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Logan • Study Utah State's roster for the coming football season and one thing leaps out like a raging bull from a rodeo chute.

The Aggies, looking to replace their top four linebackers, are counting on a group of players who have made exactly one start during their college careers.

One.

To make the situation even more tricky, Utah State must replace two linebackers - Kyler Fackrell and Nick Vigil — who were each selected in the third round of the NFL draft. They made 246 tackles last season, or 24 percent of all stops by the Aggie defense.

At this point, however, coach Matt Wells believes he can piece together an effective unit, although the process continues to evolve, with as many as 10 players in the mix for significant roles.

"… I need consistency," Wells said. "I don't need somebody to come in and be the Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year. I don't need that. I don't need somebody to come in and be a Nick Vigil or Kyler Fackrell.

"I need somebody to come in and be consistent, be tough, play hard and play smart. They need to be able to get lined up and make the calls that linebackers have to make. That way the defensive line can take over and play well and use their experience."

Junior Alex Huerta is one of the front-runners for a starting job at inside linebacker.

"Our hats off to the guys who left," he said, "but we've picked it up in camp and are going to get where we want to go. … The guys up front have helped a lot. They showed us how things are supposed to be — how we're supposed to be running things — and we took it from there."

According to Wells, Huerta has played consistently during the first two weeks of preseason practice. So have seniors Anthony Williams and Brock Carmen, sophomores Derek Larsen and Chase Christiansen and true freshman Justus Te'i.

Others mentioned by Wells when discussing his linebackers are senior Leki Uasike, sophomore Chasen Andersen and redshirt freshman Dalton Baker.

Asked if he's worried about the position, Wells said, "… We don't have concerns. The guys just haven't played on Saturday."

Said defensive end Ricky Ali'ifua, "It's pretty hard to replace guys like Fackrell [and] Vigil. But we've done it before. It's nothing new to us. That's always been the mentality — next man up.

"So I'm not really worried about it, especially seeing some of the guys during the offseason. They're putting themselves in position to perform and be successful. … They're going to be fine."

Huerta is from Mountain Crest High School in Wellsville. He played in 12 games last season and finished with four tackles.

Williams is the only current linebacker to start a game at Utah State. He did so in 2014 before redshirting last year.

Like Williams, Carmen is a former junior college transfer. He made 12 tackles in 13 games last season.

"We've made some big strides," new linebacker coach David Kotulski said. "… We lost six from a year ago. Then we had guys coming off injuries who didn't participate in spring and we had guys get hurt during spring.

"Now we have a good mix of players who have been in the program and new guys - freshmen and junior college guys - and it's a good group. We're excited about it and what they bring to the table."

Kotulski, who previously coached at Utah State in 2003-04, was especially encouraged after last weekend's scrimmage.

"We played well," he said. "The thing is, when you're a little confused about what's going on, you can play slow. We made some mistakes we have to clear up, but we played fast. We were much more physical. They're understanding the physicality that we are asking them to play with."

Email: luhm@sltrib.com

Twitter: @sluhm —

Aggie linebacker update

• Utah State must replace four starting linebackers, including third-round NFL draft picks Kyler Fackrell and Nick Vigil.

• Seniors Anthony Williams and Brock Carmen, along with junior Alex Huerta, could become the nucleus of the new group.

• Utah State holds its only public scrimmage of training camp Saturday. The opener is Sept. 1 against Weber State.