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Show Friday, April 2, 2010 Page 8 FridayS110 Utah State University • Logan, Utah • www.aggietownsquare.com Arizona linebacker to join Aggies .1.1•••■ • 01, By ADAM NETTINA staff writer p O A SECOND-YEAR HEAD COACH GARY ANDERSON instructs his players during practice last spring. With what many are calling USU's best recruiting class in years, the Aggies are looking to improve on last season's 4-8 record. PATRICK ODEN file photo As April arrives, no fooling around on the football field Andersen sees improvement during second full week of spring practice After opening up with several light practices last week, coach Gary Andersen's Aggies dialed it up over the last few days, donning full pads and engaging in a variety of football drills and scrimmage-like situations. The Aggie first team offense and first team defense squared off on Tuesday and Thursday, with several players standing out and making an early impression on the coaching staff. Here's the latest buzz from spring ball. Back and Forth year head coach's complaints bothered senior wide receiver Stanley Morrison, who echoed Andersen's sentiments about the positive effects of the intrasquad competition. "Practice is going like it needs to be going," said Morrison. "The defense and offense are working hard together. We don't have off days. The defense is going to win some days and the offense is going to win some days. That's just how it goes, and it means each person and each side of the ball is getting better." Bigger. Faster. Stronger. It's been a mixed bag of results during the early stages of practice for the Aggies, as both the offense and defense have had the upper hand at different times over the week. On the first day in which the Aggies practiced in full pads the defense dominated, yet the first team offense came back and moved the ball almost at will against the first team defense during the second full day of pads on Tuesday. The back and forth nature of the practices might alarm some fans, but for Andersen and his players, the competition is indicative of the entire team's focus to improve with each passing day. "I think we've had good practices from the standpoint of competition," Andersen said after practice on Tuesday. "The first day in pads the defense had the upper hand. Today, the offense came back and fought back." Andersen, himself a former defensive coordinator, admitted to being somewhat miffed at the play of his defensive line during Tuesday's practice, and could be heard berating the unit's intensity and technique throughout the latter parts of the session. Not that the second One of the most significant changes from last year's spring practices to this year's practices has been the effect of the offseason condition campaign on the Aggie players. USU's athletes have made major strides in the weight room and practice field under first year strength and conditioning coach Evan Simon, who has brought a renewed energy and focus to the program. Coach Andersen praised both Simon and his players for their gains in offseason training, and said that the competition level created by recent recruiting classes will further entice the team's current starters not to get complacent. "Evan does a great job with the strength program, and these kids work hard," Anderson said. "I think they are starting to take better care of themselves body wise. I think they are eating better, and I think they're sleeping better. They are hitting the weight room with a lot of aggression." He added, "Competition truly creates the opportunity for a young man to want to progress faster than anything else. I think the recruiting classes have upped the level of competition on this football team, and it has truly helped us to move in the right direction from a physical and mental standpoint." Farewell to a Senior The Aggies have already lost several key players to injuries and off-field incidents this offseason, and this past week coach Andersen and his defensive staff learned the unfortunate news that veteran linebacker and special teamer Jacob Actkinson will not return for his senior season. Actkinson, who had one more year of eligibility left in his career, was one of the most physically dominating members of the USU defense. He held position best marks in nearly every workout event (including a 40-yard dash time in the 4.4 second range) and figured to be at the very least a key contributor to the special teams unit in 2010. Coach Andersen said that the loss of Actkinson is unfortunate, but that there are plenty of other linebackers who have the opportunity to step up and provide depth to an already experienced and talented unit. "Jacob was right in the fight with some young guys," said Andersen. "With him leaving, it gives Jake Doughty an opportunity to be able to come in and do some things. I love Jake [Actkinson]. He's a senior who has been through it all. It was — in his words — just time to move on. I love him as a kid and would love to have him on the team, but I wouldn't say [his departure] is going to leave a big hole for us." I See SPRING BALL, page 10 Wrestling dub had strong showing at nationals By TYREL SKINNER staff writer The Utah State Wrestling Club team capped off its year with a trip to the NCWA National Championships. This is the