As of the initial publishing of this article, Utah State has added 10 players via the spring transfer portal, and that may be the end of the additions depending on the accuracy of the Aggies’ online roster and its own reporting of high school recruits. These additions can provide a glimpse into the needs that USU head football coach Bronco Mendenhall felt he needed to address. Following the conclusion of spring ball Mendenhall said his staff had identified the “exact needs” of the team and that they were “very specific and intentional,” though he chose not to share specifics.
But in looking through the list of transfers, it’s easy to see what those needs were.
Mendenhall and his staff clearly targeted the defensive line and defensive backfield with their spring portal additions. The Aggies have added four defensive linemen and three defensive backs. With Utah State having ranked 129th in points allowed per game and 130th in yards allowed, it’s fairly obvious the team needs every boost it can possibly find for the entire unit.
A somewhat unusual fact about the transfer class — though maybe not that unusual when you think about who USU’s head coach is now — is that a significant portion of them come from BYU. Mendenhall is obviously a very notable former coach of the Cougars, but he also hasn’t coached in Provo in a decade. But perhaps some connections remain with the school that’s leading to him picking up a lot of players that just weren’t seeing playing time down south.
Let’s go through each of these transfers, starting with all of the now-former BYU players, and get an idea of what they bring to the table.
Chika Ebunoha | 6’0″ | 195 lbs | DB | BYU
- Years of Eligibility — 2
- Career Games Played — 14
- Career Snaps Played — 99
In August 2022, Sports Illustrated wrote a mini-feature about Ebunoha who at the time was just a freshman at BYU. One of his high school coaches was quoted as having called Ebunoha “one of the most athletic people you will ever meet.” His athletic feats reportedly included winning the 100-meter dash, the long jump and triple jump in a single track meet while at high school. He also reportedly ran a 4.42 40-yard dash and had a 43-inch vertical.
Landon Rehkow | 6’1″ | 190 lbs | P | BYU
- Years of Eligibility — 3
- Career Games Played — 4
- Career Snaps Played — 13
There’s not a whole lot of data available about Rehkow — other than that he’s bowled a perfect 300 on six occasions — with only a little bit of film that he’s published on his own YouTube channel. He appeared in three games and had five total punts with distances of 48, 49, 42, 28 and 13 yards (neither of the short punts were attempts to pin the opponent inside the 20, they were just not struck well). With those appearances, Rehkow was fighting for the starting punter spot but ultimately lost out to Sam Vander Haar.
Nuuletau Sellesin | 6’1″ | 285 lbs | DT | BYU
- Years of Eligibility — 1
- Career Games Played — 15
- Career Snaps Played — 398
Sellesin spent three years at Weber State prior to transferring to BYU. He played a decent amount of time in 2022 at Weber State and was actually part of the Wildcats team that beat the Aggies 35-7 (though he only played six snaps). He saw very few snaps with BYU so he’ll be making this third stop at a school in Utah.
Carson Tujague | 6’3″ | 280 lbs | DT | BYU
- Years of Eligibility — 4
- Career Games Played — 0
- Career Snaps Played — 0
Tujague already has a connection to Mendenhall as Tujague’s father was a coach at Virginia from 2016-2022, overlapping almost perfectly with Mendenhall’s tenure with the Cavaliers (2016-2021). Coming to Utah State could very well be exactly what Tujague needs after spending all of last season on the sideline with the Cougars.
D’Andre Barnes | 6’0″ | 195 lbs | DB | Nebraska
- Years of Eligibility — 3
- Career Games Played — 2
- Career Snaps Played — 4
Barnes possesses high-level speed, having won a 200-meter dash state title in Colorado as a sophomore with a time of 21.69 seconds. He also ran a 10.91 in the 100-meter dash that same year. With elite speed for a football player and solid size, the former three-star recruit could find a good niche at Utah State after only playing a handful of snaps in two years at Nebraska.
Naki Fahina | 6’0″ | 300 lbs | DT | New Mexico State
- Years of Eligibility — 1
- Career Games Played — 39
- Career Snaps Played — 1,244
Fahina will be one of the most experienced players to suit up for Utah State, at least in terms of total snap count. He’s also entering his seventh year of collegiate football. Fahina played five years at UNLV, appearing in 27 games as injuries shortened multiple seasons for him. Last year, Fahina had his best season yet, playing a full, healthy 12-game season for the first time in his career and recording 29 tackles and one TFL from his nose tackle spot.
John Gayer | 6’4″ | 245 lbs | EDGE | California
- Years of Eligibility — 2
- Career Games Played — 22
- Career Snaps Played — N/A
Gayer was a highly productive edge rusher for College of San Mateo last year, recording 53 tackles, 21.5 tackles for loss and 15.5 sacks. That level of production caught the eye of California, which brought him in as a JUCO transfer, but Gayer left during the spring portal and committed to play for the Aggies.
Jimmy Liston | 6’3″ | 305 lbs | OL | Purdue
- Years of Eligibility — 3
- Career Games Played — 4
- Career Snaps Played — 19
Liston was a multi-sport athlete in high school, competing in the heavyweight class in wrestling and finishing as the state-runner up in 2022. In football, he played at every position along the offensive line throughout his time at Fenwick and would help the team to its first-ever state title. His father was also an offensive lineman at Purdue, appearing in 38 games. But Jimmy’s tenure didn’t last as long as his father’s and he’ll look to make his own legacy at Utah State.
Carlos Orr-Gillespie | 6’3″ | 200 lbs | WR | Illinois
- Years of Eligibility — 4
- Career Games Played — 0
- Career Snaps Played — 0
Orr-Gillespie will be another newcomer that fully redshirted last year with zero snaps played throughout the season. The former three-star recruit is an impressive athlete, being a duel-sport athlete in high school in football and basketball. Across his junior and senior seasons combined, Orr-Gillespie had 1,765 receiving yards and 20 touchdowns.
Dylan Tucker | 5’11” | 195 lbs | DB | Elon
- Years of Eligibility — 1
- Career Games Played — 32
- Career Snaps Played — 1,731
Only one player on Utah State’s roster has played more Division I snaps than Tucker (Ike Larsen), though Tucker has been playing FCS ball the last four years. He’s appeared in 32 games, recording 96 tackles, seven TFLs and one sack with two interceptions.
