At De La Salle High School, Hendershott had 47 catches for 849 yards with four TD's receiving his senior season, as well as six rushes for 74 yards, helping the Spartans to a 13-1 overall record, finishing third in the state and a No. 19 national ranking.

"John is a big target with tremendous speed. He's proven that he can make the big catch and he's proven himself at both the high school and the junior college level based on his performance and his numbers," Baldwin said.

Smith, a 5-9, 198-pounder, is from Tucson, Ariz., coming to USU from Eastern Arizona Junior College and will have two seasons of eligibility for the Aggies. Last season, he earned all-Western States Football League honors after posting 131 rushes for 1,002 yards (91.1 ypg) with 11 TD's, helping the Gila Monsters to an 8-3 record. Smith was second in the WSFL for rushing yards and TD's, while ranking third in ypg, carries and scoring. He also earned second-team all-Arizona Community College Athletic Conference accolades. In 2007, Smith had 820 yards on 99 rushes with eight TD's, ranking fifth in the WSFL in rushing yards and ninth in ypg with 74.5, helping EAJC to a 9-2 record.

"Michael is a very talented running back and he also has the ability to slide out and play the slot receiver for us, and be a very effective running back," Andersen said. "I think our deepest spot on the football team is the running back position, where we have some very talented players stacked up there. We need to find a way to make sure that we are creative on the offensive side of the ball to get all of them involved. You'll see not only Michael, but also the whole crew of running backs playing a lot of different spots on the field throughout spring ball. I think Michael is a very talented and intelligent young man. He has great speed and is a very physical back, so he has the whole package as far as speed and strength."

At Sunnyside High School, Smith had 1,920 yards rushing on 274 carries (7.1 ypc/160.0 ypg) with 24 TD's, helping the Blue Devils to a 7-5 record his senior season. Smith also had seven receptions for 59 yards.

"Michael brings a great deal of talent and speed to our offense," Baldwin said. "He has unbelievable speed and is also a strong runner, and he can break tackles and take it to the house with his great speed. He provides extra talent to our already talented offensive backfield and we feel that we're are the most talented and deep at that position."

Willis, a native of Lakewood, Calif., is 5-11, 230-pounds, and will have three years of eligibility for the Aggies. Last season at El Camino, he was third on the team with 45 tackles, including 13 tackles for loss with seven sacks, ranking second on the squad in both, as well as two pass breakups. He collected second-team all-Central Conference honors.

"We're very fortunate to get Reuben after one year at junior college," Andersen said. "It's a true case of coaches doing their homework. He wanted to come out early and we had some ties with his family and teammates. Those ties including myself, as well as assistant coaches Ilaisa Tuiaki and Chad Kauha'aha'a, and we have family ties with Reuben and got connected with him. We were the first ones to go in and offer him early. He's a middle linebacker that has great speed and is an extremely physical player. We're trying to build our defense around being fast, physical and intelligent, and Reuben fits all three of those qualities."

Willis played for Mayfair High School, where he led the Monsoons with 92 tackles his senior season, along with two fumble recoveries, helping Mayfair to a 7-4 record. As a junior in 2006, Willis notched 66 tackles, earning second-team all-state underclass honors.

Utah State finished the 2008 season with a 3-9 overall and 3-5 WAC record, marking the first time since 2005 that the Aggies have three wins in a season. USU won three WAC games in a season for the first time in the Aggies' four seasons in the league. It is also the first time since 2003 that USU won three conference games and just the third time in the 2000's.