first time in school history that Utah State has sent a team to wrestle on the national level, and the wrestling team did not squander this opportunity. The club represented Utah Sate well and proved it could compete on the national level. The road to get to nationals, however, was a long one. The team started practice in November, with its first match Nov. 20. This was also the only match that it would wrestle before the new year. The next dual that they participated in was at home in January. "We competed well at each of the duals against the tough local teams of Weber and Idaho State," junior wrestler Mark Haslam said. Haslam is the oldest wrestler on the team and runs most of the practices, along with coach Robert Cox. "We started out the season with a pretty good team of over 20 people," Haslam said. The Aggie wrestlers competed in two regular season tournaments. Their first was during the last days of Christmas break at the Utah Valley University Open on Jan. 9. The tour- nament is the toughest open wrestling tournament in the area, especially for club teams, Haslam said. The competition included the toughest club teams in the area, and two Division 1 teams. Utah State competed well in the tournament, winning a total of nine matches. "This year, we did bet- ter than we have ever done before at this tournament," Haslam said. "We took more people to it, and I See WRESTLING, page 9 MEMBERS OF USU'S WRESTLING TEAM (left to right) Jeff Wilkes, Dakota Dana, Zach Walker, Coach Kyle Thornock, Coach Robert Cox, Mark Haslam and Ben Shurtz. photo courtesy of the Utah State Wrestling Club Nearly two months after National Letter of Intent Day, the final pieces of Utah State's 2010 football recruiting class are finally starting to come together. On Thursday, USU head coach Gary Andersen announced that Mesa High School (AZ) athlete Kyler Fackrell had signed with the Aggies, bringing the total number of players in the 2010 recruiting class to 28. Fackrell comes to the Aggies with one of the most distinguished prep resumes in the entire state of Arizona. A leading member of the Jackrabbits defense, he posted 68 tackles, eight pass break-ups, two interceptions and one forced fumble as a senior in 2009, while also starring on offense. Not only did Fackrell show his versatility by averaging more than 18 yards a catch and snagging five touchdowns for the state's 5A runner-ups, but the multifaceted athlete also played quarterback for three games in Mesa's dynamic triple option attack. As a junior in 2008, Fackrell earned team MVP honors while playing quarterback, and currently stars on Mesa's basketball team as well. Despite Fackrell's offensive background, Utah State defensive coordinator Bill Busch said he projects Fackrell as a linebacker at the college level. "That's where we think he might pan out," said Busch. "He is a 6-foot-5, 215-pound athlete, so he has a lot of multiplicity to him right there. We couldn't be more excited about having him. He's a big-time star on their basketball team and was a big-time volleyball player. Obviously football is our sport, but when you get a guy who is a multi-sport athlete that means he is highly competitive." On film, Fackrell shows tremendous field presence as both a linebacker and a receiver, and has uncanny speed for his size. His toughness and durability are unquestionable, and he appears to be a player who should have no trouble making the physical transition to the college level right away. He came into his senior season at Mesa as Scout.com's fifth rated defensive back in the state of Arizona, and even made recruiting analyst Jason Jewell's preseason watch list as one of 10 Arizona high school prospects poised to have a breakout season in 2009. Fackrell made good on Jewell's assessment, earning AllRegion honors while helping to lead his team to its first 5A title game in 17 years. Fackrell's commitment to the Aggies is important on a number of fronts. Not only does he become the fourth linebacker from the high school class of 2010 to sign up to play in Logan, but he represents an important piece in coach Andersen's recruiting philosophy — namely, to bring in more LDS recruits and to have them ready to play after serving their missions. According to coach Busch, Fackrell is not only a player who can keep USU's strong tradition of student athletes alive, but he'll likely help the team make inroads in future attempts to recruit prep players intent on taking their missions soon after their graduations. "He's off the charts academically, so we are extremely excited about that," said Busch. "But the biggest thing we're excited about is that we are now expanding ourselves with getting kids. He's LDS and is going to be a 'mission kid' for us. He is a guy who we are going to sign and send on his mission. So we have expanded our territory as far as recruiting those types of kids. It's part of coach Andersen's plan, to get a good number of kids rotating through their mission process." Utah State will return to the practice field this Friday at 3:30 PM for the team's only open practice to the public. The Aggies will hold three other general access events this spring, with scrimmages on April 10 and 17 before concluding the spring season with the annual Blue and White Game on April 24. — adam.nettina@aggiemail.usu.edu |