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LOGAN — Utah State football has had some victories in the past few weeks.
After last season, where the Aggies lost an innumerable amount of players to the transfer portal and to graduation, the coaching staff reinforced the importance of players to stay put this year.
Combine that with the couple dozen players the Aggies signed in their 2024 signing class, and Utah State certainly had a lot to be happy about Wednesday.
"We think the recruiting process started … a couple months ago as we started recruiting our roster to stay put," head coach Blake Anderson said Wednesday. "The recruiting class on its own, it's one thing, but in combination with the fact that we've only had one player out of our entire two-deep put his name in the portal, and that being Devin Dye
"And now they've added a good class that has a chance to come in and make us a lot better over the next six months or so heading into next season."
Several players were vocal about their decision to stay at Utah State on X, including Ike Larsen, Anthony Switzer, Cooper Legas, and Jalen Royals, among others. Their decision to stay, however, may have come at a literal monetary cost.
Anderson said that some of his players turned down deals of at least $100,000 to stay at Utah State.
"I don't know that we'll ever go dollar for dollar for teams in our league. But if we want to retain our rosters in football and basketball especially, it is a place we have to … bridge the gap," Anderson said.
"This is an area we have to continue to address. We're not there, but we do have a good start and there's a ton of information online that they can plug into and find ways to be a part of that."
The same day that Larsen, Royals, and Switzer announced they would stay for next season, the Blue A Collective, the endorsed NIL collective of Utah State, announced its highest fundraising day since its launch event. The three athletes have since released a video encouraging fans and supporters to donate.
Though most of his players did stay, Anderson stressed the importance of improving talent at each position through recruiting to encourage competition and growth.
Of the new signees for the Aggies, the majority are transfers from junior colleges or four-year programs. Just four are high school players, which is something Anderson said was due to battling Utah and BYU in the recruiting pitch, and because of the need for an immediate impact on the success of the team.
Anderson said the immediate impact was unlikely to come from most high school players.
Nine signees, at the time of this writing, are defensive and offensive linemen — nearly 50% of the class. Both sides of the line were some of the most frequently stressed positions that needed improvement in the 2023 season.
On the defensive line, Anderson mentioned Carl Nesmith and Marlin Dean specifically, who he called "two of the best pass rushers on the market." Dean is ranked as the 12th best junior college recruit in the nation per 247Sports. Anderson added that many of the incoming line players can come in, make an immediate impact, and fight for starting jobs.
Four of the signees for the Aggies are native to Utah: Trey Anderson, who played for three seasons at Pittsburgh, will join his brother, Teague, on the offensive line; George Maile, a highly ranked offensive lineman out of high school and spent two seasons at Baylor, will be reunited with his brother, as well.
Grayson Brousseau, a four-year starter at tight end at Lehi High, and Tate Kjar, a wide receiver from Corner Canyon, capped off the Utah talent headed to Logan.
Other notable signees include quarterback Spencer Petras, a 6-foot-5 graduate transfer from Iowa, and Tanner Williams, a highly rated three-star linebacker (per 247Sports) from Mater Dei High in California.
