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Logan • Utah State has signed three junior college players who will enroll in school for the spring semester and be eligible next season, coach Matt Wells announced Thursday.
The group includes Snow College offensive lineman Roman Andrus, Mount San Antonio (Calif.) Community College linebacker Suli Tamaivena and Ellsworth (Iowa) Community College offensive lineman Rob Castaneda.
All three have two years of eligibility remaining.
Andrus (6-4, 280) started his college career at BYU. He redshirted in 2012 and played in one game in 2015 before transferring to Snow. He is from Oakridge High School in El Dorado Hills, Calif,, where he played just one year of football.
Tamaivena (6-0, 235) had 81 tackles last season at Mount San Antonio, including nine quarterback sacks. He earned all-California Community College and All-America honors.
Tamaivena is rated as a three-star prospect by Rivals.com and Scout.com. He is ranked as the No. 58 overall junior college prospect in the country by Scout. He played high school football in Kirkland, Wash.
Castaneda (6-4, 305) earned first-team all-conference honors last season at Ellsworth. He helped the Panthers average 354.6 yards per game of total offense.
After starting his college career at Texas Tech, Castaneda played in 13 games in 2015 before being dismissed from the team following a home burglary in May of 2016.
Castaneda and two other Red Raider players entered into a agreement with the district attorney's office for pretrial diversion. In such instances, cases bypass court and defendants are placed on community supervision in exchange for dismissal of the charges.
If the defendants break the terms of the pretrial diversion, charges may be re-filed.
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