Following the scary injury suffered by Utah State linebacker Harrison Taggart during the USU-Utah football game on Saturday, all of the updates regarding his condition have been positive.
Taggart left the contest in the second quarter in an ambulance and was strapped to a spinal board after an inadvertent strike to his head while the linebacker attempted to make a tackle. He was attended to for several minutes by on-site medical personnel.
As he was wheeled toward the ambulance on a stretcher, Taggart offered fist-bumps to teammates gathered around him and also pointed to the sky.
Little information was shared at the time. Utah State head coach Bronco Mendenhall said the injury was “significant enough” to warrant the caution taken with his head and neck, and in taking them to the hospital. Mendenhall added that he and the team were “concerned” and fought back some tears as he spoke about Taggart’s impact on the team.
“I don’t have a scale that I can turn enough to say his impact,” Mendenhall said.
Taggart transferred to Utah State this offseason after spending time at BYU, Oregon and, most recently, California. He started at linebacker for the Aggies in each of their first three games and was leading the team in tackles on the season with 13 heading into Saturday’s meeting with Utah. He recorded an additional five tackles against the Utes before leaving the game.
It was Taggart himself who provided the first official positive news. On Sunday, he posted to his Instagram page a picture from his hospital bed with the caption: “Woke up with feeling and starting to get some movement in my legs! God is good. Thanks for all the texts and prayers.”
From @HarrisonTaggar4. Thanks to everyone who has kept Harrison in your thoughts🤘 💙 pic.twitter.com/Po0JRXL91g
— USU Football (@USUFootball) September 20, 2026
On Monday, Taggart sent a message to the entire team with more updates, with some of the details shared by Mendenhall to the media at his weekly press conference.
“He’s moving. He’s walking with a walker. That was as of yesterday,” Mendenhall said. “Don’t have any videos yet from today, other than his parents just (saying) he was doing a great job in rehab today. His spirits were up, and scans were clean, which is great. So, a matter of time now appears to be kind of just how this will work. Had a chance to see him and visit with him on Sunday. And yeah, we miss him already, but just positive news so far in terms of his recovery.”
Mendenhall wasn’t Taggart’s only head coach visitor during his stay at the University of Utah hospital. Utes head coach Morgan Scalley visited the linebacker yesterday.
“I’ve known his mom, have a very good relationship with him,” Scalley said to media in his Monday press conference. “I think he’s going to be here today. Depending on how the rehab goes, he’ll be tonight or tomorrow. He was in good spirits, just never want to see that happen to anybody.”
