What did Utah State do to fix its biggest weakness?

Following a loss at San Jose State last October, Blake Anderson was blunt and forthcoming.

The former head football coach at Utah State bemoaned the performances of the Aggies’ offensive and defensive lines, placing no small amount of fault on those two groups for the loss — and it was a loss that was about as season-defining as they come.

“We’ve struggled early against defensive fronts as everybody’s known,” Anderson said following the loss. “And so it’s been a little bit of a war of attrition. But tonight, at no point did we did we play like we’re capable of up front, and it made it really, really difficult to stay on schedule.”

He didn’t take it easy on the USU D-line either.

“We struggled to handle their movement,” Anderson said. “We struggled to handle their their offensive line. ... I thought they were more physical than us in every aspect, and when they are it’s going to be a long night.”

From that point on last season, Anderson made it a habit to talk about the need for Utah State to get better in the trenches. Bigger, stronger and faster.

Otherwise, he said over and over, the team would continue to struggle to compete with the best teams the Mountain West Conference has to offer.

Since taking over the program, interim head coach Nate Dreiling hasn’t been shy about wanting the Aggies to contend for the MW title this season, which raises the question — are the Aggies better up front? Are they going to be good enough to compete with Boise State, Fresno State, UNLV and the rest?

Did Utah State’s offensive line get better?

Cooper Bassett is well aware of the narrative that surrounded his O-line a season ago.

The Aggies offensive line coach didn’t bat an eye when the unit’s struggles in 2023 were broached. As far as he is concerned, the Aggies’ 2023 O-line and the 2024 O-line are not comparable, even if they were both comprised of many of the same players.

“From a muscle and horsepower standpoint, we are in a much better position,” Bassett said.

The reason for that is threefold.

First, the returners Utah State has up front on offense — and there are a lot of them — made some significant progress during the offseason.

“I think our guys have had a great offseason with Paul Jackson,” Bassett said, noting USU’s director of athletic development. “You look at Falepule Alo, he’s up 15 pounds from last season. Teague Andersen, a returner, is up 10 pounds from last season. There is no question the guys who returned are bigger and stronger.”

Those returners are also vets now, whereas a season ago many were young and about as inexperienced as they come, including Andersen, Bryce Radford, Tavo Motu’apuaka and Jr Sia, to name some.

“We started one true sophomore and two redshirt freshmen at different times during the year,” Bassett said. “All of those guys are back.

“I always make the analogy, ‘You are a much better driver at 34 than you were at 16,’ and it is because you have a ton more reps. All of those guys are going to be much better positioned — confidence-wise, knowledge-wise and technique-wise — because of the reps.”

The Aggies didn’t just bank on internal improvement either, though.

During the winter USU went out and added notable power conference transfers in George Maile and Trey Andersen, plus a junior college transfer in Jared Pele, whom Bassett describes as “a big, talented guy.”

“Getting those transfers in spring was huge,” Bassett said.

Are the Aggies truly better on the O-line, though?

That won’t really be determined until the games start, but there is a lot of optimism that the team has done what is needed to change that position room for the better.

“I will say this, our offense is built on speed. It is built upon getting playmakers the ball quickly in space. Our offense is not built on blooding noses in the trenches. It is what it is,” Bassett said.

“... With the way (Kyle) Cefalo is going to call plays and the way our guys are going to have confidence and understanding what we are doing, in addition to the strength work they’ve put in, I’m really excited.”

Did Utah State’s defensive line get better?

Ced Douglas didn’t coach at Utah State last year, having joined the program in January along with Dreiling and the majority of the defensive staff.

The defensive line coach quickly made himself familiar with the Aggies he coaches though, and what stood out most to him about the 2023 Aggies was a real lack of physicality up front on defense.

That won’t be the case again this season, he says.

“We are so much more physical,” Douglas said.

Much of that has to do with a host of newcomers the Aggies brought in. At defensive tackle, Utah State brought in via the transfer portal Macyo Williams from Kent State, Gabriel Iniguez Jr. from New Mexico State, Ricky Lolohea from Oklahoma State, Miguel Jackson from Charlotte, and at defensive end the reinforcements include junior college standouts Marlin Dean and Carl Nesmith, as well as Washington State transfer Lawrence Falatea.

There’s more, too. Those players are just the more notable ones whose names fans will probably become familiar with quickly.

The additions, plus key returners, have given the Aggies real depth on the D-line, something the team didn’t have a year ago.

“There wasn’t that much depth that had much experience (on the roster),” Douglas said. “The depth that we had was in the middle. We’ve signed a lot of guys. You can tell that was our emphasis, and the group that we have, man, I’ve been a lot of places and we have some exciting depth.”

Douglas will be the first to say he’s not sure if the Aggies’ D-line is any bigger than in the past, but size isn’t the be-all end-all on defense, he said.

“We aren’t going to roll out a bunch of 300 pound dudes, but I don’t think you need that,” Douglas said. “That isn’t really my mentality. We just need to be able to physical and violent and man, we are going to be able to do that.”

The players believe it, too.

“I think we’ve got a good group and a lot of people will be shocked with how we are going to play up front,” Iniguez said.

Similar to Bassett, Douglas believes the Aggies who returned have improved, too, with offseason conditioning work proving a game changer.

“We need bodies just for us, because of the way we play on offense,” Douglas said. “Now we’ve got real depth, some of the new blood with some of the old.

“We are so much more physical. Add that with the ability to move and run and it is going to be interesting to see where we end up.”

The ideal player for Utah State up front

Dreiling believes the Aggies are bigger up front than they were a season ago, on both sides of the ball, too.

But he noted that Utah State still has improvements to make, specifically a need to get longer.

“In football, you don’t have to be tall necessarily, but you do have to have long arms,” Dreiling said. “It is like when you put your hand on your little nephew’s head so he can’t punch you type deal, so we need to get that mindset here and develop what our prototype players will look like and stay true to that model.”

One player who fits the mold? Dean, the JUCO transfer from Butler Community College. A former 4-star recruit out of IMG Academy who went on to sign with Georgia, Dean is listed at 6-foot-5, 235 pounds and has already garnered some rave reviews at defensive end.

During USU’s scrimmage last weekend, Dean was regularly in the Aggies’ backfield, disrupting the offense time and again. He had a sack and a pass breakup that led to an interception for sophomore defensive tackle Isaiah Bruce.

“We are excited to see a guy like Marlin Dean, what he is going to do,” Douglas said.

That is the model that the Aggies hope to build around up front going forward — length, length and more length.

“I’m not saying we aren’t going to take a short player, but we aren’t going to have a room full of exceptions,” Dreiling said. “That is something we are going to try and stay true to. Length is a huge thing for us moving forward.”