Jan. 13, 2009

LOGAN, Utah - Utah State head football coach Gary Andersen announced Tuesday that four players have signed to play for the Aggies next season. These are Andersen's first signees as Aggie head coach, as he was named USU's new head coach in December.

The four mid-year transfers are defensive lineman Sean Enesi, wide receiver John Hendershott, running back Michael Smith and linebacker Reuben Willis.

"The coaching staff did a great job in the quick transition to be able to get turned around and find four quality junior college players to come in and help us in areas where we need help. To be able to get four players involved in spring drills in our first year is a tremendous credit to the coaches for going out and recruiting like crazy and get that done," said Andersen, who started compiling his coaching staff his first day on the job.

He inherits an Aggie squad that lost 12 lettermen (five offense, seven defense) among the 17 seniors from last season's roster.

"I think we've helped ourselves in each one of those positions. When you recruit a junior college player, you expect him to come in and compete for a spot early. The advantage that these guys get to come in, go through the offseason workout program and go through spring drills truly gives them the opportunity to come in and get on the field in the fall and give them substantial playing time next year. We expect them to come in and compete for a job, and we'll see exactly how good they are. But we brought them in here to play," Andersen said.

Andersen wasn't the only Aggie coach that is impressed with the four signees, which include two offensive players and two defensive players, helping areas on both sides of the ball to the enthusiasm of both Utah State coordinators.

"The number one thing is that they have raised the level of competition," first-year USU defensive coordinator Bill Busch said. "Every position is wide open and it's a clean slate across the board. Junior college players bring in an extra maturity and extra talent to the table, as they're older and they know what it takes to compete at the college level. These two increase our talent level as a defensive unit and they will increase the level of competition for a spot. They have the advantage of coming in at mid-year and going through spring drills and getting extra time in the weight room."

Busch joined the Aggie staff in December, and will also coach the USU safeties in addition to his defensive coordinator role, and his excitement of the signees was matched by his counterpart on the offensive side of the ball.

"We feel that these two offensive signees addressed our immediate needs, and we're excited about getting them on campus for spring drills and help us build this program," said USU offensive coordinator Dave Baldwin, who like Busch, joined the Aggie staff in December.

Enesi, a native of Carson, Calif., (Carson HS), will have two years of eligibility for the Aggies, coming to USU from El Camino Junior College where he played offensive lineman and was a back-up on defensive line. He will play defensive tackle at USU. The 6-0, 288-pound Enesi helped El Camino post a 10-2 record, losing in the second round of the playoffs. Enesi earned first-team all-Central Conference honors for the Southern California Football Association after anchoring a Warrior offensive line that paved the way for El Camino to amass 4,112 yards of total offense during the regular season, including 2,860 passing yards and 1,252 rushing yards, with 38 offensive TD's.

"We're going to convert Sean to defensive tackle. He has great explosion and great quickness. He's played a lot of offensive line in junior college, but I think defensive line can be his home. His quickness and his strength, along with his knowledge of the offensive line will help him be a talented defensive lineman for us. We expect him to come in and compete for a spot at defensive tackle, which is a spot where we need four quality players and be able to rotate in and out, and we'll need him to be in that rotation," Andersen said.

At Carson High School, Enesi played both center and guard.

Hendershott, a native of Pleasant Hill, Calif., will also have two years of eligibility at USU, joining the Aggies from Diablo Valley Community College. At 6-3, 195-pounds, the wide receiver earned first-team JC All-American honors after tallying 1,150 yards on 65 receptions with 18 TD's. Diablo Valley's passing attack ranked No. 2 in the state of California. He also had two kickoff returns for scores and collected first-team Northern California Conference honors. In 2007, he garnered all-conference accolades after snaring 38 receptions for 480 yards and six TD's.

"John is a key part of the transition to the true spread offense; we need a big, experienced receiver. We view him as a big, tall, physical receiver that can go up and get balls, but he can also get off of press coverage. He's a great route runner. He was a first-team junior college All-American, so his stats and honors speak for themselves. He fits the spread offense extremely well, that's what he played in at junior college, so he has the experience at it. We expect him to come in and make that receiving corps a solid group," Andersen said.

At De La Salle High School, Hendershott had 47 catches for 849 yards with four TD's receiving his senior season, as well as six rushes for 74 yards, helping the Spartans to a 13-1 overall record, finishing third in the state and a No. 19 national ranking.

"John is a big target with tremendous speed. He's proven that he can make the big catch and he's proven himself at both the high school and the junior college level based on his performance and his numbers," Baldwin said.

Smith, a 5-9, 198-pounder, is from Tucson, Ariz., coming to USU from Eastern Arizona Junior College and will have two seasons of eligibility for the Aggies. Last season, he earned all-Western States Football League honors after posting 131 rushes for 1,002 yards (91.1 ypg) with 11 TD's, helping the Gila Monsters to an 8-3 record. Smith was second in the WSFL for rushing yards and TD's, while ranking third in ypg, carries and scoring. He also earned second-team all-Arizona Community College Athletic Conference accolades. In 2007, Smith had 820 yards on 99 rushes with eight TD's, ranking fifth in the WSFL in rushing yards and ninth in ypg with 74.5, helping EAJC to a 9-2 record.

"Michael is a very talented running back and he also has the ability to slide out and play the slot receiver for us, and be a very effective running back," Andersen said. "I think our deepest spot on the football team is the running back position, where we have some very talented players stacked up there. We need to find a way to make sure that we are creative on the offensive side of the ball to get all of them involved. You'll see not only Michael, but also the whole crew of running backs playing a lot of different spots on the field throughout spring ball. I think Michael is a very talented and intelligent young man. He has great speed and is a very physical back, so he has the whole package as far as speed and strength."

At Sunnyside High School, Smith had 1,920 yards rushing on 274 carries (7.1 ypc/160.0 ypg) with 24 TD's, helping the Blue Devils to a 7-5 record his senior season. Smith also had seven receptions for 59 yards.

"Michael brings a great deal of talent and speed to our offense," Baldwin said. "He has unbelievable speed and is also a strong runner, and he can break tackles and take it to the house with his great speed. He provides extra talent to our already talented offensive backfield and we feel that we're are the most talented and deep at that position."

Willis, a native of Lakewood, Calif., is 5-11, 230-pounds, and will have three years of eligibility for the Aggies. Last season at El Camino, he was third on the team with 45 tackles, including 13 tackles for loss with seven sacks, ranking second on the squad in both, as well as two pass break-ups. He collected second-team all-Central Conference honors.

"We're very fortunate to get Reuben after one year at junior college," Andersen said. "It's a true case of coaches doing their homework. He wanted to come out early and we had some ties with his family and teammates. Those ties including myself, as well as assistant coaches Ilaisa Tuiaki and Chad Kauha'aha'a, and we have family ties with Reuben and got connected with him. We were the first ones to go in and offer him early. He's a middle linebacker that has great speed and is an extremely physical player. We're trying to build our defense around being fast, physical and intelligent, and Reuben fits all three of those qualities."

Willis played for Mayfair High School, where he led the Monsoons with 92 tackles his senior season, along with two fumble recoveries, helping Mayfair to a 7-4 record. As a junior in 2006, Willis notched 66 tackles, earning second-team all-state underclass honors.

Utah State finished the 2008 season with a 3-9 overall and 3-5 WAC record, marking the first time since 2005 that the Aggies have three wins in a season. USU won three WAC games in a season for the first time in the Aggies' four seasons in the league. It is also the first time since 2003 that USU won three conference games and just the third time in the 2000's.

The Aggies return 47 letterwinners (24 offense, 20 defense and three special teams).

-USU-