Amidst the ongoing chaos in the college athletics landscape with the finalization of the House Settlement and what appears to be the final stages of the Pac-12 securing a media rights deal, Utah State football continues its offseason preparations for what it hopes will be a rebound season. Roughly 65 percent of the Aggies’ roster comprises of newcomers, with only 31 percent of the team’s 2024 production returning for 2025 (and a significant portion of that returning production is accounted for by two players, Ike Larsen and Bryson Barnes). There are a lot of new faces to learn and stars yet to emerge. It can be difficult to predict, but here’s a list of players to keep an eye on as the offseason progresses and when the season actually begins. We’ll separate this analysis into players who were on the roster last year and should have bigger roles and/or higher production this year, and then the newcomers that could step in and be key players right away in their position group. Returning Player Breakouts John Miller | Sr. | LB It’s a little tricky to call John Miller a true breakout player considering he finished fourth on the team in

After months of uncertainty and waiting, things may finally be settling down for the Pac-12. Fans of the eight institutions currently on the path to be in the storied conference starting in 2026 have only had speculation and a lackluster level of detail regarding the future of their league. On Monday, Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports, reported that each of the eight known future member schools — Oregon State, Washington State, Utah State, Boise State, San Diego State, Fresno State, Colorado State and Gonzaga — had all signed the Grant of Rights and membership agreements. Dellenger said this move “is a signal that the league is finalizing a new media rights package that is expected in the coming days.” Dellenger further reported that the media rights package could include as many as four different partners, though no specific potential media partners were named. Speculation has turned largely toward media companies such as ESPN, CBS, The CW, FOX and Turner Sports. The first three in that list are of particular note as they form the core of the one-year media deal for the current two-member Pac-12 with Oregon State and Washington State. CBS and The CW will broadcast 11 OSU and

In the month May, two national sports outlets have released rankings of football head coaches. Athlon has a Mountain West-specific ranking by Steven Lassan while Sporting News ranked every head coach from all 136 FBS teams for the 2025 season. Let’s have a look at those rankings and see how the 12 coaches of the Mountain West stack up based on the national perspective. We’ll go in order of the average rank between Athlon and Sporting News’ publications. T-1 — Troy Calhoun (Air Force) Athlon MW Rank: 2nd Sporting News National Rank: 69th (2nd in MW) Coaching Record: 135-89 Record at Current School: 135-89 (19th year) Calhoun has been around nearly as long as the Mountain West itself (or at least it kind of feels like that since he didn’t start at Air Force until 2007, eight years after the MW got started). He’s been a model for consistency with only two of his 18 seasons having less than five wins (one of those was when the Falcons went 3-3 in the COVID-19 shortened 2020 season). Perhaps the onset of NIL and the transfer portal will find a way to slow Calhoun down, but until then, Air Force will be