The rebuild of Utah State football under Bronco Mendenhall is well underway, with the Aggies now closer to spring football than they are to the end of the 2024 season.

Mendenhall has been at the helm at USU for over a month — he was officially named Utah State’s new coach on Dec. 5.

His staff, coaching and support, has been finalized.

As for the Aggies' roster, well, that is still a work in progress.

In the wake of Mendenhall’s hire, USU lost quite a bit of talent to the transfer portal — 29 players spread across all three phases of the game.

That group includes players like running back Rahsul Faison, offensive lineman Teague Andersen, tight end Will Monney, defensive end Blaine Spires and punter Ryan Marks.

And Utah State lost several more players who exhausted their eligibility, declared for the NFL draft or moved on from football altogether.

Mendenhall hasn’t been idle in trying to replenish the Aggies' ranks, however.

Since Dec. 5, Utah State has signed or received commitments — publicly — from 26 players across the high school, junior college, FCS and FBS ranks.

As of Jan. 21, 19 of those additions to Utah State have come via the NCAA transfer portal.

Of that group, eight — or a little more than 40% — left a Power Four conference school to become Aggies.

They are:

  • Brady Boyd, wide receiver; Texas Tech
  • Carter Brown, kicker; Cincinnati
  • Miles Davis, running back; BYU
  • Jake Eichorn, offensive lineman; BYU
  • Anthony Garcia, quarterback; Arizona
  • Craig McDonald, safety; Minnesota
  • Braden Pegan, wide receiver; UCLA
  • Will Safris, punter; Missouri

Mendenhall has pulled the most from the Big 12, landing five transfers from that conference, including two from BYU.

USU has also had two transfers from the Big Ten and another from the SEC.

But few of the additions from P4 schools are proven contributors, especially recently.

Boyd recorded stats in only 14 games over four seasons with the Red Raiders and had only a single catch last season.

Brown played in only two games last season with the Bearcats, making three of five field goal attempts.

Davis produced in five games for BYU in 2024, but carried the ball a total of 18 times and added five receptions.

Garcia played in just one game with Arizona as a true freshman, in a blowout loss to rival Arizona State.

McDonald didn’t play in a game for Minnesota last season and the previous year (2023) appeared in a single game for the Golden Gophers.

Pegan didn’t record a statistic in 2024 and in 2023 he had a single catch for seven yards.

Safris didn’t appear in a single game for Missouri as a true freshman.

Eichorn is pretty much the only exception, having played in nine games for BYU last season after transferring to BYU from Weber State.

Lack of production and/or playing time is one of the reasons each of those players entered the transfer portal in the first place, though, and Mendenhall has supreme confidence in his ability to find players who fit what he is trying to do, regardless of how anyone else might view them.

“I’m confident. I’m clear. Certainly we are really well thought out about what our measurables as well as intangibles look like for someone that is going to fit in our program. And quite frankly I really don’t care who else wants them. That is not an overstatement. We are really confident in our processes,” Mendenhall told KSL Sports' Scott Garrard and Hans Olsen last week.

That the Aggies have utilized the portal isn’t surprising. Mendenhall noted that, at this point in the program building phase, the Aggies need an immediate influx of talent in order to compete.

And Utah State must compete in order for Mendenhall to have the time needed to build the program into what he envisions.

“We’ve added over 41 new players in this era of college football and the portal,” he said. “Which is essentially a brand new team already. And we are still working on it. ... With 35 to 60 players transitioning out of every Group of Five program (every offseason) the thought that you don’t have to have an amazing and clear and clean strategy in the portal is simply irresponsible.

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“You have to be able to navigate that space at whatever level you choose to to have a competitive team every year. However, I’d like my entire roster to be full of Utah high school players and I’d like that to happen year after year after year. To where we become so sustainable and our succession model is so deep that when kids happen to have breakout years and are offered so much money that they can’t make sense of it to stay (at Utah State), than rather than have to rely on the portal, our next Utah high school player is ready to move into their spot.”

Mendenhall then added: “Until then, you have to win and you have to have a good enough roster to allow that to happen. Regardless of my coaching record, you have to generate momentum. So you have to have an exceptional portal strategy to address the immediate needs in your program, to function and win.”

It is likely that Utah State adds more players from the transfer portal, Power Conference transfers among them.

And it is reasonable to assume they look something like the players already added. Maybe a bit unproven or unproductive but with potential that Mendenhall believes in.

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