USU football adds 24 on national signing day
On national signing day, Utah State football head coach, Gary Andersen, announced his second recruiting class since returning to Logan. The 2020 class includes 24 individuals, 19 of which will join the 2020 roster.
The most numerous group consists of 15 high school signees. Six of those are defenders — Luke Marion (S), Breaker Mendenhall (S), Jakob Robinson (CB), Bowen Fjord (S) and Poukesi Vkauta (DT) — the majority being defensive backs. Four are offensive players — John Gentry (RB), Broc Lane (TE), Elelyon Noa (RB) and Justice Ena (OL). Another four are special teamers — Jacob Garcia (LS), Stephen Kotsanlee (P), Joey Rouly (PK) and Ryan Marks (PK/P). The final player, Otto Tia (ATH) does not have a designated position.
Five of these high schoolers — Vakauta, Tia, Marks, Fjord, and Ena — will not be enrolled at Utah State University this fall. Instead, they will serve two-year proselytizing missions for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. But in return, Utah State will be getting four returned missionaries for the 2020 roster. Mata Hola (LB), Josh Sterzer (TE), Izzy Vaifo’ou (LB) and Crew Wakley (ATH).
All of that works out to 14 freshman as of national signing day who plan to enroll as freshman and play with the football team in 2020. To those incoming freshman, Andersen officially landed five transfer students on Wednesday. Three are junior college transfers and two are four-year university transfers.
The three JC players are sophomores James Hansen (DT) from Riverside CC and Justin McGriff (WR) of ASA College of Miami, along with Xavion Steele (CB) from Fullerton JC. The two four-year school transfers are Keegan Duncan (LB) of Boise State and graduate transfer Marcus Moore (DB) formerly of UCLA.
There are plenty of things to note in terms of trends, but one that stands out initially is the length and size Andersen brought in. Only four of the 24 names are listed below 6-foot and more than half stand 6-foot-3 or taller.
“We wanted to recruit length, we got that done. We wanted to recruit speed, we got that done. We wanted to recruit football intelligence, I believe we got that done,” Andersen said. “And most importantly, we wanted to recruit kids that truly believe and love the game of football. Those were high bullet points for us as we went through this recruiting cycle. I believe we have met those, but time will tell.”
“They will compete to play. I don’t look at one of them and say, ‘That is a guaranteed developmental guy that has no chance to get on the field and play for us.’ There is going to be a lot of competition from these kids for them to get on the field and play, whether it’s special teams, offense or defense.”
The addition of four special teams players, particularly three of the kicker/punter variety, are timely. Three-year starting kicker and program scoring champion, Dominik Eberle, will graduate this spring, leaving big shoes to fill.
“We need some immediate help in that position,” Andersen said of the kicking game. “We lost some really good players there, and we need to create competition in that area. We are excited about that.”
Along with putting some pressure on incoming kickers, Andersen left no room for junior college.
Andersen’s comments on the freshmen left the likely possibility of redshirting and development time for some, but he left no such room for his transfer signees. Those players will be expected to jump in and contribute immediately.
“With the junior college signees, it’s not their choice, they have to help us,” Andersen said. “If they don’t help us, then I failed, the recruiting guys failed, the recruiting coach failed and these young failed. They need to help us and that’s why we recruited them, and I expect them to be able to do that.”
According to 247Sports.com, Utah State’s recruiting class currently ranks ninth in the Mountain West and 117th nation-wide. Last year, USU ranked fourth and 90th in those two categories. The site rates 11 enrollees and signees as three stars with no four or five-star athletes.
Twitter: @thejwalk67