LOGAN — While they won’t be walking across a stage inside the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum anytime soon, it was announced Friday morning that 68 student-athletes are a part of the Utah State University’s 2020 graduating class. The class includes all students who completed their degrees during the 2019-20 academic year, from December 2019 through August 2020.
All USU events were canceled this spring as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the university’s 133rd commencement ceremony. In order to honor the graduates, USU Athletics will hold a special virtual graduation ceremony via Facebook Live on Saturday, May 9, at 6 p.m. The broadcast will be available on the Utah State University Athletics Facebook page.
“That is a huge accomplishment for them and they should be very proud of it. They have represented the school very well on and off the field.” — Utah State football coach Gary Andersen
Among the graduating student-athletes are men’s basketball star Sam Merrill (business administration), first round NFL draft pick quarterback Jordan Love (exercise science), Riley Plogger (communicative disorders & deaf education), an All-Mountain West outfielder on the Aggies’ softball team, and All-Mountain Rim gymnast Elle Golison (integrated studies).
Other notable graduates include Mealii Enos, an Academic All-Mountain West defender on the Aggies’ soccer team. Enos was the valedictorian of the Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services. She graduated with a 4.0 GPA, while earning a double-major in communicative disorders & deaf education and special education.
Then there is placekicker Dominik Eberle. Eberle finished his degree in December with a double major in international business and marketing. He was honored by the National Football Foundation Hampshire Honors Society, and was one of 212 Aggies recognized as a Joe E. and Elma Whitesides Scholar-Athlete (to qualify athletes must earn a GPA of 3.2 or better in each of the last two semesters). Eberle recently signed a contract with the NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders, after a record-breaking career in Logan.
All told, Utah State’s student-athletes rank among the best in the Mountain West Conference. USU has an NCAA graduation success rate of 94%, the highest in the MWC, and a cumulative 3.24 GPA. Additionally, USU has had 70 student-athletes earn academic All-Mountain West honors thus far this year.
The sport with the most graduates is football, with 18 Aggies’ having concluded a phase of their academic careers. Included in that group is Love, who was taken in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft by the Green Bay Packers, as well as safety Shaq Bond and wide receivers Taylor Compton and Jordan Nathan, among others.
Over the past two semesters, the football team has boasted the highest team GPA in program history.
“It was a great accomplishment for the group of kids during the football season to be able to get that done,” head coach Gary Andersen said earlier this year. “... Our kids took great pride in that. It means a ton to me for them to be able to reach a goal like that. Our grad transfer GPA, which is really important, was a 3.5, and that is fantastic. That is a huge accomplishment for them and they should be very proud of it. They have represented the school very well on and off the field.”
Bond, Compton and Nathan are among the graduates with remaining eligibility, and each is expected to play a key role for the Aggies in the upcoming 2020-21 season, if it takes place.
“I just want to be relied on,” Nathan recently told the Deseret News. “I’m willing to do whatever it takes. I’ll play inside or outside. I want to get more involved on special teams. If I need to block, I’ll do that. I just want to be more dependable for my team. When people see that, they trust you more, and that is what I want. I want to be very dependable.”
After football, the men’s and women’s track and field teams boast the largest number of graduates, with 13 and nine, respectively, followed by volleyball (5), men’s basketball (4), women’s basketball (4), soccer (4) and softball (4). The Aggies’ golf team has three graduates, while the women’s tennis and gymnastics teams have two graduates apiece.
The student-athletes earned their degrees in a variety of disciplines, more than 30 in total, including but not limited to accounting, agricultural systems technology, biology, business administration, communicative disorders & deaf education, dietetics, economics, exercise science, family sciences, family and consumer sciences education, family life studies, finance, health education and promotion, history, human development, international business, journalism, PE teaching, pre-physical therapy, psychology, recreation and resource management, Spanish, special education, sociology, management information systems, marketing, mechanical engineering and technology systems.
Utah State student-athlete graduates (2020)
Men’s basketball
- Diogo Brito, PE teaching
- Roche Grootfaam, general studies
- Sam Merrill, business administration
- Abel Porter, master of human resources
Women’s basketball
- Marlene Aniambossou, PE teaching
- Hailey Bassett, PE teaching
- Laura Daulton, economics and finance
- Lindsey Jensen-Baker, exercise science
Gymnastics
- Elle Golison, integrated studies
- Brittany Jeppesen, exercise science
Golf
- Hayden Eckert, agricultural systems technology
- Alec Johnson, accounting
- Chase Lansford, exercise science
Football
- Devon Andersen, interdisciplinary studies
- Roman Andrus, Spanish
- Dalton Baker, general studies
- Shaq Bond, general studies
- Gerold Bright, general studies
- Taylor Compton, marketing
- Aaron Dalton, marketing
- Dominik Eberle, international business and marketing
- Baron Gajkowski, finance
- Cameron Haney, integrated studies
- Braden Harris, biology
- Fua Leilua, general studies
- Jordan Love, exercise science
- Jordan Nathan, sociology
- Chance Parker, pre-physical therapy
- Mohelika Uasike, sociology
- Christopher Unga, sociology
- DJ Williams, sociology
Soccer
- Olivia Burnett, marketing & communication studies
- Mealii Enos, communicative disorders & deaf education and special education
- Alecia Robinson, technology systems
- Kanyan Merrill, human development and family sciences
Softball
- Allanah Alvarado, business administration
- Ryann Holmes, interdisciplinary studies
- Alissa Noble, general studies
- Riley Plogger, communicative disorders & deaf education
Women’s tennis
- Hannah Jones, journalism
- Lucy Octave, marketing and economics
Men’s track & field
- Chad Artist, communication studies
- Josh Barclay, finance
- Luke Beattie, recreation and resource management
- Sam Clausnitzer, general studies: science
- Garen Earley, exercise science
- Dallin Farnsworth, master’s of business administration
- Leaugen Fray, sociology
- Sindri Gudmundsson, accounting
- Adam Hendrickson, master’s of instructional technology and learning sciences
- David Hirschmann, mechanical engineering
- Sam Nelson, finance
- Stokton Smith, management information systems
- James Withers, biology
Women’s track & field
- Audrey Garrett, family life studies
- Grace Gibbons, applied economics
- Josie Givens, communicative disorders & deaf education
- Nakyla Jude, exercise science
- Shannon Maloney, psychology
- Jensen Mosman, PE teaching
- Cierra Simmons-Mecham, dietetics
- Stephanie Wright, journalism
- Michala Zilkey, exercise science and communication studies
Volleyball
- Izzie Belnap, exercise science
- Heidi Carpenter, integrated studies
- Kayla DeCoursey, family and consumer sciences education
- Ally Packard, history
- Madi Shepherd, health education and promotion