At first glance, coach Mick Dennehy's first recruiting class at Utah State looks like a return to the philosophy of USU coaches of earlier in the 1990s, rather than his predecessor Dave Arslanian.
Dennehy's recruiting class is top-heavy with Californians and junior college players, much like the recruiting classes of Charlie Weatherbie (1992-94) and John L. Smith (1995-97). Arslanian concentrated on freshman and local players and was fired after two seasons.Of the 26 players who signed letters of intent with Utah State Wednesday, 18 are from California and 11 are JC transfers. Two more players expected to sign by Friday are also both from California and one is a JC transfer. Only three USU signees are from Utah, compared to 10 a year ago.
Dennehy made no apologies for having nearly half of his recruits from junior colleges, saying he was "excited" about his new players.
"We're really pleased with our initial group of signees," he said. "It gives us some immediate help and players to build our future on."
When asked about the abundance of JC players, Dennehy said he is committed to recruiting high school players to build his program but that he needed more junior college players this year to fill some obvious holes in the program.
"The bottom line is to win games if you don't want to get fired," he said.
The new Aggie coach and his assistants went hard after wide receivers, offensive and defensive linemen and linebackers.
Of the 26 signees, five are wide receivers, five are defensive linemen, four are offensive linemen and four are linebackers. One of the expected signees is also a defensive lineman, the other a running back.
Dennehy preferred not to single out recruits as being better than others, but he did indicate his JC players would compete for starting jobs, while most of the freshman would redshirt if possible.