USU football position previews: Quarterbacks

Nov 14, 2015; Colorado Springs, CO, USA; Utah State Aggies quarterback Kent Myers (2) during the first half against the Air Force Falcons at Falcon Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports

<em>This is the third in a series previewing the 2017 Utah State football team’s position groups. The others can be found at the following links: <a href=”http://www.cachevalleydaily.com/sports/article_30eb12c6-8786-11e7-aa63-0f091dd2d683.html” target=”_blank”>Offensive line</a>, <a href=”http://www.cachevalleydaily.com/sports/article_9393f23a-884e-11e7-857a-c7dae436ad41.html” target=”_blank”>Defensive backs.</a></em>

LOGAN – The year 2014 was a dangerous time to be an Aggie quarterback. Chuckie Keeton hurt his knee in third game of the season, backup Darell Garretson suffered a season ending injury in game seven and Craig Harrison ended his season the very next week against UNLV.

That left Utah State with a freshman quarterback starting the last six games of the regular season. In his first career start, the unknown Kent Myers completed his first 12 pass attempts, finishing the game with 186 yards and three touchdown passes. The true freshman completed his freshman season with a 6-1 record and was named the Gildan New Mexico Bowl offensive MVP.

Myers has now accumulated 25 starts in 28 games played, 4,848 passing yards and 31 touchdowns through the air. He has rushed for an additional 1,115 yards. He will likely be the guy behind center when the USU offense first takes the field against Wisconsin, but head coach Matt Wells said he wants his senior quarterback to re-earn the starting job.

“I want him to distance himself if that’s going to happen because it’s a competitive nature, we’re in a competitive business and it’s a competitive room,” he said. “If another one of those quarterbacks has the ability to overtake a guy, I want him to have that opportunity.”

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The only other quarterback with in-game experience is DJ Nelson. The Logan High grad will be entering his junior season and has played in every game each of the last two seasons, mostly as the holder. He completed his only pass attempt for 12 yard against Air Force and rushed for a first down on a faked field goal attempt against BYU.

Jordan Love and Henry Colombi are two guys that could see their first playing time this year. Love spent his first season with USU as a redshirt and is described as a quarterback that can not only run, but can throw on the run.

Colombi is a true freshman out of Florida. Wells said he is performing well so far, that he still makes a few freshman mistakes, but has always been able to “bounce back quickly” from them.

“He’s been coached really well in high school,” Wells said. “He’s got a great head on his shoulders. He’s calm. The moments don’t seem too big for him. He’s accurate.”

Myers said the QB position will be doing things a bit differently under new offensive coordinator David Yost’s offense.

“In the past we’ve done a lot of sideways passing, and not getting up the field as much as we want,” he said. “We’re going to spread the offense and go vertical a lot. I know we’re going to score a lot of points, and that’s just how the offense is made. It’s made for us to get a lot of yards and a lot of points. No one is going to stop us but ourselves. We have to go out there and complete the ball. Everything is there for us, we just have to go out there and play our game.”

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