Eric & Jason W/ The
Full Court Press

Utah State 2026 Men’s and Women’s Basketball Transfer and Roster Tracker | Sports

The 2026 basketball transfer portal opens up this week. The women’s basketball portal opens first on Monday, followed by the men’s basketball one on Tuesday, each window opening the day after each league’s championship game. The two windows will close on April 20 and 21, giving 15-day windows for both. Given the nature of college basketball, we already know quite a bit about how the portal windows are going to go for both of Utah State’s basketball squads. But for the next two weeks, a lot will change. Here you will find an ongoing update for Aggies going into and coming out of the portal. In the future, links to player scouting reports and breakdowns will be included to make this page your one-stop-shop for information on Utah State transfer portal additions and roster updates. LATEST UDPATE — April 6 Graduating Players — 5 Players in Portal — 1 Incoming Transfers — 0 Incoming Prep Recruits — 0 Graduating Players Drake Allen — 6’5″ G (7.9 Pts, 3.0 Reb, 4.7 Ast) Garry Clark — 6’8″ F (6.9 Pts, 4.3 Reb, 0.6 Ast) MJ Collins — 6’4″ G (17.5 Pts, 2.5 Reb, 1.6 Ast) Zach Keller — 6’10” F/C (3.5 Pts, 2.0 Reb, 0.5

Episode Details »

Ben Jacobson’s Scheme By the Numbers Part 2 — Controlling, disciplined defense | Sports

New Utah State men’s basketball head coach Ben Jacobson will usher the Aggies into the Pac-12 era with the hope that Utah State can maintain success. As the headline of this article firmly notes, this is part two of this series on Jacobson’s scheme. Part one was about the offense and this one will break down the defense. Aggie fans became used to (albeit sometimes weary of) Eric Haut’s matchup zone defense. It was a defense that essentially switched everything and had a core principle of “five guys guarding the ball.” Put simply, Northern Iowa does not run a defense like that. It’s a much more traditional man scheme and even has limited switching in defending ball screen and handoff actions. Here’s a rather typical Utah State defensive possession this past season. There were three (maybe four) switches on this play. Now, here’s a Northern Iowa defensive possession for comparison. Watch for places where USU’s defense might have switched and how UNI approaches those points in the possession. There were at least two, probably three points where this year’s Aggies would have switched. The first two passes around the perimeter were the kinds of situations where USU’s guards — Drake

Episode Details »

Ben Jacobson’s Scheme By the Numbers Part 1 — New identity for Aggies on offense | Sports

Utah State announced Ben Jacobson as the 23rd head coach in men’s basketball history on Monday and introduced him Tuesday morning. The openly stated goal and hope for his tenure is to take the Aggies to at least the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament, something that has eluded the program in the entire life of the 64-plus team era of the Big Dance. With each coaching change USU’s fanbase has endured — four such transitions since 2021 — comes the uncertainty surrounding what kind of basketball the new head of the program will bring. Jerrod Calhoun brought a fairly unique matchup zone defense and a transition-heavy style on offense. Ryan Odom led the Aggies to record-breaking 3-point shooting numbers. Craig Smith injected energy into his team and the program. Danny Sprinkle provided stability and a calm demeanor for a season that began with the chaos of losing nearly the entire team. Jacobson will put his own stamp on Utah State history. And his style will be unique to his immediate predecessors, especially Calhoun. Jacobson runs a “Five-Out” offense and has used it to great effect. He generated some buzz in the 2019-20 season when his offense finished 23rd

Episode Details »

Ben Jacobson contract details and introductory press conference notes | Sports

In the West Stadium Center of Maverik Stadium, a group of Utah State Aggie faithful gathered and quickly filled up the seating of the decently-sized room. With 10 minutes until the scheduled 9 a.m. start time, the size of the crowd overflowed into standing room only areas. The man everyone gathered to see, the newly-hired men’s basketball head coach Ben Jacobson, arrived in due time. He sported a suit and tie he’s become far more familiar with in the last few days as he’s attended far more meetings, interviews, photoshoots and press conferences. “I’ve had this suit on three times in the last six days in this same tie,” Jacobson quipped. “I haven’t had it on that many times in the last six years.” Jacobson’s opening comments took up nearly a quarter of an hour, offering his thanks to family, friends, former coaches and administrators. But chief among the topics he covered in that span was the simple question. A question he put well in his own words. “Why? After 20 years, 25 years, what is it? What are we so excited about and why am I standing here right now?” At 55 years old, with more than half of

