Utah State football: Aggies rack up big plays, points in spring game

LOGAN — Utah State's offense ran big play after big play and put up plenty of points, much to the delight of one of the largest crowds to gather for an Aggie spring game in years.

All those big plays were exciting — unless you were Gary Andersen.

"You cannot give up big plays," Andersen, the Aggies' first-year coach and former defensive guru down the road at Utah, said. "There were way too many against our first-team defense. That is a major concern."

Still, Andersen left his first spring as USU's coach as upbeat as ever.

His Aggies, he said, made tremendous strides over the 15-practice season and have laid a nice foundation for what he hopes can be a contender for the Western Athletic Conference throne within a season or two.

"I think the kids did a great job of consistently practicing. Today was a little bit different for them," Andersen said. "It was really good for us to come out and feel the game atmosphere ... We wanted to be able to execute on offense and defense. I think we are doing that.

"I would say overall we are a work in progress."

As far as the actual scrimmage itself, the Blue (first team) beat the White (second team) by a score of 45-30. The scoring started early as the second team offense went right at the secondary and redshirt freshman quarterback Exavier Johnson hooked up with Xavier Bowman on a 71-yard catch and run that gave the first team defense a nice little slap in the face to let them know this wasn't just another casual practice.

"Defensively we are not playing as fast as we can," Andersen said. "We try to do a lot of thinking. This defense requires a lot of communication on the field. We are not communicating as fast as we need to every day."

The offense, on the other hand, seemed to have its communication lines working perfectly.

Starting quarterback Diondre Borel struggled for a couple of series, but after getting his nerves under control had a solid outing. He completed 12-of-23 passes for 320 yards and three touchdowns.

Ogden High product Omar Sawyer caught only three of those passes but made a big impact each time. His first catch was a sideline route where he chased down a slightly overthrown ball from fellow wideout Stanley Morrison and hauled it in with a laid-out dive for a 44-yard reception. His other two catches didn't require the same extra effort but were nonetheless spectacular as he turned them into 72- and 80-yard touchdown plays giving him 196 receiving yards.

"I have been getting looks, but overall I haven't made the most of my opportunities," Sawyer, a senior, said of his spring. "Today I felt like I came out and really took advantage of those chances."

Others did the same.