LOGAN – Utah State officially totaled 23 players for its early signing recruiting class, bringing in 11 high school recruits, 10 junior college players and two transfers from Division I schools.
Aggies head coach Blake Anderson said he feels like the group he brought in is a “solid class” of players, though he acknowledged it’s hard to know this early how good these guys will be.
“You don’t really know until you get out on the field and develop them,” Anderson said. “But we felt like the guys that signed with us today fit this place, what we’re looking for on the field, positions of need. High school and veteran players both.”
Of course, the early signing period isn’t the last we’ll see of Utah State recruiting before the start of the 2023 season. Attrition through the transfer portal and even injuries will inevitably lead to the Aggies adding more players. Where those guys are added will be dictated by need.
“We’re done for today, not done for the class,” Anderson said. “With the landscape of college football and the portal and attrition is ever on-going, we’re going to continue to recruit. Obviously, February signing day and then probably into the summer as we get ready for fall camp.”
Here is a look at the signees, broken down between high school, junior college and Division I transfers with a breakdown of the full recruiting class below.
High School Signees
| Name | Pos. | HT | WT | Previous School | Pos. Rank (247) | State Rank (247) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hyrum Dewsnup | OL | 6-3 | 270 | Gulf Coast (FL) | NR | NR |
| Jackson Olsen | WR | 6-3 | 185 | Ridgeline (UT) | 270 | 25 |
| Jaydon Bailey | RB | 5-9 | 180 | Steele (TX) | 96 | 232 |
| Jr Sia | OL | 6-6 | 308 | Mtn Ridge (UT) | 88 | 10 |
| Justice Ena* | OL/DL | 6-4 | 270 | Sky View (UT) | 235 | 40 |
| Kadiyon Sweat | DB | 6-1 | 185 | Lehi (UT) | 166 | 23 |
| McCae Hillstead | QB | 5-11 | 175 | Skyridge (UT) | 81 | 17 |
| Taliafi Ta’ala | OL | 6-7 | 290 | Alta (UT) | 58 | 8 |
| Will Monney | TE | 6-4 | 205 | Springville (UT) | 86 | 24 |
| Zakkarii Black | WR | 5-9 | 140 | Charter Oak (CA) | NR | NR |
| Zion Andreasen | EDGE | 6-4 | 225 | East (UT) | NR | NR |
Junior College Signees
| Name | Position | Height | Weight | Previous School | 2022 Stats |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cian Slone | EDGE | 6-3 | 210 | American River (CA) | 84 Tkl, 22.0 TFL, 12.0 Sk |
| Clifton Mosley | DL | 6-2 | 310 | Navarro (TX) | 31 Tkl, 2.0 TFL |
| Davon Booth | RB | 5-9 | 175 | Cerritos (CA) | 223 Att, 1,442 Yds, 8 TD |
| Davon Martin | DB | 6-0 | 185 | Tyler (TX) | No stats |
| Isaiah Alonzo | TE | 6-5 | 250 | Orange Coast (CA) | 21 Rec, 261 Yds, 2 TD |
| Jaylen Martin | DB | 6-2 | 175 | East Los Angeles (CA) | 40 Tkl, 4 INT, 1 FR |
| Javar Strong | DB | 6-3 | 185 | Hutchinson (KS) | 48 Tkl, 0.5 TFL, 1 INT, 1 FR |
| Kahanu Davis | WR | 5-11 | 185 | Southwestern (CA) | 25 Rec, 498 Yds, 5 TD |
| Ronald Fuselier | DB | 6-0 | 180 | Allan Hancock (CA) | 22 Tkl, 12 PD, 1 BK |
| Maka Tu’akoi | EDGE | 6-5 | 210 | Independence (KS) | 26 Tkl, 6.0 TFL, 1 FF, 1 FR |
| Micah Davis | WR | 5-11 | 185 | Iowa Western (IA) | 33 Rec, 289 Yds, 2 TD |
Division I Transfers
| Name | Position | Height | Weight | Previous School | Class |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gavin Barthiel | LB | 6-2 | 210 | Washington State | So. |
| Malone Mataele | DB | 5-11 | 185 | University of Utah | Sr. |
Observations
In-state emphasis in high school recruiting
For high school recruits, Utah State heavily focused on adding talent from Utah with only one out-of-state high school signee in Jaydon Bailey. Staying in-state, especially with high school recruiting, has been a major emphasis from Anderson’s staff.
“Every year’s going to be different, but we’re going to start at home,” Anderson said. “We made a ton of offers last year early in the process. We didn’t sign all of those guys, there’s no way to do that. We’re chasing guys that have Power 5 offers, we’re battling BYU and Utah head to head, the Pac-12, the Big 12. Honestly, nationally at this point, Utah players are travelling coast-to-coast which is scary because we’d love to keep them all at home. We want to start at home.”