Episode Details »

Utah State hires UNI’s Ben Jacobson as next basketball coach | Sports

Utah State is hiring Northern Iowa’s Ben Jacobson as the Aggies’ 23rd men’s basketball head coach in program history, the university announced Monday morning. The hire comes five days after the departure of USU’s former head coach, Jerrod Calhoun, to Cincinnati. “I’m thankful for the opportunity to join Utah State as it enters its next chapter in the Pac-12,” Jacobson said in a press release. “I’m grateful to [Utah State Athletics Director] Cameron Walker for trusting me to lead such a historic program and to continue its tradition as one of the top men’s basketball programs in the West. I look forward to getting to know Aggie Nation and the HURD, and for my family to become part of the Cache Valley and Logan community.” The news was first reported earlier in the morning by from Jeff Goodman of The Field of 68, and Pete Thamel of ESPN. Per the report from Thamel, Jacobson signed a five-year contract. Financial terms of the contract have not been publicly released or reported at this time. Cache Valley Daily has submitted a public records request for the offer sheet sent to Jacobson. Jacobson spent 25 years at Northern Iowa, serving as its head coach since 2006 and amassing

Episode Details »

Utah State expected to hire UNI’s Ben Jacobson as next basketball coach | Sports

According to reports from Jeff Goodman of The Field of 68, and Pete Thamel of ESPN, Utah State is expected to hire Northern Iowa’s Ben Jacobson as the Aggies’ 23rd men’s basketball head coach in program history. These reports come five days after the departure of USU’s former head coach, Jerrod Calhoun, to Cincinnati. Per the report from Thamel, Jacobson signed a five-year contract. Financial terms of the contract have not been publicly released or reported at this time. Cache Valley Daily has submitted a public records request for the offer sheet sent to Jacobson. Jacobson spent 25 years at Northern Iowa, serving as its head coach since 2006 and amassing a record of 397-259 in that time and is the winningest coach in the program’s history. Under his guidance, UNI won four regular season titles in the Missouri Valley Conference, plus five conference tournament titles. His two most memorable seasons were in 2009-10 when the Panthers went 30-5 and made a run to the Sweet 16, including an upset of the one-seed Kansas. In the 2014-15 season, UNI went 31-4 and earned a five seed in the NCAA Tournament but lost in the second round to four seed Louisville.

Episode Details »

Bronco Mendenhall provides updates on Utah State football spring practices | Sports

On Thursday, Utah State football completed its sixth of 15 practices for spring ball. So, as the Aggies reach the halfway point of the first stage of the 2026 season, there’s time for a few updates from head coach Bronco Mendenhall. Mendenhall met with media after the practice and provided an optimistic early report from his team. You can check out the full video, or check out discussion of this press conference on the Full Court Press, though clips and quotes summarizing most of the topics will be included here. Year Two Roster Ahead of Schedule Compared to Year One Mendenhall is entering his second year as head coach of the Aggies. In previous stops, mainly at BYU and Virginia, year two has represented a notable jump for Mendenhall-led programs. The 2006 BYU team went from a 6-6 record to 11-2 and the 2017 Virginia season saw a notable jump from 2-10 up to 6-7 (and the program’s first bowl game in more than half a decade). In having a full offseason, and returning players that have actually been part of the current staff’s regime, Mendenhall feels further ahead than his year one counterpart. “I feel great about where we

Episode Details »

Utah State 2026 Football Newcomers to Watch | Sports

While most people’s attention in Cache Valley was turned toward college basketball and March Madness, the Utah State football team quietly began its spring practice. Head coach Bronco Mendenhall, now leading the team for a second season, is looking to build off a 6-7 season in his debut season with the Aggies. Mendenhall brought in 29 newcomers to the 2026 roster, consisting of 29 college transfers and 10 high school recruits. Not all of either will be part of spring ball but most are, giving the coaching staff a full month of practices and scrimmages to get the process of implimenting schemes and systems with the 2026 vertion of the Aggies. There are returning role players, starters and stars from last year’s team, but here we’ll focus on which of those newcomers could end up becoming starters or even stars on this year’s team. McCae Hillstead (QB) The return of McCae Hillstead will very clearly be at or near the top of many Aggies fans’ list of storylines to keep an eye on. The now-junior quarterback threw for 1,062 yards and 11 touchdowns for Utah State as a true freshman in 2023 before departing for the supposedly greener field of

Episode Details »

Categories

Recent Tweets