According to Utah State football head coach Bronco Mendenhall, senior safety Ike Larsen was reinstated to the team last week, ending what was ultimately a seven-week suspension.
Larsen was suspended from the team on Aug. 15, 2025 for what the program described as a “violation of team rules” and has missed the first five games of the Aggies’ season. Mendenhall said Larsen returned to team activities on Tuesday and practiced with the team on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, with the entire team receiving the full weekend off as part of the team’s bye week. Mendenhall briefly addressed the team when Larsen made a return during a team meeting.
“(Larsen has) worked hard to work through all the requirements that I thought were appropriate. And the team has welcomed him,” Mendenhall said. “It really has just been — seemed like it’s just been — business as usual since then. And my hope is that Ike has a fantastic finish of the season, both on and off the field, and academically, and everything else. I’d like it to see it really end well for not only him, but our program.”
A return by Larsen would provide a boost to Utah State’s secondary which has experienced some minor depth concerns due to injuries and Larsen’s own suspension. The Aggies have also been without cornerback Courage Ugo, who played 112 snaps at corner across the first two games of the season.
There remains one more obstacle for Larsen to overcome for a return: earning a jersey number. Larsen remains one of 17 players on Utah State’s roster that does not have a jersey number. Under Mendenhall, players have had to earn the right to a number, and the ability to even see the field at all. It’s a player-driven system he explained in detail during fall camp, which began with the establishment of a leadership council consisting of players on the team.
“(The leadership council) then are responsible and tasked with providing me the order in which this team will be qualified to select their jersey,” Mendenhall said back in July regarding the process of selecting jersey numbers. “They don’t select their number, but they select who has earned the right to pick first. That player then can go up on that draft night. There’s usually two, maybe three during fall camp. And in front of the entire team all the jerseys will be lined up. Their name is called, that player will say something about them, they’ll come pick their number, whatever number they want, and then they sit down. And then whoever the leadership council has selected as pick number two walks up and picks their number. And so it’s in descending order based on the values of our program and the leaders of our team. I don’t pick them and so if any player might have an issue, that’s feedback coming from their peers to them and where they fit.”
Most of the athletes got their jersey numbers during fall camp, but every Thursday through the end of the season, according to Mendenhall, there is an opportunity for more players to earn that right.
Larsen has worn the number six each of the last two seasons after wearing number 19 as a freshman and sophomore. And although wide receiver Demick Starling currently wears the number six jersey, there is still the ability for a defensive player to wear that number as NCAA rules allow a jersey number to be worn by multiple players so long as they aren’t on the field at the same time.
