Latest news with #Mountain West
Yahoo
07-08-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Finally the full-time starting QB, how does Bryson Barnes feel about Utah State ahead of 2025 season?
For much of his collegiate football career, which will likely span six seasons when it's all said and done, Bryson Barnes has toiled away primarily as a backup quarterback. He's had plenty of playing time, at Utah first and then at Utah State last year, but often because of an injury suffered by the starting QB, be it Cam Rising or Spencer Petras. Barnes has proven to be quite the backup, filling in admirably for both Rising and Petras, winning notable games and breaking school records along the way, but as a career backup he's rarely been afforded the majority of practice reps and never really been fully prepared for the role of starting quarterback. 'I definitely always got the short end of the stick,' Barnes told the Deseret News last fall. 'I didn't get the reps (at Utah) that I felt like I deserved to be able to be prepared for when my moment came. It was more so just be prepared without reps and get thrown into the fire in about every circumstance that I was in.' Everything is different now, though. Barnes is QB1 for Utah State and he's feeling pretty good about it. 'It's been great,' Barnes said Wednesday on the Mountain West Network. 'To finally have a year where I am the guy and you are able to come in and get a lot more reps than I have had in the past.' Barnes has needed every rep he's gotten, as the Aggies have been remade under new head coach Bronco Mendenhall, on offense especially. Gone is just about every real contributor on offense from a season ago, except for Barnes, replaced by transfers from across the sport, many of whom have done little so far in their collegiate careers, albeit many at Power Four schools. 'We have a lot of new players, a lot of new faces, especially on offense,' Barnes said. 'So especially as quarterback you have the role to bring those guys in and make sure we are all on the same page.' In Barnes' estimation, that has happened. It started happening during spring camp and the offense has only coalesced more as the summer has progressed and player-led workouts have taken place. 'I feel like those first four months of the year was a great time,' Barnes said. 'Especially going through spring ball, getting everybody on the same page, getting a feel for everybody. '... Everything was really clicking when we got to about halfway through spring ball. You can sit there and draw on the whiteboard and you can go over the playbook all you want, but when you get out there on the field and you start repping it, it's a whole different angle you got to deal with. 'And so we needed to iron out those wrinkles throughout spring ball and I really feel like towards the end of spring ball we were really clicking,' he continued. 'Everybody was kind of on the same page. And that really has kind of carried on throughout the summer as well, when you start adding walk-throughs and different things like that that are player ran. So it's been great.' It helped, Barnes said, that he has seen just about everything there is to see over the course of his college football career, which has included four years at Utah, including the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, and then last season with Utah State. 'I am a veteran,' Barnes said. 'I've been doing this five, six years with that extra COVID year. So I've been around a lot of ball. When you bring all these new faces in, I've kind of been through these different processes that've been tried in the past, so it has been about what would be the best way to get everybody caught up to speed? 'And I feel like I've been through a big refining process of what is the best way and so I feel like we really had an accelerated process of getting everybody on the same page this year because of that.' Getting on the same page has included learning and embracing the team culture Mendenhall is trying to instill at Utah State. How's that adjustment going? 'I just feel like it's going to be a completely different culture than what Utah State has been used to the last couple of years,' Barnes said. 'And it's really exciting, you know, bringing Bronco in and having that big culture change — it's going to show on the field. '... Bronco has a history of doing great things and so buying into that culture, I mean it is only going to reap great rewards for Utah State.'
New York Times
07-08-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Three schools sue Mountain West alleging withheld money, ‘fraud' in Grand Canyon move
The Mountain West's conference realignment legal fight gained a new layer Thursday when three departing schools accused the league of improperly withholding tens of millions of dollars — including Boise State's College Football Playoff money — and misleading them about a covert plan to speed up the addition of Grand Canyon University as a member. Advertisement Those complaints are from an updated Colorado district court lawsuit filed against the Mountain West by members Boise State, Colorado State and Utah State. All three are among the schools leaving for the Pac-12 next year. The 37-page filing also adds Mountain West commissioner Gloria Nevarez as a defendant. The suit said the league and commissioner 'intentionally and fraudulently' deprived the schools of their membership rights and caused millions of dollars in harm while 'impacting the rights and opportunities of Plaintiffs' student-athletes for their last year in the Conference.' The schools are now seeking damages in the latest complaint. The Mountain West did not immediately return a request for comment. The millions of dollars in dispute include CFP money earned through Boise State's appearance in the inaugural 12-team field last season. The schools' complaint said travel reimbursements have been unpaid, as have NCAA payments for financial aid, academic programs and athlete welfare. Fresno State athletic director Garrett Klassy told The Athletic last month that the lack of NCAA pass-through payments was 'disappointing' and 'very unexpected' because of the potential impact on players' mental health. Though Fresno State is also moving from the Mountain West to the Pac-12, it is not a part of the lawsuit. Boise State, Colorado State and Utah State argue the conference should not be withholding the money because its exit fees — at least $19 million per school — are unlawful and unenforceable. One argument why: The Mountain West is separately seeking an additional $55 million in poaching fees from the Pac-12 for adding those three schools plus Fresno State and San Diego State. But those payments are also in dispute because of a different, ongoing lawsuit between the conferences. Advertisement The Mountain West has countered that the Broncos, Rams and Aggies not only helped adopt the exit fee bylaws but tried to enforce them against San Diego State two years ago when the Aztecs were pursuing an exit. 'It is, therefore, inconsistent and unjust for these same institutions to now attempt to evade their responsibilities…' the league said in a statement last week, before the latest filing. 'We remain confident in our legal position, which we will vigorously defend.' Thursday's updated complaint also explains some of the drama surrounding the Mountain West's addition of Grand Canyon. The departing schools' suit labels it 'fraud.' In November, the league announced the Antelopes would join on July 1, 2026 — the same day Boise State, Colorado State and Utah State will start in the Pac-12. But this spring, the Mountain West's departing schools heard rumors, including from Grand Canyon coaches, that the Antelopes would join a year earlier. Nevarez repeatedly denied the claim, according to the suit. The three departing schools eventually concluded Nevarez and the Mountain West were lying and had a 'plan to covertly admit' Grand Canyon for the 2025-26 school year. When Boise State, Colorado State and Utah State gave their resignation notices to the league in late May, they relinquished their voting rights and could no longer try to block a move. On July 8, the Mountain West announced that Grand Canyon would, in fact, join immediately. The early addition of the Antelopes carries multiple potential impacts on the Mountain West's departing schools. Some schedules, travel, logistics and budgets had already been finalized. A new member could affect conference tournament seeding and NCAA Tournament bids. The financial impact is unknown because the schools haven't seen Grand Canyon's agreement with the Mountain West and how it affects conference payouts. But the suit said the move will cost the departing schools millions in damages. Advertisement 'I would point to our bylaws,' Nevarez told The Athletic last month about the complaints. 'When you give your notice (to leave), you give up your board seat and your vote. It's Conference 101.' The filing was the latest update in a complicated legal situation involving the future of West Coast football. In late 2023, the Pac-12 was effectively becoming the Pac-2 as everyone but Washington State and Oregon State left for the Big Ten, Big 12 or ACC. The Mountain West offered a lifeline through a scheduling agreement with the crumbling league. The Pac-12 survived, but those terms are at the heart of the ongoing federal lawsuit between that conference and the Mountain West. The leagues have asked for a hearing next month. The Athletic's Chris Vannini contributed reporting. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle
