Resilient Aggies just keep believing

Utah State had a simple plan before encountering a travel audible.

The Aggies’ direct flight from Salt Lake City was canceled Thursday. That forced the Aggies to scramble, with half the team traveling Thursday evening and the other half on Friday. The Aggies had to cancel plans to practice at Aloha Stadium on Thursday afternoon.

They should be used to smudges on the blueprints. This past summer, they were trumpeting quarterback Chuckie Keeton as a Heisman hopeful with football cards, notepads and a Chuckie4Heisman page on Facebook.

But Keeton suffered a season-ending injury in the Aggies’ third game. Four outings later, quarterback Darell Garretson suffered a season-ending injury. Last week, quarterback Craig Harrison joined the disabled list.

Kent Myers, a freshman who joined the Aggies in August, will make his first start in Saturday’s game against Hawaii.

Inside linebacker Zach Vigil said the Aggies are prepared to overcome yet another obstacle.

"It goes back to the culture and buying into the ‘next man up,’ " Vigil said. "When a guy goes down, we expect the next guy to step up and fill his shoes to the best of his abilities and buy into the system. That’s what we’re going to do."

Left tackle Kevin Whimpey said: "Nothing really fazes our team. Sometimes reporters wonder: How do you do that? What’s the talk on the team? There really is no talk on our team. When somebody goes down, we feel for him, we care about him, we want to help him get better. But if they can’t help us win, we have to move on to the next guy."

UH defensive coordinator Kevin Clune acknowledged that personnel changes can complicate game plans. Clune was the Aggies’ linebackers coach for the past five seasons before coming to Hawaii.

"There are a lot of concepts on film that are reminiscent of what I saw the last five years," Clune said. "But now we have a whole new thing because they have a new quarterback, and who knows what direction they’re going to go from that. We’re going to have to find out."

Clune said he expects Myers to be ready.

"He’s a true freshman, and all that stuff, but he’s on scholarship, and I’m sure the coaches will coach him up," Clune said.

The Aggies, who are 5-3 overall and 2-1 in the Mountain West, credit their success to a comeback victory over the Warriors three years ago. In their weekly news release, the Aggies have a section entitled: "It all started at Hawaii on November 5, 2011."

Since then, the Aggies have won 30 of 41 games and appeared in three consecutive bowls.

Clune said that game was a "visible step" for the Aggies, but it was one of several in a 200-step process.

"There also were 150 steps before that," Clune said.

Whimpey, a senior, remembered the recruiting pitch when the Aggies were struggling.

"Every coach tells you, ‘Hey, this program is on the rise,’ " Whimpey said. "You can choose to believe them or not believe them. Only a few programs, obviously, make the jump from the doormat to a program on the rise. The thing they instilled in us is to just look out for each other and give 100 percent effort and never feel like you’ve been beat. It’s made us the team we are today. It’s those three simple things."