Utah quarterback Bryson Barnes is transferring to Utah State

Utah State is loading up its quarterback room.

The Aggies are bringing back incumbent starter Cooper Legas next season, plus rising sophomore McCae Hillstead and added Iowa transfer Spencer Petras.

And on Tuesday, the Aggies added another Power Five transfer in former Utah Utes quarterback Bryson Barnes, the school announced on social media.

Barnes is the seventh P5 transfer to join Utah State this winter and the second from the University of Utah, along with former Ute safety Jadon Pearson.

Listed at 6-foot-1, 209 pounds, Barnes played in 24 games for the Utes — starting 10 — while filling in for an injured Cam Rising over the course of multiple seasons.

He threw for 2,025 yards, 17 touchdowns and 13 interceptions, completing 181 out of 301 pass attempts; he also rushed for 391 yards and three touchdowns in his Utah career, which began as a walk-on after a record-setting prep career at Milford High.

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Barnes entered the transfer portal Dec. 4, but elected to remain with the Utah program through the Las Vegas Bowl.

“I mean, these are the guys you grind through it with. You go through hell with each other and leaving these guys, in my own opportunities personally, I just feel like that doesn’t sit right with me. I just want to finish it out. Finish what we started with the guys,” Barnes told the Deseret News’ Joe Coles.

Barnes didn’t have the best sendoff in the bowl game, struggling mightily in the Utes’ loss to Northwestern, completing 8 of 13 pass attempts for 55 yards and two interceptions.

With two years of eligibility remaining, Barnes will have an opportunity to compete for and potentially win the starting job at Utah State, though he will have to contend with the trio of Legas, Hillstead and Petras, each of whom has an argument to being USU’s starting quarterback next season.

Barnes’ addition to the Aggies’ quarterback room falls in line with the approach Blake Anderson and company have taken this winter, in trying to improve Utah State’s overall talent level.

“We wanted to elevate every room on the roster,” Anderson said Dec. 20, the first day of the early signing period. “I want to make every every position competitive. I think competition makes everybody better and I don’t think quarterback is any different.

“Matter of fact, it’s the most important position on the field. It just is. They’re all important, but if you don’t have a quarterback, you have no chance. If you struggle at quarterback, you’re gonna see it in wins and losses.”

With Barnes, the Aggies now have three proven FBS starting quarterbacks, plus a potential rising star in Hillstead.

When USU added Petras, Anderson noted, “it was all about making our football team better and creating as much competition and as many answers in the room as we could.”

Now with the addition Barnes, the Aggies have done that twice over.