Utah State football: Aggies, Andersen sign 4 JC players

LOGAN — Utah State head football coach Gary Andersen announced Tuesday that four players have signed to play for the Aggies next season. These are Andersen's first signees as Aggie head coach, as he was named USU's new head coach in December.

The four mid-year transfers are defensive lineman Sean Enesi, wide receiver John Hendershott, running back Michael Smith and linebacker Reuben Willis.

"The coaching staff did a great job in the quick transition to be able to get turned around and find four quality junior college players to come in and help us in areas where we need help. To be able to get four players involved in spring drills in our first year is a tremendous credit to the coaches for going out and recruiting like crazy and get that done," said Andersen, who started compiling his coaching staff his first day on the job.

He inherits an Aggie squad that lost 12 lettermen (five offense, seven defense) among the 17 seniors from last season's roster.

"I think we've helped ourselves in each one of those positions. When you recruit a junior college player, you expect him to come in and compete for a spot early. The advantage that these guys get to come in, go through the offseason workout program and go through spring drills truly gives them the opportunity to come in and get on the field in the fall and give them substantial playing time next year. We expect them to come in and compete for a job, and we'll see exactly how good they are. But we brought them in here to play," Andersen said.

Andersen wasn't the only Aggie coach that is impressed with the four signees, which include two offensive players and two defensive players, helping areas on both sides of the ball to the enthusiasm of both Utah State coordinators.

"The number one thing is that they have raised the level of competition," first-year USU defensive coordinator Bill Busch said. "Every position is wide open, and it's a clean slate across the board. Junior college players bring in an extra maturity and extra talent to the table, as they're older and they know what it takes to compete at the college level. These two increase our talent level as a defensive unit and they will increase the level of competition for a spot. They have the advantage of coming in at mid-year and going through spring drills and getting extra time in the weight room."

Busch joined the Aggie staff in December, and will also coach the USU safeties in addition to his defensive coordinator role, and his excitement of the signees was matched by his counterpart on the offensive side of the ball.

"We feel that these two offensive signees addressed our immediate needs, and we're excited about getting them on campus for spring drills and help us build this program," said USU offensive coordinator Dave Baldwin, who like Busch, joined the Aggie staff in December.

Recent comments