Bronson Olevao Jr.: Consistency, loyalty in an era of change

Since 2022, Utah State Football has had three head coaches, each bringing their own systems and coaching styles. Through all the changes, graduate linebacker Bronson Olevao Jr. has stayed with the team through each one. Throughout his time at Utah State University, moving through all of the ups and downs of the program in recent history, Olevao has learned what the true identity of the USU football program is, and he has attempted to carry that identity to each new era of the program.

Coming from a family of athletes, Olevao’s father played football at the University of Utah and his sister played basketball at Utah Tech University. Olevao himself was a multi-sport athlete in high school, playing both football and basketball for Highland High School in Salt Lake City. 

In high school, Olevao was rated as the 47th best recruit in the state of Utah. He received two offers to play football, coming from USU and Weber State University, ultimately committing to the Aggies. Before beginning his career with the Aggies, Olevao served a two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Tahiti and New Jersey.

As a redshirt freshman in 2023, Olevao played under former head coach Blake Anderson, where he appeared in three games before he was sidelined for the season with an injury. That offseason, Blake Anderson was fired and Nate Dreiling was named the interim head coach and defensive coordinator. 

The following season for the Aggies under Dreiling was a struggle, as they finished only 4-8 on the season. Despite the shakeup and struggles with the team, Olevao knew he wanted to stay with the program.

“I’ve gone through this refiner’s fire here. I’ve been here in Cache Valley and Logan, and I know the community, and I love it here. I’m a true-blooded Aggie,” Olevao said. “I’ve taken my own experience and my journey and made it my own and helped other people come along and buy into the program. I’ve learned to love and grow in the process, and that’s something I really teach — and that’s the Aggie way, being true-blooded and staying loyal to this place.”

For Olevao, the hiring of head coach Bronco Mendenhall was an important factor in his decision to stay with the Aggies following the 2024 season. 

“When I heard coach Mendenhall was going to be our coach, my linebackers coach, coach Shane Hunter, reached out to me, and we had a really good talk about the direction of the program. I realized they’re aligned with goals, as well as my values and my beliefs. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, it felt like it was an answer to my prayer,” Olevao said. “When coach Mendenhall came in, it was like it was unlike anything that I’d ever experienced in college. When it came to workouts, when it came to the culture, when it came to how he runs his program, we learned the expectation, the standard, and we’re to uphold it.”

The 2025 season would be the best season on record for Olevao, as he would finish third on the team in tackles, with 90, as well as four sacks, two interceptions, and 7.5 tackles for loss. As the team prepared for the 2026 season, Olevaos’s experience would become vital for the team.

“It’s good to have guys with experience like [Olevao]. He has a ton of knowledge and experience,” senior linebacker Harrison Taggart said. “When we have guys like him who have a lot of experience, experience creates depth, and depth makes our room competitive.”

Olevao has recognized the value of his experience on the team and strives to help share that experience with players within the program.

“I think I’ve learned personally through my own experience, so when players, especially young players or new players, come in, I’m able to share from my own experience and what I’ve learned from being here for four to five years,” Olevao said. “I want them to think, ‘I can rely on this guy, can trust this guy and what he tells me because he’s been here the longest. He stayed loyal to the program.”

One of the most important lessons Olevao has applied to his own life, as well as taught others, is one his family taught him growing up.

“My parents always taught me the saying that ‘the grass is greener where you water it.’ That’s something they’ve instilled in me and in everything that I do. It’s not running away from any problems or challenges,” Olevao said. “That’s really helped me stay focused and stay stuck in my process of being here at Utah State and going through the refinery process. That’s something I really try to teach.”

As well as taking on his own personal responsibilities of teaching younger players, Olevao was named as part of the team’s leadership council, helping to instill the culture of the program within the team.

“In my experience, the best teams have been player-led. I love empowering young people,” head coach Bronco Mendenhall said. “We have excellent leadership in this program. When the players are aligned in principle, those teams are hard to beat, and that’s the direction we’re headed.” 

© Dane Johnson

No.14 for USU Bronson Olevao Jr. celebrates in a game against UTEP in Maverik Stadium on Aug 30, 2025.

With the 2026 season already underway, Olevao feels like this team has the talent to compete with anyone in the Pac-12. 

“We are a team that can compete. We’ve shown that we can execute at a high level, and we can build upon last year’s defense. We need to be detailed in our execution to put ourselves in a position to compete in the conference and go win it,” Olevao said. “We need to focus on our process and doing, and making sure that we know our assignments, we know the techniques, we know what to do and how to do it. We need to make plays to win games.”

With this season likely to be Olevao’s final season of college football, he is using his experience and leadership to help lead the Aggies to a successful season by ensuring the expectations of the program are met.

“It’s the principle of ‘greater than, not equal to’ in our program,” Olevao said. When it comes to even the players that come into our program, we expect them to be better than last year’s group. That will really help us as we go into the year with that confidence — knowing we have experienced players out there on the field that know what to do, how to do it, and make plays and win games.” 

Throughout the many changes the Aggie’s have faced as a program over the past five years, Olevao has a been a source of consistency within the program, helping set the tone through the changes.