College football is finally returning to Cache Valley as Utah State will host its season opener against UTEP this Saturday to kick off the 2025 season. The offseason has featured change after change after change and plenty of secrecy. But all that is new and secret will be seen and known come Saturday evening when the gates open at Merlin Olsen Field.
The secrecy of the team has been a very consistent theme. Utah State’s first-year head coach, Bronco Mendenhall, has pretty much only been open about the fact that his team wants to maintain every competitive advantage. That meant no public practices and no spring or fall scrimmages that have always been open to at least the media if not also the fans. It also meant very little details about the team were given even during the numerous interviews the team still allowed throughout the summer. Even when Week 1 officially began on Monday with the press conference, details were still sparse. The team’s depth chart, usually contained in the game notes, was left entirely blank.
As official depth charts are released for college football, let me check up on what Utah State released this morning… pic.twitter.com/QmpLnRi74f
— Jason Walker (@jwalker_sports) August 25, 2025
Mendenhall also didn’t disclose any injuries on his team, even those who have suffered season-ending injuries which he confirmed there have been a few of those. When asked about the availability reports that will now be required by the Mountain West — though not for non-conference games — Mendenhall said he hadn’t considered whether he would release one for this week.
“Most likely I’ll (release an availability report) because I believe in the concept and probably will match whatever the opponents we’re playing, whatever their conference does and maybe reciprocate,” Mendenhall said. “That’s not a commitment yet, but just in thinking kind of out loud right now. But I think it’s just helpful for the kids and the game.”
As for when the names of players who have suffered season-ending injuries would be released, Mendenhall said he would do that when he is required to, seemingly implying that it would be part of the first availability report released by the team (the earliest USU would be required to release that is Sept. 11, two days prior to its game against Air Force).
What USU’s coaches and players have been saying over and over this offseason is how hard they are working and just how great the culture of the team is.
“Our guys are working hard. We’re becoming a physical, hardworking, tough, resilient, high-effort football team is what I’m seeing demonstrated,” Mendenhall said. “I really like my team. I like the urgency. I like their effort. I like their willingness. I like their hope. I like their belief. I like their camaraderie. I like their unity. Eventually we’ll play really good football. How fast? Could be game one. But it might not. But the track and the trajectory we’re on, I feel really good about.”
Even back in July during Utah State media day, the players were active in expressing that hard work and culture were the main thing they wanted fans to know about the team.
“I would just say that we’re like a band of brothers. We’re forming together,” said defensive back Noah Avinger at USU media days. “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, specifically 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.”
Mendenhall has been pushing a process-oriented mindset, with emphasis being placed on how they do things as opposed to simply what is being done. That sentiment dominated his comments on Monday. But even with all of that on the forefront of Utah State’s preparation for the season, the Aggies still have an opponent in front of them. There are some mysteries about UTEP (the Miners responded to USU’s depth chart shenanigans with a blank depth chart of their own on Tuesday), but much like Utah State revealing who its starting quarterback will be, UTEP has said who it will have as a signal-caller on Saturday. None other than the former No. 1 overall recruit of the 2022 high school class, Malachi Nelson.
Nelson has to easily be the recruiting win of the year for UTEP’s second-year head coach Scotty Walden. Though, as much as Nelson’s high school recruitment still writes headlines, it’s a bit meaningless now that Nelson is playing for his third program and currently has zero collegiate starts under his belt. He’s gone from being the next great USC quarterback, to a potential reclamation project at Boise State, and now maybe the savior of UTEP football. Nelson still had to beat out incumbent starter Skyler Locklear, doing so in fall camp after spring ball seemed to favor Locklear retaining his job. Nelson’s status as QB1 was reported by ESPN and confirmed this week by Walden.
A major question is just how much will UTEP’s offense change with a new quarterback along with a new offensive coordinator. Probably one significant way is that there probably won’t be as many designed running plays with the quarterback. Locklear wasn’t a constant threat, but did carry the ball 26 times on designed run plays in 10 games with another 30 attempts on scrambles during pass plays. He tallied 300 rushing yards and two touchdowns on these attempts (not including yards lost due to sacks). Nelson is not as much of a runner, only rushing for 153 yards as a senior in high school and currently having a negative total for career rushing yards in college (two attempts for -11 yards). He won’t be a statue in the pocket, but Nelson isn’t likely to be dicing up Utah State’s offense with his legs.
What Nelson may lack in rushing prowess, he should make up for in his ability to throw the ball. Locklear has decent arm talent, but struggled to fully utilize it. He was very boom or bust. He had four games with less than 100 passing yards, though he had two with 290+ yards. Having a quarterback that, at least theoretically, has the arm talent and accuracy of a bona-fide NFL prospect, could expand the passing attack for UTEP. Walden has typically utilized a significant amount of short passes in his time at both UTEP and his previous stop, Austin Peay.
