Football announces 2015 recruiting class
Utah State’s football team officially signed 18 players Wednesday.
Eleven of the players are on offense and seven of them are defensive players. To go along with the 2015 signees, USU will get five players back from LDS missions.
“Whether they start first thing in August or they start in January will depend on their return date,” said Matt Wells the Aggies head coach. “Most of them will start come January. Those are kids that we signed our first year, two years ago.”
Wells and his staff have tried to focus their recruiting efforts, making in-state recruits their first priority followed by those from outside of Utah.
“We want to start in Cache Valley first, and then we want to recruit in state,” Wells said. “We signed, I think, six kids from Utah this year, and we got one from Cache Valley.”
Other recruits include three from California, two from Florida and Oregon and one from Arizona, Hawaii, Texas, Washington and Alabama. Utah State has brought in four players from junior colleges, two from other four-year programs, one from BYU and one from UCLA.
Three of the new recruits will serve LDS missions before they play at Utah State.
“I see offensive line and I see the two linebackers and the receivers, because of needs, as being key parts of this recruiting class,” Wells said. “The guy that you’re always more concerned about today are the ones that are on that sheet of paper that we’re going to talk about.”
There are five offensive linemen in the class — three from junior colleges, one from UCLA and a high school commit out of Hawaii.
“Ben Wysocki, that’s the one that we’re all excited about,” Wells said. “He’s played all three offensive line positions: tackle, guard and center, so he brings a lot of versatility. He’s extremely smart. That guy will walk in and just because of his versatility, will be able to compete pretty quickly in a number of spots.”
Wysocki comes to USU from UCLA after playing for the Bruins the last four seasons. He will graduate in March and be eligible to play immediately for Utah State once he arrives.
Joining Wysocki on the O-line are Wade Meacham, Viliamu Auwae, Preston Brooksby and Jude Hockel.
Meacham is an in-state recruit that received a three-star rating, according to ESPN. Meacham began playing football his junior season at Layton High School. He is listed at 6-foot-6 and 260 pounds.
“That kid can run,” Wells said. “He’s had a tremendous wrestling career. I’ve never missed on a wrestler. I’m not saying every wrestler can play football; I’m just saying all the football players that are also good wrestlers are good. We don’t miss on them.”
Brooksby and Hockel are both junior college transfers, Brooksby from Glendale Community College and Hockel from Diablo Valley Junior College.
“Preston is an offensive tackle who possesses great length, and we are excited about his future,” Wells said. “Jude is a tough and hard-nosed offensive lineman that is long and versatile. He has the ability to play both tackle and guard.”
Utah State also focused this class on bringing in linebackers and defensive backs. The team signed three linebackers and three safeties.
Daniel Langi, Joe Riggins and Mason Tobeck are the three linebackers. Langi comes from Bingham High, and his older brother Harvey played at BYU. He will be serving a mission before playing at Utah State.
“This kid is a talented, tough, nasty linebacker,” said Wells about Langi. “This guy is the nicest guy off the field, but he has a nasty disposition on the field. He’s an inside linebacker. I really like this guy.”
Tobeck is 6-foot-3, 225 pounds, and his father was a pro-bowl offensive lineman in the NFL. Coach Wells describes him as being extremely tough and reliable to the program. He was offered by many other schools after Utah State but didn’t make changes after committing.
Riggins was a last-minute recruit. Most of the staff were unsure of whether they would get him after starting last week.
“This kid has a bright future,” Wells said. “It could be pretty quick. I don’t know. If he’s good enough to play early, we’ll play him. He’s a guy that could really probably play all four spots in our 3-4 defense.”
At the defensive back position USU brought in Dallin Leavitt, Wesley Bailey and Cameron Haney.
Leavitt is a transfer from BYU. He will have to redshirt one season at USU before playing out the final two years of his college career.
“He’s a junior,” said Wells about Leavitt. “We’ve nicknamed him ‘all gas, no brakes.’ I’m glad he’s on our team now. He will be a major contributor for us next year.”
Haney is from Los Angeles, California, and was rated a three-star player coming out of high school. Wells mentioned he had offers from other schools in the Mountain West and Pac-12 and was excited to see him come to Utah State.
Bailey is a junior-college transfer from Eastern Arizona College. He has great size for a safety at 6-foot-2, 190 pounds. Coaches describe him as having great speed and the ability to cover the whole field.
Wells spoke specifically of the two wide receivers Chad Artist and Gerold Bright. Bright played a little bit of every position in high school with most of his time coming at quarterback and running back. Coach Wells compares him to JoJo Natson and expects him to play at the slot receiver position.
Artist is a 6-foot-3, 180-pound wide receiver at Logan High. He was first-team all-state in 4A football after catching 50 passes for over 900 yards and 14 touchdowns his senior season. He also won both the 100 and 200 meter dash at the Utah 4A track and field championships as a junior, posting times of 10.64 and 21.66 seconds.
Artist was ranked as a three-star recruit by ESPN.
“That kid has a chance to be one of the top 60-meter guys in America, oh, and he’s a football player too,” said Wells about Artist’s speed. “I trust that kid. He told people ‘no’ to begin with, and he told people `no’ as the year went on. Chad Artist is going to have a great career at Utah State.”
The national letter-of-intent signing period concludes on April 11, and spring practice for USU begins March 16. The annual Blue-White Spring Game is on April 11.
“I’m never going to be the guy to sit here and tell you on signing day that you got everybody you wanted because that’s never the case,” Wells said. “Some kids chose to go play at other places. If kids want to come here and win, they can. If not, we’ll keep winning without them.
— kalen.s.taylor@gmail.com
Twitter: @kalen_taylor