Fall Camp officially got underway this week for Utah State football. The players and coaches are all in Logan and ready for the final stretch of the offseason leading up to the season/home opener against UTEP on Aug. 30.
On Tuesday, nine players and coaches were interviewed by Cache Valley Daily along with a Bronco Mendenhall 30-minute press conference with all media. Here’s what those players had to say about their careers and this upcoming season.
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Reactions from public USU basketball practice / Bronco Mendenhall opens fall camp – July 29, 2025
Working hard behind the scenes
USU’s fall camp is entirely closed to the public. No open practices, not even a scrimmage at the conclusion as the annual Family Fun Day will not include any on-field activities by the team. That means no one outside of the program will be getting a good look at this team until they step on Merlin Olsen Field to take on UTEP.
“We’re definitely the top hardest working team in the country,” Larsen said. “I know that for a fact because I’ve been around a lot of coaches and seen a lot of programs. And just having friends in other programs, big-time programs, I know that we’re the hardest workers right now.”
Most of the players interviewed were asked what they want fans to know about the team, given that fans won’t be able to watch the team for another month, and the theme of emphasizing hard work and establishing a great culture came through loud and clear.
“I would just say that we’re like a band of brothers. We’re forming together,” said defensive back Noah Avinger. “There’s a great culture that we have instilled here and we want to go out there and win games. And I feel like all the guys have the mindset to go out there and win games And I feel like that’s what we’re gonna do in the fall.”
“I would say just know that we have been working extremely hard,” linebacker John Miller said. “We are a group that is going to continue to push through perseverance. If you see us down, we’re going to fight back. We’re going to claw back with everything we got. And so just know that we’re not gonna give up we’re gonna keep fighting and you can count on the Aggies.”
“He’s got high expectations for us. And he’s going to push us every day and he’s going to bring the best out of all of us as a team and as a staff,” running back Javen Jacobs said regarding Bronco Mendenhall. “He brings the best out of everybody, and I’m so grateful for that. He’s going to have us well-prepared for every game, and that’s what I love most about Coach. He’s just honest, up front, and he doesn’t do anything or say anything that doesn’t hold value or mean something. Like, everything we do is calculated to be the best, to become better.”
Former foes, now teammates
Multiple newcomers to Utah State have already played in a game involving the Aggies…just on the other side. Six of those players — Noah Avinger, Javen Jacobs, Bryson Taylor, D’Angelo Mayes, Hyrum Hatch and Bobby Arnold — are transfers from New Mexico who followed Mendenhall to Logan and were part of the Oct. 19, 2024 matchup which saw the Lobos pull off a 50-45 comeback victory over the Aggies.
Jacobs and Avinger both played key roles in the eventual New Mexico win. Avinger tallied eight tackles while Jacobs accumulated a career-best 128 all-purpose yards (42 rushing, 29 receiving, 57 kick return) and had his first multi-touchdown game (one rushing, one receiving).
“It was definitely a bittersweet moment,” Jacobs said. “Just because I had a lot of fun. I balled out and had a couple touchdowns and had a lot of fun out there. And then I had a season-ending injury. And then obviously, I was playing against [guys that are] my teammates now. So it was definitely like a full circle moment coming here.”
“I love the environment,” Avinger said of playing in Logan. “It’s a beautiful place. Logan, Utah is definitely beautiful. Just the scenery. I’ve actually never been up here besides last year. So, I enjoyed the environment. Just the culture you can see that was already instilled here, the fans, the love they have for the team and everything. So it was a good environment, even though I was on the opposite side of the field.”
Avinger hasn’t just faced the Aggies once, though. He’s seen them twice as an opponent. Back in 2021, when Avinger was a true freshman at San Diego State, he played a couple of snaps in the Mountain West Conference title game in which Utah State defeated the Aztecs 46-13.
“That was my true freshman season, so that was a big experience for me. That was the Mountain West Conference Championship, so that game was fun,” Avinger said. “It was an exciting environment because that’s the stage you always want to play on, especially being in the Mountain West. So just the full circle moment, that kind of thinking about it now, it’s crazy that I’m here now and I played them my freshman year.”
