It’s been a busy day on the transfer portal front for Utah.

After receiving commitments from Missouri punter Orion Phillips and Garden City cornerback Jeremiah Caldwell, the Utes made moves to shore up their linebacker room.

Jaxson Jones, a freshman linebacker at Oregon who redshirted this season, announced his intentions to transfer to Utah on Saturday night.

The 6-foot-3, 230-pound Jones was a four-star recruit out of high school, and the Utes offered him back then, per his 247Sports page. The second time is the charm for the Utes, who needed depth in the linebacker room after Sione Fotu and Josh Calvert transferred out.

Jones is the son of Daniel Jones, who was a receiver at Utah from 1997-1998.

In his senior year at Yuma Catholic High in Arizona, Jaxson Jones recorded 46 tackles, nine sacks and forced two fumbles.

Former Utah State head coach Blake Anderson is set to become Southern Miss’ offensive coordinator, as first reported by Brandon Marcello of 247 Sports.

The 55-year-old Anderson went 23-17 with three bowl appearances and an 11-win season in 2021 leading the Aggies, but had his employment agreement terminated by the university following an investigation into Anderson’s handling of off-field issues relating to players on his roster.

Prior to his three-year stint with the Aggies, Anderson was the head coach at Arkansas State for seven seasons, amassing a 51-37 record with six bowl appearances.

Anderson becomes the first hire to be publicly reported under Charles Huff, who assumed the reigns at Southern Miss after leading Marshall to a 10-3 record this season.

This will be Anderson’s second stint in Hattiesburg as he served as quarterbacks coach from 2008-2011, also assuming the offensive coordinator duties over his final two seasons with the Golden Eagles.

Southern Miss looks to rebuild the program after Will Hall’s four-year stint as head coach resulted in a 14-30 record with one bowl appearance in 2022. 

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Associated Press

Utah State Aggies (1-9) at Idaho Vandals (6-2)

Moscow; Sunday, 4 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Idaho hosts Utah State after Rosie Schweizer scored 21 points in Idaho’s 76-54 win over the Saint Thomas Tommies.

The Vandals have gone 3-0 in home games. Idaho is the top team in the Big Sky in team defense, allowing 55.8 points while holding opponents to 33.3% shooting.

The Aggies are 0-5 on the road. Utah State has a 0-7 record against opponents over .500.

Idaho’s average of 7.1 made 3-pointers per game this season is just 0.6 more made shots on average than the 6.5 per game Utah State allows. Utah State averages 8.4 made 3-pointers per game this season, 2.8 more made shots on average than the 5.6 per game Idaho gives up.

TOP PERFORMERS: Schweizer is scoring 13.6 points per game with 7.1 rebounds and 0.8 assists for the Vandals.

Mia Tarver is shooting 34.0% from beyond the arc with 1.8 made 3-pointers per game for the Aggies, while averaging 10 points and 2.4 steals.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.