His first game as Utah State football coach is still almost months away, but Gary Andersen is already deep into recruiting for his second season.

Saturday Andersen hosted nearly 400 high school juniors and parents as he took a significant step in making the Aggies a serious option for football players in the region.

"It was awesome," Andersen said. "The entire mindset was real simple. We wanted to get them up here and show them what an amazing place Utah State is and to show them what we have to offer."

Andersen's approach is not designed to just introduce Utah State to a bunch of recruits, but to turn those potential Aggies into recruiters themselves.

With almost 400 people getting a taste of USU, its campus and what Andersen calls a significantly increased commitment from the school and community to the program, the new Aggie coach hopes the word will spread.

"Those 400 will talk to thousands as it goes along," he said. "It's all about getting USU out there and known as a place to go and play football."

Andersen said the quality of athletes he met with Saturday is high. Though it's still early in the recruiting process, Andersen said he and his assistant coaches are already immersed in the process and a handful of scholarship offers were made during the weekend.

"Some of these kids have offers from several schools," Andersen said. "We want to make sure they know we're here and we want them to play for us."

The visits were not official recruiting visits and therefore paid for by the high schoolers themselves. Those athletes came to Logan from more than 100 high schools and seven states including Arizona, California, Texas and Nevada.

""This is a great opportunity for people to make the drive to Cache Valley and feel the true appreciation for this campus and this community," Andersen said, "and see first hand the commitment to the program made by the University and the community."

The potential Aggies met not only with the USU coaching staff, but were addressed by USU athletic director Scott Barnes and university president Stan Albrecht as well as academic councilors.

Utah State opens it season on September 5 at Utah and will host Southern Utah in its 2009 home opener on September 26.

E-mail: jeborn@desnews.com