A big win for USU in recruiting was signing Jr Sia, an offensive tackle out of Mountain Ridge who had offers from Utah, Nebraska, Virginia and Arizona State. Similarly, the Aggies were able to sign McCae Hillstead out of Skyridge who had an offer from Washington State.
As part of that in-state emphasis, the Aggies will bring in multiple Cache Valley products: Ridgeline wide receiver Jackson Olsen and Sky View lineman Justice Ena, who will return from a two-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and enroll at USU this year.
“We’ve got (Ena) listed as a D-lineman but we really don’t know,” Anderson said “He’s an offensive and defensive lineman; he’s played both. Both sides of the ball really like him.”
Olsen didn’t play much this year for Ridgeline due to injury, but had an outstanding junior season, catching 61 passes for 1,056 yards and 16 touchdowns for the Riverhawks.
“We got the chance to see him play basketball, see him in camps,” Anderson said. “Absolutely fell in love with him day one and recruited him early.”
Space to fill on the offensive line
One area where recruitment will still be active is on the offensive line. USU will lose three of its starters — tackles Alfred Edwards, Jacob South and center Chandler Dolphin. There are multiple returners with experience including the two starting guards, Wade Meacham and Weylin Lapuaho, but also guard/center Falepule Alo and tackle Cole Moats who each played significant snaps this season. But even filling those guys in that leaves one tackle spot (left tackles likely as most of Moats’ snaps have been at right tackle) to fill.
“We are not done there, we are battling for a guy right now at one of those positions,” Anderson said. But we didn’t feel like the room needed an overhaul. Love the way these young guys are developing. We feel like we’ve got a lot of starters in that room that are just waiting to grow up and get on the field.”
The Aggies brought in four high school recruits at the offensive line, showing a vote of confidence in the guys currently at the top of the depth chart since the high school athletes will likely take a year or two to be ready to step into the rotation.
Immediate help to the secondary
The Aggies are bringing in four junior college defensive backs and one graduate transfer, by far the most for one position group among the veteran guys USU is taking in. Several of these players have size that could give a boost to what’s often been a very small group of defensive backs at Utah State. Malone Mataele should be an immediate plug-and-play guy who could fit in anywhere in the secondary (more on that later). The remaining JC guys should add immediate depth to the secondary and give Anderson options back there after attrition hit his secondary hard.
Battle in the running back room
Calvin Tyler Jr. will play his last game on the 27th and in doing so leaves a void at the top of the running back depth chart. He was an absolute workhorse despite the coaching staff’s unwillingness to use one RB exclusively, carrying the ball 237 times this year — fourth most by a USU running back since 2000 (if Tyler gets 14 carries in the bowl game he’ll have the most by carries in a single season by a USU RB since 2000).
Multiple, very productive running backs will enter the fray at Utah State. Davon Booth from Cerritos College ran for 1,442 yards in 10 games this year and had 2,006 yards in the two seasons he spend in California. Jaydon Bailey is coming out of the highest levels of Texas high school football, having rushed for 1,778 yards and 31 total touchdowns as a senior.
Those great RBs will join the likes of top returner Robert Briggs, along with Jaylen Warren and others in a room that’s crowded and full of guys itching for the chance to earn the very open top spot on the depth chart.
Two potential plug-and-play D1 transfers
The two Division I transfers, Malone Mataele and Gavin Barthiel, are two guys that could be plugged into the lineup right away. Mataele’s status as a guy with only one year of eligibility makes the likelihood of him jumping into the starting defensive eleven very high and Anderson seemed to imply as much in his comments about the former Ute.
“He can play field (corner), he can play boundary (corner), he can play nickel, “Anderson said. “He’s very versatile. We thought he was a guy we’d be crazy not to take. He’s a plug-and-play player in a lot of different ways.”
Mataele started 11 games over the course of his four seasons at Utah. Most of those starts came at the nickel corner spot but as Anderson said he could be moved to other positions in the defensive backfield, including safety.
Barthiel is less likely to be an immediate starter but it’s very possible he does step into a big role early. He’ll have multiple years of eligibility left leaving room for him to be developed and play later. But he is stepping into a linebacker room that was lacking depth last season so his talents could be utilized immediately.
“We watched all of his tape both high school and anything that we saw from the games that he was on the field (at Washington State),” Anderson said. “Thought he was a super, super natural fit. Once we got to know him, felt even better about it.”
Anderson hesitant to sign one-year transfer players
There are a lot of players in the transfer portal that have one year of eligibility remaining and there can be a lot of value brought by those guys. But Anderson admitted a hesitancy to sign those kinds of players, though obviously he won’t turn down someone who will help his team immediately.
“We try to stay away from one-year guys unless we feel like the position is in a place where we feel like the value of a one-year (player) is gonna impact our ability to win games next fall,” Anderson said. “So, we’re always looking for guys that have two or three years left when talking about transfers. It’s not a deal breaker in every case but it is definitely a strategic conversation.”
Just one member of this early signing class has only one year left to play, the twice-mentioned Mataele. The rest will have multiple seasons in an Aggie uniform available to them.
