The rebuild of Utah State football under Bronco Mendenhall has been underway for awhile now, demonstrated mostly by players leaving the Aggie program.
More than 25 since the NCAA transfer portal opened, in fact.
But things ramped up on the additions side of things for USU on Friday — in a pretty meaningful way.
Over the course of the day, the Aggies landed commitments from three Power conference transfers:
- BYU running back Miles Davis
- UCLA wide receiver Braden Pegan
- Missouri punter Will Safris
The Aggie also landed a junior college commitment from New Mexico Military Institute linebacker Sampson Alofipo.
All told now, Utah State has brought in 11 players since Mendenhall took over, a combination of high school signees (separate from those who signed with Utah State when Nate Dreiling was still the interim head coach), junior college transfers, FCS transfers, Group of Five transfers and now Power conference transfers.
Davis is probably the most widely recognized of the newcomers, at least in Utah. Him or Snow College transfer Titan Saxton, who started his college career at Utah State as a walk-on.
Davis is a former wide receiver turned running back who spent five years with BYU and showed flashes here and there during his career with the Cougars.
In his career at BYU, he totaled just over 450 yards rushing and two touchdowns, averaging better than five yards per carry. He also had 131 receiving yards and a touchdown, averaging just over eight yards per catch.
Buried behind multiple running backs at BYU, Davis’ best game of his career — by far — came in 2022 against Wyoming. In that game, Davis rushed for 131 yards on only 13 carries, while adding four receptions for 21 yards.
Davis joins an Aggie team that has lost its three best running backs this offseason, all to the transfer portal. USU has also added New Mexico transfer Javen Jacobs at the position and it will surely be a battle between Davis and Jacobs for the top spot on the depth chart.
Pegan is much less proven than Davis, meanwhile. The UCLA transfer didn’t play in a single game this past season after playing in nine games in 2023, primarily on special teams.
Pegan’s measurables are notable, though. He is listed at 6-foot-4, 200 pounds and had an interesting collection of offers coming out of high school in 2022, including from Utah, Colorado and Boston College. Pegan gives the Aggies real size at receiver when combined with the returning Otto Tia (6-foot-4, 220 pounds).
As for Safris, the former Missouri Tiger didn’t play in 2024 — as a true freshman — but was ranked as the No. 33 punter prospect in the 2024 class by Kohl’s Kicking. Hang time is his biggest calling card, putting him in a similar mold as Aggie punter Stephen Kotsanlee.
None of the aforementioned players made a big or consistent impact at the Power conference level but their additions to a Utah State program in need of a real talent influx could be considered promising. Especially considering Mendenhall’s reputation for talent evaluation.
