SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 Sports) - Chuckie Keeton can be a nightmare for opposing coaches. He is the main reason why Utah State has a chance to upset Utah Friday night at Romney Stadium.
"Chuckie is a tremendous athlete," said Utes head coach Kyle Whittingham. "He's got a good arm and moves well in the pocket."
Keeton was nearly perfect last week against Southern Utah. He completed 22 of 25 passes for 304 yards and two touchdowns. Granted, the Thunderbirds don't have nearly the defensive talent Utah has, but those numbers are impressive against any team.
As accurate as Keeton was, it's his ability to run the ball that really has Whittingham concerned.
"That's the thing that makes it a headache for you is when the quarterback run game is there," Whittingham said. "You have to worry about that every defense you dial up, you have to take that into consideration. We've got to be completely assignment sound every snap."
Keeton has fully recovered from a broken leg he suffered last season and appears to be faster than ever. Only a sophomore, Keeton has impressed Whittingham with his development as a quarterback.
"He's become more poised and a little more effective each week as his career has unfolded," Whittingham said.
This will be Keeton's first experience playing the University of Utah, and since this may be the last time for a while that the Utes visit Logan, he wants to make this game a memorable one.
"I've heard about how important of a game this is," Keeton said. "There's a lot of pride on the line. A lot of my teammates are from the Salt Lake area, so they talk to me about it all the time. Just knowing the tradition [of Utah], everybody knows there one of the better teams in Utah and we really want to take it to them this week."
