USU Football signs players for 2025
Utah State University Football and new head coach Bronco Mendenhall announced the 2025 signing class during a press conference on Feb 5. The national letter-of-intent signing period began on Feb. 5 and will run through April 1 for football.
The signing period marked the beginning of the late signing period, after interim head coach Nate Dreiling announced the signing of 18 players during the early signing period in December.
“An exciting day for Utah State Football — exciting day for me in launching and being part of a new program,” Mendenhall said. “My staff has done a really nice job … in terms of framing our needs and then our staff executing against our needs.”
The Aggies signed a total of 36 players coming from a variety of sources with 12 high school athletes, seven junior college transfers and 17 transfers from four-year institutions.
“Ideally, my formula would be just the opposite, where the majority would be high school players with then the four-year players supplementing that with junior college players, about the same number. That would be the ideal with primarily high school players in-state being the core of everything that we do,” Mendenhall said. “These numbers and to this point, what you’re seeing here reflects our staff doing an excellent job addressing our needs both short term and long term with the emphasis that we think will be program-defining.”
Mendenhall’s in-state focus was reflected on signing day, with 11 signees coming from the state of Utah. California was second on the list with seven players, but the 2025 signing class includes players representing a total of 13 states and American Samoa.
Of the 36 signees, 19 are defensive players with four lineman, three outside backers, four inside backers, four cornerbacks and four safeties.
“In general, the needs were tilted slightly more defensively than offensively in terms of numbers needed and in terms of quality,” said Mendenhall. “We spent four days doing nothing other than – our staff morning to night – evaluating the current Utah State roster when we arrived … that then helped us frame the needs for Utah State.”
On the offensive end, the Aggies signed seven wide receivers, three lineman, three running backs and one quarterback for a total of 14 offensive players.
In addition to the 33 listed position players, USU signed two specialists and one player listed as an athlete.
Utah State’s signing class ranks as the fourth-best signing class in the Mountain West Conference by 247sports.com, with 17 of the committed players receiving a rating as a three-star recruit at some point during their careers.
In addition to the signing class, Mendenhall did close the door to possibly adding to the team roster during the spring transfer portal window.
“Still some needs remaining, quite frankly, and there’s a spring portal window coming. And could we be active in that also? That really depends on attrition through the offseason program still, spring practice, and what that might look like,” Mendenhall said. “However, what’s been done to this point at Utah State — I’m encouraged, I’m optimistic, I think we did really well and I think the future will be very bright.”
Mendenhall also did not rule out the possibility of cancelling the spring scrimmage due to concerns with tampering. The spring scrimmage is typically open to the public as a way for fans to get a first look at the new team but is increasingly becoming an opportunity for opposing teams to scout players before luring them away during the spring transfer window.
“There are rules that are supposed to be governing tampering, but they are not enforced —they’re not enforced effectively, and they’re having very little impact on the decisions made, so tampering is widespread,” Mendenhall said. “I love to generate momentum and excitement for Utah State Football to connect with the community. I might move that to the fall, you know, right before the season starts … where the roster can be solidified without the risk that we’re talking about.”
Overall, Mendenhall was confident in the quality of the class, emphasizing the work he and his staff have done while acknowledging the gaps in depth that may be addressed in the future.
“I think we did really well, and I like the players we’ve added. I like the needs we’ve addressed. I like the roster we have,” Mendenhall said. “Again, with a handful of existing needs still remaining.”