Another player that faced that 2021 Utah State conference title-winning team is linebacker John Miller. He played at Oregon State from 2020 to 2023, including the LA Bowl in 2021 between USU and OSU. Miller played 20 snaps, all on special teams, in the eventual 24-13 Aggie victory. It’s also something of a full-circle moment as the once-bowl-game opponents will soon be conference rivals in the rebuilt Pac-12. It was also interesting timing for Miller as he left the Beavers during the time of crisis for the Pac-12 and was at Utah State by the time it was invited to join the Pac-12.
“It’s pretty wild and it’s even crazier to think back in 2021, we actually, at Oregon State, we played Utah State in the LA Bowl and we got beat pretty bad,” Miller said. “So I’ve seen a lot of Utah State and it’s kind of always been around and I’ve always thought it was a good enough program to be in the Pac-12 and then when the Pac-12 blew up, I felt like it was pretty obvious that Utah State was gonna get pulled in, but just didn’t know the time frame.”
Highlighting Career Moments (so far)
Although Utah State lost the aforementioned game against New Mexico, it featured a bittersweet performance from Broc Lane. The tight end had four receptions for a season-high 51 yards, but that wasn’t his highlight of the day. At the end of the first half, the Lobos tried a “Hail Mary” pass from the 50 yard line. Devon Dampier’s pass fell short of the end zone and ended up in the hands of Lane for an interception. Lane had been sent out to play his first-ever snaps on defense in his college career.
“It was fun. We actually watched it [recently]. I think one of the O-linemen was joking around, and he’s like, ‘Did you catch an interception?’ And I was like, ‘I did,’ and Bryson pulled it up on film,” Lane said. “It’s actually kind of funny if you re-watch it. At the very end, I pitch it back to our DB. And if he was looking, man, he had a lane, but he wasn’t paying too much attention.”
In a game where Utah State had much more success at the end of the day, specifically the 55-10 win over Hawaii, another returning Aggie had his best day on the field so far. Kahanu Davis set season-high marks with four punt returns for 58 yards, most of that on a 44-yard return that set up an immediate scoring drive for USU. That such a performance came in that specific game held meaning for Davis as he was born and raised in Hawaii.
“That was like kind of a, not a homecoming but you know, it’s familiar faces, a lot of people tuning in on the Spectrum TV,” Davis said. “So just to have that kind of impact on that game was super cool.”
Nick Howell’s 17-year journey under Mendenhall
This year will mark Howell’s 17th season working under a Mendenhall-coached team. Howell’s football coaching career began at Sky View, working with his cousin Christopher Howell who was the defensive coordinator. He then rose the ranks to being a defensive coordinator at Weber High School, then head coach at Ben Lomond High School.
In 2007, Howell got his first position under Mendenhall, being brought on as an defensive intern at BYU. Six years later, Howell had ascended the ladder to defensive coordinator and has been the DC on every Mendenhall team since 2013 (during the two years Mendenhall stepped away from college football, Howell was the defensive coordinator at Vanderbilt).
It’s a remarkably long time to spend as an assistant with a single head coach. So what has kept him around so long?
“I think it’s just the beliefs and values of the program,” Howell said. “I also think for my family and the lifestyle that we want to live, it’s really important. So that’s been part of it.”
Howell has been reunited with some of his family, as the aforementioned cousin, Chris, is now a defensive analyst, now under Nick.
Something else Howell has come back to is the Mountain West. He coached at BYU during the latter part of the Cougars’ time in the Mountain West but has returned years later to a new landscape, first doing so at New Mexico last year and staying within the league (for now) at Utah State. The conference has changed quite a bit, with new membership, though Howell felt the Mountain West has more parity than it used to.
“I think there’s more parity, honestly. I think just the state of college football has kind of equalized the playing field for different levels. But yeah, [the Mountain West is] different.”
Maile Brothers
Last season saw the reuniting of brothers George and Bo Maile. The two played on the same team at Bingham High School, but when college came around, Bo stayed in-state by joining USU in 2021 while George chose to play for Baylor starting in 2022. When George entered the transfer portal on Dec. 1, 2023, it took only three days for Utah State to offer him and only three more days for George to officially commit. George said having his brother on the team “played a huge factor in me coming here.”
The two brothers face each other plenty of time in drill work, with those instances always drawing excitement from teammates as they watch the brothers go at it.
“It makes the practices way intense,” George said. “When it’s him, I see him against the O-line, I’m like, alright. I gotta give my hardest because when we get home — because we live together — we get home then we have something to talk about.”
