Is Jared Quayle off his game?

When the 2008-09 season wrapped up, the Aggies had a 30-5 record and Gary Wilkinson was the Western Athletic Conference player of the year. Around the league, though, Jared Quayle was being called the most important player in Utah State’s team.

He was a do-everything player that emerged as a much-needed third option to the Aggie offense that often became the first option.

This year, Quayle has again been spectacular, leading the team in scoring, rebounding and assists.

That said, Quayle has been struggling on offense lately and — maybe because expectations were sky high after his 28-point effort at Utah — his numbers have left some people wondering if the senior from Box Elder High School is in a slump.

Stew Morrill isn’t one of those people.

“I don’t worry about Jared Quayle. He had a great offensive game against
BYU, especially in the second half,” Morrill said, but added there has perhaps been added pressure on the point guard to make everything happen. “I need him making better judgments, especially on the break.”

Partly because he handles the ball so much, but also because he’s pressing and being more aggressive — something not entirely in his nature — Quayle leads the team in turnovers with 19.

“We have gotten him to be more aggressive, which is hard with him sometimes. We encouraged him to be more aggressive on the break,” Morrill said. “The other night (against Saint Mary’s) he got a little wild. There is a fine line between aggressive and wild. He understands that.”

Quayle’s play is especially important right now because his backups, Jaxon Myaer and Brian Green, have been struggling themselves and lost some confidence as well as minutes on the floor.

Quayle is shooting just 39.2 percent overall as opponents have been keying on him and forcing some rushed or slightly out-of-sync shots.

With Pooh Williams emerging as a tremendous shooter (57.1 percent overall and 46.2 from the 3-point line) Quayle should see more open looks. Getting Tyler Newbold to rediscover his shooting stroke (31 percent on 3-pointers) would also be a huge help to Quayle and the Aggie offense.