Any time a football program changes hands, alterations are expected. It’s the norm for new staffs to craft things to their liking, by installing new schemes, bringing in new players and letting old players move on.
That cycle has happened at Utah State a few times in recent years.
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When Matt Wells left Utah State for Texas Tech and Gary Andersen took over, the Aggies dramatically shifted their style of play — on offense especially — even with star quarterback Jordan Love still on the roster.
When Blake Anderson took over for Gary Andersen a couple of years laters, the pendulum swung again, and in 2021 USU football hardly resembled what had come before, via new schemes and a rash of transfers added.
So when Bronco Mendenhall was announced as the latest head coach of the Aggies in December, expectations were that things were going to change.
Few probably had an idea of just how much, though.
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Over the last seven months, Utah State has added 70 new players to its roster for this upcoming season and has signed 87 new players in total when you count players who have since left home to serve missions for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
In the House settlement era of college football, which caps rosters at 105 players, that means that two thirds of Utah State’s roster for 2025 has never played a game for the Aggies. For as much turnover that happened when Andersen and Anderson took over the program, Mendenhall has taken it another level.
Utah State football is indeed in a new era, an unprecedented one at that. Because of that, Mendenhall is quick to note things are just barely at their beginning for Utah State under its new head coach,
“Really excited for the beginning of a new era that again, is the beginning,” Mendenhall said Tuesday morning at Utah State football media days in Logan. “We’re not midway, we’re not at the end, we’re at the beginning. And so I’m anxious for that, and all that comes with it.
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“I’m also super passionate about transitions and taking on hard things and taking on organizations and helping them become better. And I believe that’s happened at each place that I’ve been able to coach, and that’s something that’s really important to both my wife, Holly and I. That not only is the program better, but the community itself, the conduct of our players, the institution itself, the grades, which have already been the best in school history since we’ve arrived (at Utah State).
“Change matters to me. Seeing young people change, seeing institutions change, seeing the community become better because of a football team. Some don’t think that’s possible. I think it’s ideal, and it’s totally worth pursuing. So that’s what you can expect. At least as a starting point.”
With so much change, over such a short period of time, what can really be expected of Utah State this fall?
Realistically, the answer to that question won’t be determined until the games themselves, and wins and losses might not even be a good indication when it is all said and done considering the Aggies’ schedule, which includes two road SEC games, plus road trips to Hawaii, UNLV and Fresno State in conference play.
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But, we do know that the Aggies won’t be what they were in 2024 or even in previous years. There are too many different players, many of whom are expected to start after the Aggies returned only four starters from 2024.
“You cannot, in this era (of college football), look at the past and say that that team is going to be the same team as they were a year ago, unless you kept the same players,” defensive coordinator Nick Howell said.
The Aggies believe they’ve thrived as a team despite the roster reconstruction. Or maybe because of it.
“I feel like we became a team very quickly,” returning linebacker John Miller said. “We do a lot of hard things together, and that kind of brings us close together, which I really like. … Everybody on the team melds together greatly. It’s a great team. I love being a part of it. Honestly. It’s a team that I feel like knows how to work hard and we know how to get through tough things. So I’m really excited for us this year. Truly.”
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Miller wasn’t alone in his belief.
“I don’t think I’ve seen this many new players come together, but the crazy thing is this is the most meshed well together team I’ve ever been a part of,” wide receiver Braden Pegan, a transfer from UCLA, said. “Which I think is an amazing thing for this program.”
The reason for the surprising camaraderie, Pegan believes, is due to Mendenhall and his approach to football.
“I think it’s his dynamic that he has set up around here,” Pegan said. “I think everybody is bought in. And that’s honestly luck of the draw too, getting all these guys that want to buy in. At a lot of programs you won’t see that.”
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Does that mean that the Aggies are going to surprise people in Year 1 under Mendenhall? Will USU be better than anyone could’ve have predicted, and not just simply because any predictions regarding the remade program were nothing better than shots in the dark? Is it possible for Utah State’s previously middling program to turn itself around in a single year?
“I think the speed of it (turning around a program) is dependent upon the people,” Howell said. “And so it will go as fast as we bring in the right players and the right coaches to to have the success that we need to have. Now, do we know? We’re not going to know until we play.”
There sure is a lot of belief and optimism right now in Logan, though. Which hadn’t been the case for awhile.
