Utah State coach Bronco Mendenhall knew he had big shoes to fill in the quarterback room this winter with star quarterback Bryson Barnes finishing his final year of college football.
Barnes had just finished off his career by being named to the All-Mountain West second team after a campaign of 2,803 passing yards, 740 rushing yards and 29 total touchdowns.
The Aggies couldn’t even turn to 2025 backup Jacob Conover, who also used his final year of eligibility last season. With both of his top guys leaving the program, Mendenhall had to start from square one.
He knew that the future 2026 starting quarterback was not already within the program. So, that meant the only option was the transfer portal.
“When you lose a starting quarterback, you look at the existing options within your program first to see if you have a returning starter or a player that’s returning that is capable of being the starter that you can retain,” Mendenhall said. “In our case, that answer was no.”
Mendenhall’s philosophy with team building has been the same for both high school recruits and the transfer portal: bring in-state players when possible.
“I love the idea at Utah State to have in-state players playing for us, especially in leadership positions,” said Mendenhall. “Especially at quarterback, which is the leadership position.”
Meanwhile, BYU backup QB McCae Hillstead was facing a big decision with the Cougars. Did he want to stay and be the backup to rising star Bear Bachmeier, or find somewhere else to have a chance at a starting role?
Hillstead initially transferred from Utah State to BYU after a promising true freshman season, in which he started four games and threw for 1,062 yards with 11 touchdowns.
However, he redshirted in 2024 and lost the battle for QB1 to Bachmeier in 2025. With only two years of eligibility remaining, Hillstead chose to enter the transfer portal.
“Toward the end of the season at BYU, I had to make a decision about whether I wanted to stay there and continue in the role I was in, or try to find a place where I could go play,” Hillstead said. “The people that helped try to put me in the right places, that were getting a read on the situation as far as what the portal was going to look like. It looked as if Utah State was the front-runner.”
Given the qualifications and hopes of each party, it seemed like a good fit for both the Aggies and Hillstead. So Hillstead announced his return to Logan on Jan. 8.
“Staying in-state was obviously a big thing for me,” said Hillstead. “Then, just having conversations with our quarterback coach, coach (Matt) Johns, and then coming on my visit. This was the first visit that I took, and it was consequently the last one, just because I loved it so much here at Utah State. ... I knew that Utah State was going to be the place after I took that first visit.”
While Hillstead certainly fit Mendenhall’s hopes, there were no promises made about a starting position. Especially after the Aggies got senior quarterback Grady Brosterhous in the transfer portal from Virginia.
Mendenhall made it clear to Hillstead that QB1 was to be earned, not given.
“He knew from the beginning he was not promised he would be the starting quarterback, but he was being selected, assessed and brought into Utah State to be and to compete for the starting position,” said Mendenhall. “So, all that was framed right from the beginning.”
While Hillstead was made no promises, he had the most experience at the FBS level in the QB room, which the coaching staff liked.
But one of the big tasks for the Aggies during the offseason was connecting the wide receiver and quarterback rooms. The receivers’ room, similarly, suffered a lot of turnover after top contributors Braden Pegan and Brady Boyd left the program following the 2025 season.
Despite only switching from quarterback to wide receiver last year, Anthony Garcia is the most tenured receiver in the room. He said Hillstead had a great connection with the receivers, both on and off the field, in spring camp.
“I think he’s an amazing leader,” said Garcia. “I think he’s an amazing person, but he’s a real perfectionist. Everything he does, he keeps us all in line. When maybe we will be out throwing by ourselves and if things are starting to look sloppy or not look as organized as he wants it, he’s quick to get us back in check.
“It is important that we are being diligent and we are being deliberate when we are practicing. I feel like he holds that standard, and he does that in everything he does. We all respect him and we all are confident in him being the guy. He’s done great this spring and this summer, and is showing us why he was able to win that job.
“I was just talking to McCae about how excited we are to actually get into fall camp and actually be throwing the ball because there are guys open left and right, and I know we’re going to succeed once the season comes around.”
Utah State ultimately named Hillstead QB1 on April 20, just two days after the Aggies’ spring showcase and nearly five months before the season opener against Idaho State.
“We’re a fit-first program,” Mendenhall said. “We’re looking for kids that fit my leadership style, fit our program, fit this valley, fit Utah State, but also fit the performance criteria.
“All those things had to fit. Then, simply his performance day in and day out, from the moment he arrived through spring practice, through the last spring practice. The consistency, the production, the efficiency and the yield ultimately made it clear that he was our starting quarterback.”
