Utah State will reportedly lose another important defensive lineman this offseason.
Per Rivals, rising senior Patrick Joyner Jr. — a one-time transfer to USU from Miami — has entered the transfer portal.
Joyner Jr. is the fourth Aggies defensive lineman to enter the portal since the conclusion of the 2022-23 college football season, along with defensive ends Daniel Grzesiak and Byron Vaughns and defensive tackle Tavian Coleman.
(Grzesiak has since signed with the Cincinnati Bearcats, while Vaughns holds offers from numerous Power Five programs, including USC, Florida State, Notre Dame, ASU, Cal, Virginia Tech and West Virginia).
In his two year stint in Logan, JoynerJr. appeared in 27 games and recorded 60 tackles, including 10.5 tackles for loss, and 4.5 sacks, while playing at both defensive end and defensive tackle.
Listed at 6-foot-3, 245 pounds, Joyner was a three-star recruit — per 247 Sports’ Composite rating — coming out of South Dade High School (Homestead, Florida) in 2017.
He chose the Hurricanes over offers from Alabama, Florida and Florida State, among other schools and was in Coral Gables for two years, before following Utah State defensive coordinator Ephraim Banda to Utah State ahead of the 2021 season.
Joyner Jr. was 13th among all Aggies in recorded tackles this season with a 31, fourth among defensive linemen.
Utah State did add five defensive linemen as part of the 2023 signing class, including Utahns Zion Andreason (East High School), Justice Ena (Sky View High School) and Maka Tu’akoi (Alta High School/Independence Community College), as well as Clifton Mosley Jr. and Cian Slone.