With only Bryson Barnes, Jacob Conover and CJ Tiller as scholarship quarterbacks right now, Utah State football is in the market for another signal caller, and new head coach Bronco Mendenhall has said a dual-threat QB is the priority.
Enter Justin Lamson.
The former Stanford quarterback is expected to visit Utah State this weekend, according to 247 Sports’ Brandon Huffman, his first visit since entering the transfer portal on Dec. 13.
Lamson has been offered by Sacramento State, while numerous Group of Five programs — and a couple of power conference programs — have either reached out or kept tabs on him, Huffman reported.
Listed at 6-foot-2, 210 pounds, Lamson was a three-star prospect coming out of high school (Oak Ridge in El Dorado Hills, California) in 2021.
He signed with Syracuse out of high school and spent two seasons in western New York before transferring to Stanford ahead of the 2023 season.
In his two years in Palo Alto, Lamson played in 23 games, though he split time both seasons with Ashton Daniels, who was the primary starting quarterback for the Cardinal, while Lamson was the change-of-pace QB thanks to his running ability (usually power).
This past season, Lamson carried the ball 68 times and ran for eight touchdowns. By way of comparison, he threw the ball only 47 times for 300 yards, four touchdowns and two interceptions, completing just over 50% of his attempts.
With two years of eligibility remaining, Lamson fits the mold of quarterback that Mendenhall has preferred over the years. This season at New Mexico, Mendenhall’s QB was Devon Dampier, who was a dynamic runner and a hit-or-miss passer.
Dampier carried the ball 155 times and ran for 1,166 yards and 19 touchdowns. He completed 226 of 390 pass attempts (a completion percentage under 60%) for 2,768 yards, 12 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.
The only quarterback currently on Utah State’s roster with experience similar to that of Lamson — games played at the power conference level — is Barnes.
Barnes was the backup quarterback behind Spencer Petras for much of this past season but still managed to play in eight games. Barnes proved primarily a runner, though he said that throwing the ball is his No. 1 priority as a QB.
Barnes threw for 865 yards, 12 touchdowns and six interceptions in 2024 and carried the ball 68 times for 530 yards and five touchdowns.
