The following is a press release from Utah State Athletics.
LOGAN, Utah (Wednesday, Feb. 5) – Utah State head football coach Matt Wells announced his second signing class on Wednesday, as part of National Signing Day. The class, which includes 26 total players, is comprised of 18 high school athletes and eight junior college transfers. Of those 26 signees, five are mid-year transfers who are already enrolled at Utah State and six will serve a two-year LDS Church Mission before enrolling at USU.
The state of Utah produced the most signees with nine, including one from Cache Valley, followed by eight players from California, four players from both Florida and Texas, and one player from Missouri.
“We are really excited about this signing class and the group of young men who will represent Utah State University both on and off the football field,” said Wells. “The most impressive thing to me when I look at this group as a whole is the overall length and athleticism we were able to sign.”
The greatest emphasis in Wells’ second recruiting class was at defensive line as Utah State signed six student-athletes at that position, to go along with four linebackers and four tight ends. The Aggies also secured three wide receivers and three safeties, two running backs and two cornerbacks, and rounded out the 2014 class with one quarterback and one offensive lineman.
“We met many needs with this group, including on the defensive line and at the linebacker positions. We also were able to identify several players who will be able to come in and contribute to our program immediately.”
In all, Utah State’s 2014 class includes 15 recruits on defense and 11 offensive players.
“Another aspect of our recruiting that was definitely met was emphasizing the state of Utah and our mission program. The state of Utah has always been and will always be our number one priority, as well as our mission kids and our Polynesian connections, and all three of these areas were met with productive numbers.”
Five new players are already attending classes at Utah State in freshman linebackers Chase Christiansen and Ian Togiai (Tong-ei), sophomore tight end Landon Horne, sophomore defensive end Siua Taufa (See-u-a Tau-fah) and junior defensive end John Taylor.
With the conclusion of signing day, Utah State will now prepare for spring practice which begins on Tuesday, March 2 and concludes with its annual Blue-White Spring Game on Saturday, April 12 at 2 p.m.
The national letter-of-intent signing period for football began on Wednesday, Feb. 5 and will conclude on Tuesday, April 1.
