Utah State defensive line: From weakness to strength?

At the end of spring football, Utah State interim head coach Nate Dreiling and defensive line coach Cedric Douglas knew they still had work to do with the Aggies’ defensive line.

There was talent on the roster, with guys like Blaine Spires, Enoka Miago and Bo Maile back from the previous year, plus an influx of transfers like Gabriel Iniguez Jr., Miguel Jackson and Taz Williams. But overall depth was lacking.

The defensive line — a major weakness for USU in 2023 — needed reinforcements. The entire group needed to be better too, or the Aggies would inevitably struggle defensively again.

Fast forward to Utah State’s opener against Robert Morris last Saturday and the changes made by Dreiling, Douglas and company appear to have paid off in a big way.

The Aggies’ defensive line was arguably the best group on defense in Utah State’s win against the Colonials, holding RMU to only 14 points and 362 yards.

Per Pro Football Focus, Aggie defensive linemen were better than all other defenders, outside of a safeties group that includes star junior Ike Larsen and instant impact transfers in Jordan Vincent and Torren Union.

Jackson, a defensive tackle, was the second-highest-rated defender on the team, behind Larsen. And Williams, Miago and Spires were all top 10-rated defenders overall.

Williams and Spires had performances of note. Williams tied his career high with five tackles, including a tackle for loss, only the sixth of his career.

And Spires had a sack, which bumped him up to six in his Aggie career and 8.5 in his collegiate career. No defensive lineman played better than Jackson, though, who routinely took on double teams inside and still affected the RMU run game regularly, particularly in the second half.

The defensive line’s performance did not escape the notice of Dreiling.

“Hats off to the players for earning the trust of the coaches and when it was their time to go in, they played ball,” he said.

For Dreiling, though, it was less about any individual performances and more about how many defensive linemen Utah State was able to play against Robert Morris. It was a group that included the aforementioned Jackson, Williams, Iniguez Jr., and Maile at defensive tackle, plus Miago, Marlin Dean, Cian Slone, Lawrence Falatea and Gabe Peterson at defensive end.

Given the Aggies’ offensive system — which prioritizes speed and quick strikes — depth on defense has been the most critical thing to build; in the first game of the year the Aggies looked like they have developed the needed depth up front.

“That is the deal with this offense,” Dreiling said. “We are going to go as fast as we can and you have to be able to play a bunch of guys. More importantly, you have to be able to trust them. That is what I am proud of.”

“We should never play tired football up front,” he added. “We have enough talent that we feel like we should stay fresh and stay rotating. And that is what you need if you are going to get a pass rush or stop the run. It is going to have to be with a lot of bodies rotating in. Those guys did a great job.”

It wasn’t perfect, of course. Dreilng singled out the lack of a real impactful pass rush as being a genuine problem.

“I wish our pass rush was a little more consistent,” he said. “They had a little too much time back there.”

But overall, for a group that had many question marks entering the season, USU’s defensive front met and perhaps even exceeded expectations.

That could be said for the Utah State defense on the whole, though.

Outside of a few plays in the first half, the Aggies’ defense did what it wants to do, that is force teams to drive the length of the field for their points and capitalize on mistakes that offenses make along the way.

“We want teams to have to drive down the field to earn their points, but you can’t have bad plays and that is what we had (early against Robert Morris),” Dreiling said. “It only takes a couple (plays) in college football to give up points.

“We just have to be locked in more consistently. … We have a chance to play really good football as the season continues, regardless of it is the first, second or third guy up. I think there is a chance for this to be a special year on the defensive side.”