Utah State football: Gary Andersen, Aggies pleased with progress after week two of spring practice

LOGAN — With two weeks of spring practice in the books, Utah State head football coach Gary Andersen is pleased with the Aggies' progress, as USU concluded its second week of action with a controlled scrimmage at the end of Friday's practice.

"Overall I would say we accomplished the purpose of today's scrimmage," Andersen said after Friday's action at Romney Stadium. "That was just to get out there. You can't scrimmage the whole time, but you want to get as much live action as you can. We were two's against one's, and it was fairly competitive on both sides, which I think is a good thing. I think it shows our depth is improving. I also think it shows we are becoming a better football team."

Friday's action was originally scheduled for Saturday, but the forecast called for rain and snow Saturday, so USU moved practice up a day to Friday.

"The weather hasn't been too bad this spring until we had to switch up this weekend," Andersen said. "We had to see when the next storm was coming and sneak in before. We were going to go full pads yesterday but did not. It turned out to be good for us. We worked on the mental sides of things."

Thursday's preparations paid off with some solid performances Friday, with offensive highlights from junior wide receiver Stanley Morrison's solid play, which included several catches with impressive runs after the catch, as well as a 20-yard TD run. Fellow junior wide receiver Matt Austin also had some solid catches, including a long pass-play down the sideline from senior quarterback Diondre Borel. Junior back-up quarterback Jeff Fischer also hit sophomore wide receiver Mikhail Morgan with a TD pass.

"We had success with the ones on both sides, and we had success with the twos on both sides. We were also able to get every kid on the football team some reps. That was really the goal for today," Andersen said.

USU's ground game was highlighted by junior running back Derrvin Speight with a couple of TDs, while senior running back Michael Smith had a solid day with a TD, capping a drive that reached the 1-yard line on an end around by junior wide receiver Eric Moats.

The Aggie defense got solid performances from junior linebacker Junior Keiaho, who was in his first game-action in his new position after switching from defensive end this spring, along with junior transfer cornerback Alfred Bowden. Keiaho was in on several tackles and added a couple sacks along with snaring an interception with a return of almost 40 yards. Bowden provided solid pass coverage and had two interceptions.