2 broad jump, while Tyler ran a sub-4.55-second 40-yard dash and had a 34 inch vertical.
The 2023 NFL Draft will be held April 27-29 in Kansas City, Missouri.
As for spring camp, it is early but head coach Blake Anderson is optimistic about the group he has, even if there is a lot of work to do in the next month.
“The guys were itching to get out there, as you can imagine,” Anderson said Monday evening. “For us, (it was) a positive Day 1. A lot of energy, new guys having fun, getting acclimated. We made a ton of mistakes, but a successful Day 1.”
The Aggies experienced fairly significant roster upheaval in the offseason and added more than 30 new players in response. Throw in multiple new coaches, including a new defensive coordinator (Joe Cauthen) and offensive coordinator (Kyle Cefalo), and there is going to a learning curve this spring.
For everyone, Anderson included (he is taking over offensive play-calling duties).
“What we have seen from January to now is the new guys have been great additions and they have acclimated well. They weren’t showing up in a bad way today, which is a good sign. Every day it will get a little more hectic,” Anderson said.
“Getting back involved with the offense and being in the room with the quarterbacks, I love that, and it has been a lot of fun. I have a lot of experience in this offense and coaching quarterbacks, and I felt like I have something to offer. We turned the ball over too much last year.
“If you go back and look at my track record as an offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in this system, when we protect the football, it gives us a chance a win. I felt like I could either hire somebody and tell them what I want them to do, or I can step in and do it, which I have done in the past.”
Anderson revealed that he probably never would have ceded playing calling duties but for his wife getting sick during his Arkansas State tenure.
“That was really the only reason I stepped away,” Anderson said. “I enjoyed it and we had a good system in place, but I had to make a choice between trying to help her battle cancer and being in that room every day. I am in place now in my life where I can, and I feel like I can add something. I want the pressure on me, I don’t want it on someone else.”
As far as the fit with Cauthen goes, Anderson was effusive in his praise.
“Joe was my coordinator for five years at Arkansas State and we won two championships,” he said. “There is nobody that is going to outwork him, and he puts his heart and soul into what he is doing and the kids. Technically, he is one of the soundest coaches I have ever been around, and he fits what we do. I needed somebody I could completely trust, and I knew exactly what I wanted. I feel like he is the perfect fit for us.”
The Aggies will have a total of 15 practices during the spring, including the annual Blue vs. White showcase, which will be held on Saturday, April 22, at 1 p.m.
Between now and then, and continuing into fall camp, the Aggies hope to take some significant steps forward as a program.
“Over the next month, we need to make sure we have a great foundation on both sides,” Anderson said. “We have to identify leaders, we need to make sure our fundamentals improve, and we have to be technically sound. If we get that done, we will have a good starting point, because we still have the summer and fall camp and we don’t need to rush it to get everything done.
“The players have handled it very well in the meeting room, the question is, ‘how are they going to handle it when we get out on the field?’ That will tell us how fast or slow we need to go in terms of our offensive and defensive install.”
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