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Utah State's loss is BYU's gain, as former Aggie forward Kyle Davis will transfer to BYU and play for the Cougar hoopsters after sitting out the 2014-15 season.
Davis, who has already been admitted to BYU, verbally committed to Cougar head coach Dave Rose on Thursday; he said he left a phone message for a vacationing Rose, who then responded via text message.
Davis said after visiting the Provo campus on Monday and Tuesday of this week, "it just became clear that's where I wanted to play."
Utah State limited Davis' scholarship release to non-Mountain West Conference schools and programs outside the state of Utah; such a decision restricted contact between Davis and BYU until he was admitted to school, and precludes him from receiving a grant-in-aid for the coming season.
A 6-foot-7-inch, 225-pound frontcourt mainstay for the Aggies last season, Davis said he appealed Utah State's decision, but "the appeals process, which they govern themselves, determined that I didn't deserve a release within the state of Utah."
Despite the initial difficulty of the transfer process, Davis says he is confident that he made the right call in leaving Logan for Provo.
"I entertained many scholarship offers from different schools, but the sacrifice for one year is in the long run going to be better than being on scholarship for another year elsewhere. There are great benefits to playing in front of (BYU's) huge fan base; it's going to be worth it, even though the first year will be a sacrifice.
"It was a hard decision, but it was a no-brainer in the end—it just seemed like a perfect fit for me at BYU."
The upcoming season will be a redshirt campaign for Davis, leaving him two seasons of playing eligibility, in 2015-16 and 2016-17.
"I think Coach Rose expects me to play hard and take advantage of this year that I have to sit out," Davis said on Thursday, "to expand my game and become the best player I can be; to help us improve on the scout team and help the team win, even when I can't play.
"It'll be a challenge, but if anything it will make me thirsty and give me a vision of what can be. I think it will end up being one of the most valuable years of my career."
After leading Alta High School to the state championship as the 5A MVP in 2010, Davis played his collegiate freshman season at Southern Utah, where he started 16 of 30 games, averaging 8.5 points and 5.3 rebounds per game.
While serving an LDS mission to Detroit, Michigan, Davis' head coach at SUU, Roger Reid, retired, and Davis then transferred to Utah State.
Davis started 27 of 29 games for the Aggies last season, averaging 9.1 points and 7.6 rebounds per game, while shooting 50 percent from the field; he added a team-leading 39 blocked shots. Against BYU on Nov. 30 in Salt Lake City, Davis scored 16 points and pulled down nine rebounds in 29 minutes of play, as the Cougars outlasted the Aggies 85-74.
"At the time, it was pretty disappointing," Davis says of the outcome. "It probably still is, a little bit, to lose that game, but overall it was a great experience, and fun to play in front of two big fan bases. It was great."
One of three postseason transfers out of the Aggie program, Davis said "the decision to leave Utah State was just based on me wanting to pursue my basketball career in a different place. I felt like it was best for me in order to become the basketball player I could become.
"It was the best decision for me to leave that program and not be a part of it anymore."
With scholarship offers from UC Santa Barbara, San Francisco, Hawai'i and others, Davis made only two visits—-first to UCSB, then to the BYU campus in Provo. He said the BYU excursion "just changed everything."
"When I went on my visit, I just felt comfortable with (the coaching staff)," Davis says. "I felt like they were just good men I could trust."
"It's a program and an environment that they foster that I feel will be really successful for me, and the players are all happy to be there, they all speak highly of the coaches, and they're all guys that I relate with easily...they're good guys and competitors.
"I just really enjoyed my time, and felt totally comfortable in that environment."
Davis sees himself as a "stretch four" in the BYU game plan, and "when I play, I plan to be a productive player. I think I'll determine how much I contribute by my hard work; nothing is given. My personal expectations are that I want to be a great player at BYU. I want to help the team."
BYU's seven NCAA tournament appearances in the last eight seasons and strong recent recruiting haul were factors in attracting Davis to BYU; he says the team's winning tradition "played a huge role" in his decision to join the Cougar program.
"With the success that's been had had in the past, and also some of the amazing players coming in, the opportunity to win is before us, and even just from my visit, I get the feeling that everyone shares that belief, that we can win."
Davis is living and working in Cedar City for the summer, and is engaged to be married on June 14. He plans to make it to Provo a few times before the start of fall-semester classes, at which time he will join the BYU team in formal workouts.
