Hutton, Nelson and Caldwell Named USU Football Season Captains
Nov. 18, 2008
LOGAN, Utah - Utah State football selected its permanent season captains in Jake Hutton, Otis Nelson and Peter Caldwell, voted on by the team and announced by head coach Brent Guy Tuesday night after practice. Hutton is the defensive captain, while Nelson is the offensive captain and Caldwell is the special teams captain. "I think they're really great choices by the football team," Guy said. "The thing that jumps out at you right away is that you have two seniors in Jake and Otis, so it's great to see that the underclassmen admire and respect those two. Pete is the only underclassman but its obvious for him to be chosen as team captain, especially the way he has been punting and kicking the ball all season for us." The Aggies used different captains each game during the year before the team voted on the season captains this week. This trio will represent USU at the coin toss before the Aggies' home and regular-season finale game against New Mexico State next Saturday, Nov. 29. "There were some other guys that got some votes in all three positions that might have been able to get some votes, but it wasn't close on these three selections. It says a lot about this senior class and this team to be represented by these three outstanding individuals," Guy said.
Hutton, a senior linebacker from Pocatello, Idaho (Highland HS), leads the team as well as ranking third in the Western Athletic Conference and 24th in the NCAA in tackles, with 9.1 per game, currently with 100 total stops on the season. He also leads the team with seven tackles for loss, half a sack, one pass break-up, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery. Hutton currently has 317 career tackles, needing four to reach USU's career top 10 list. "I'm excited. It's a tremendous privilege to be team captain," Hutton said. "It's voted on by my teammates, so its nice that they respect me and think of me as their captain."
Nelson, a senior wide receiver from West Valley City, Utah (Hunter HS), has a team-leading 34 receptions for 402 yards (11.8 ypc) with a team-leading four TD catches. Nelson has caught a pass in 29 straight games, the third-longest active streak in the WAC. He has 81 career receptions for 829 yards with six career TD's. "It's a great honor, I'm humbled in that my teammates think of me as their captain and they think of me as a leader. I don't really think of myself that way, I just try to leave my hard work on the field and lead by example, so it truly is an honor to represent our team as one of the three captains," Nelson said. Caldwell, a sophomore placekicker/punter from Kaysville, Utah (Davis HS), has the fifth-best punting average in the WAC and the 29th-best in the NCAA with 42.0 ypp. Caldwell also is sixth in the conference and tied for 74th in the country in field goals (0.8 pg). He currently leads the WAC in field goal percentage, .818 (9-of-11) and is tied for first in the league in PAT percentage (100.0, 49-of-49). Caldwell now has 52 career PAT's, (52-of-52), remaining in a tie for first with Willie Beecher (64-of-64, 1981-84) and Russ Moody (44-of-44, 1988-89) as the only three USU kickers with a perfect career PAT percentage (1.000).
The captain trio and the Aggies face New Mexico State on Saturday, Nov. 29. Kickoff is slated for 1 p.m. at USU's Romney Stadium. It will also be "Senior Day" as Utah State will honor its 17 seniors in a pre-game ceremony. Aggie football tickets are available in person through the USU Ticket Office at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum, online 24 hours a day at www.UtahStateAggies.com and clicking on "tickets" in the left column, or by phone by calling 1-888-USTATE-1 or (435) 797-0305.
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