Last year, Locklear ranked last in percentage of intermediate pass attempts (passes where the ball travels between 10 and 19 yards down the field) with just 9.0% of his 233 passes falling within medium range. He not only rarely threw in that range, but also struggled when he did throw those passes, with just a 23.8 passer rating (NFL passer rating to be specific). At Austin Peay, even Walden’s all-conference quarterback, Mike Diliello, ranked last in percentage of intermediate pass attempts in the FCS ranks for the 2023 season.
Nelson may very well help expand the pass attack, but it’s not like going for the short passes has been a significant hindrance to the ability of Walden’s offenses to gain yards. Diliello threw for 5,611 yards and 49 touchdowns in his final two seasons and Locklear had his moments through the air as well. The trick is having dynamic receivers able to gain chunk yardage after the catch. And UTEP has two receivers, Kenny Odom and Kam Thomas, capable of just that.
“They’re dynamic. They’re big play threats. They’re quick. They’re fast,” Mendenhall said. “They can actually get behind you or around you or through you on any given play. They’re fun to watch. And UTEP’s lucky to have them and they’re good football players.”
Odom actually ranked a pretty decent 66th in yards per reception last year at 16.1 and roughly half of those yards were after the catch. He ranked 47th in total yards after the catch last year with Thomas ranking 103rd. Both players will likely be heavy targets for Nelson all afternoon/evening.
UTEP’s run game plays well off the spread offense it employs. Three and four wide receiver sets make the defense cover sideline-to-sideline which can open up more rushing lanes for their running back (often assisted by a tight end lining up as a fullback and being a lead blocker).
“We’ll see a lot of variety of things. They’ll spread us out wide. They love to run the ball. They love to throw screens. We’ll get a lot of variety of things when it comes to their offense, their running backs,” Olevao said. “They’re talented. I’ll give it to them. They have vision. They love to run between the tackles.”
Defensive back Xavier Smith and linebacker Nate Dyman lead the UTEP defensive unit that is aiming for significant improvement (though not quite as extreme as the offense which ranked in the bottom 15 in scoring last year). Those two players, along with defensive tackle KD Johnson, are the three most significant producers back in the saddle. Dyman finished second on the team in tackles (84) and had 10 TFLs with one sack. Smith wasn’t too far behind with 78 tackles, one TFL and five passes defended. Johnson finished fourth on the team in TFLs with nine and had 3.5 TFLs.
When asked about some of the personnel on UTEP’s defense, Mendenhall actively chose not to go into much detail on those players, but instead focused on what it meant for UTEP to have at least some of their key players back, even after a change in defensive coordinator.
“Having a leader in production back, and if the leader in production is back and chose to stay, that really says a lot about the coordinator hire, and that generates some momentum right there in terms of alignment,” Mendenhall said. “So the primary production leader stays because he probably believes in the coach that’s coming. And that gives you a nice kind of leadership foundation to launch from.”
That new DC is Bobby Daly, who held the same position at Montana State for six years up until his move this offseason. His defenses at MSU helped the Bobcats to FCS playoff berths every season Daly was with the team. In 2024, Daly had his defense in the top 15 of both scoring and total defense, and top 25 in five other defensive categories.
Utah State will look to overcome this potential up-and-coming Conference USA (and future Mountain West) team with its own cast of mostly new players. A total of 87 newcomers (though some of those are mission kids who won’t join the team for another two years) will make this an entirely new-look squad.
The top names, at least those Aggie fans will know, include quarterback Bryson Barnes, tight end Broc Lane and defensive tackles Gabriel Iniguez. The latter two earned All-MW honors last year while Barnes starred in pair of starts late last season. Utah State does have a preseason All-MW selection, Ike Larsen. However, the senior defensive back was suspended by the team on Aug. 15 and will miss a significant portion of the season.
Other key returners, who will likely play bigger roles this year are linebackers Olevao and Miller. Both of them played significant snaps toward the end of last season but will now likely be starters for Week 1. William Holmes and Enoka Migao should also take steps forward this year as edge rushers.
The Aggies’ offense is filled with newcomers, particularly in the skill positions. Their top two running backs, Javen Jacobs and Miles Davis, are transfers, as are nearly the entire wide receiver corps. Kahanu Davis is the only WR on the team that has caught a pass in an Aggie uniform. Despite the lack of familiarity on the field when the bright lights are on, Barnes expressed confidence in what connectivity he’s been able to build so far with his new targets.
“We’ve had about eight months to really get a good feel for the guys,” Barnes said. “A lot of dudes stayed during the summer when they could have just went home. And they stayed to continue to get reps with me, and for me to get reps with them. So that’s kind of where we’re at. We feel good about it.”
Even if the wide receivers aren’t quite ready, Barnes should have safe targets in returning tight ends Broc Lane and Josh Sterzer. He threw four of his 12 touchdowns last year to Lane and Sterzer despite both missing time during the year to injury.
