Signing day: Utah State recap

New Utah State coach Gary Andersen admits he didn't get every recruit he wanted.

Some turned down his scholarship offer, others changed their minds after first saying yes.

But Andersen said his first class of signees still came with an incredibly high percentage of success.

"When kids walked in here, they felt unbelievably good," Andersen said. "And of the kids who tripped here with their parents, we got 100 percent of them."

Even of those who did not bring mom and dad along on official recruiting visits, Andersen said the Aggies had a great rate of return.

"We brought in about 28 or 29 kids, I think," Andersen said, "and of those we got about 20 of them."

The biggest challenge, Andersen said, was not to convince football players to play for a USU program that has had little success over the past few years. Rather, it was to hire assistant coaches and get them organized and into the homes of recruits in a short period of time.

Instead of having a full year to recruit, the new USU staff had only a handful of weeks to hit the road.

Andersen also said he felt good about managing the three-fold approach to recruiting he outlined when he was hired. For starters, he wanted to make Utah athletes a higher priority — and he signed six Beehive State high schoolers. Next, he wanted to tap into the Polynesian pipeline he enjoyed when he was coaching down the road at Utah — and he signed six. Finally, he promised to develop a more effective missionary system to help LDS athletes go on missions and still fit into USU's recruiting gameplan — three of this year's recruits are what Andersen described as "sign and sends."

Perhaps the biggest area of emphasis was the decision to bring in junior college players.

Of the 20 players who faxed in letters of intent this signing period, eight are from junior colleges — two will be sophomores with three years of eligibility left — and Andersen said those are players he expects to contribute right away and challenge for starting jobs.

He also went after speed — at any position he could get it. With speedsters like Michael Smith (a 5-9, 198-pound JC running back with a 4.35 time) and JC corner Rajric Coleman (6-2, 185, 4.4), the Aggies hope to hold their own with opponents.

"We put our No. 1 priority on the ability to run," Andersen said. "We felt we could make ourselves better on both sides of the ball with speed, so we went out with that as a focus."

The Aggies also loaded up on linemen. The new class of recruits includes seven on the defensive line and three on the offensive line. The four mid-year transfers, Andersen said, might be the highlights of the class because of their ability to participate in spring ball and their experience.

"Sean (Enesi) is a guy that there is no question in my mind he's going to be a great D-1 defensive tackle," Andersen said.

Additionally, the Aggies wanted — and got — help in the receiving corp. JC All-American John Hendershott should make an immediate contribution to the USU offense, and high schoolers Travis Van Leeuwen (Timpview) and Cameron Sanders (Oklahoma) will add depth for years to come.