New Mexico State Spring Practice News

Hey Aggies fans, in case you missed the news out of Las Cruces, I’ll fill you in on the juicy “deets” (details). It was announced on Friday that Tyler Rogers, quarterback for the New Mexico State Aggies, has been granted a medical redshirt and will return for one final season. Jason Groves of the Las Cruces Sun-News broke the news on his Twitter page.

This is huge news for the NMSU football team, albeit an expected one, due to the lack of experience behind Rogers. He has said this spring that he wants to focus on two things before the season begins: offensive execution and his leadership skills.

If the first week of spring practices are any indication, the New Mexico State defense might be just as bad as it was last year. In case you forgot, NMSU’s defense was atrocious, ranking 121st out of 128 in the FBS in total defense last year. During Saturday’s scrimmage, it was more of the same. The offense worked the NMSU defense, moving the ball easily and only turning the ball over twice in over 100 plays.

Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images

Fortunately, it looks like head coach Doug Martin and defensive coordinator Frank Spaziani are going to mix up the defense in 2017 with the “Money” package, to improve on the defense’s terrible 2016 statistics.

The “Money” package involves switching out an interior defensive lineman for an extra defensive back, thus providing, as Spaziani puts it, “more flexibility” for the NMSU defense:

"It's an extra defensive back or an extra linebacker and it gives us a little more flexibility in the way we line up and cover some things that have hurt us in the past. We have to expand it but it gives us flexibility and a guy who can perform in space."

-Coach Spaziani

Aggie Extras

• It looks like the offense is getting retooled a bit this spring as a new Pistol formation was introduced at the scrimmage on Saturday. This is an interesting development, as any new way to get Larry Rose III the ball will surely benefit the Aggies this fall.
• Linebacker Dalton Harrington and safety Ron LaForce were held out of Saturday’s scrimmage, according to Groves. Parker Davidson has also been out since the start of Spring practices after undergoing back surgery.