Group of Five football: 3 coaches who’ve surpassed expectations in 2021

3. Blake Anderson, Utah State

Blake Anderson is in his first season as head coach for the Utah State Aggies, but he’s got quite the impressive resume. Regardless, he’s doing a complete makeover of the Utah State program.

Anderson has the Aggies contenting for first place in the Mount West Conference, something that doesn’t happen very often in Logan, Utah.

This is only the fifth time this century that Utah State has won at least seven games in a season and Anderson did it in his first year.

Anderson, who came from years of success at Arkansas State, has the Aggie faithful excited for the present and the future.

No one expected Utah State to be this good this quickly. A big reason Anderson has gotten the Aggies on track so quickly is because his quarterback from Arkansas State followed him to Logan to be his quarterback for one more season — that says a lot about a coach if a player is willing to follow him across the country.

Additionally, wide receiver Devin Thompkins is one of the best wide outs in all of college football this season.

We’ll see if Anderson’s success will continue on to next season. Based on what he did at Arkansas State and the exclamation point he’s put on year one in Logan — it’s a safe bet to say it will.