Utah News

It has been three seasons now since Utah State football was numbered among the best teams in the Group of Five.

In 2021, the Aggies caught lightning in a bottle and pulled off one of the most impressive season-to-season turnarounds in recent memory, capping it off with the program’s first Mountain West Conference title.

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Since then, though, USU has been nothing if not mediocre. Sometimes worse than that.

Last year, albeit amid considerable turmoil, the Aggies were one of the worst Group of Five programs in the country — and programs in general — with just four total wins. Only one of those wins came against a team that finished the year with a winning record (Robert Morris, which finished 7-5 at the FCS level).

The Aggies were competitive for a good portion of conference play in 2024, but competitive didn’t lead to many wins.

Given that, it isn’t a surprise that Utah State isn’t considered by many to be one of the better teams at the Group of Five level ahead of the 2025 season — or even a Group of Five program worth being mentioned.

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Earlier this month, ESPN ranked the top 10 G5 programs. The ones that are believed will be at the top of the proverbial heap in 2025.

Listed in order from the least likely to earn a College Football Playoff berth to the most likely, those 10 teams are:

• UTSA (American Athletic Conference).

• Army (AAC).

• Louisiana (Sun Belt).

• Liberty (Conference USA).

• Memphis (AAC).

• James Madison (Sun Belt).

• Navy (AAC).

• Tulane (AAC).

• Boise State (MW).

Noticeably and quite understandably absent was Utah State.

Few expect much of anything out of the Aggies next year, who are certainly not positioned among the best teams at the Group of Five level.

Which begs the question, just how far away are the Aggies?

How Utah State football compares

By the end of the 2024 season, by almost every metric, Utah State was in the bottom third of the MW.

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ESPN’s final FPI for 2024 had the Aggies as the fourth-worst team in the MW — which was also where the Aggies finished record-wise.

A cursory glance at most statistical categories in 2024 found USU near the bottom of the league, save for on offense.

In three games played against MW teams that finished with a winning record last season, Utah State was competitive only once, against Colorado State. Both Boise State and UNLV handled the Aggies. When it came to competing at the level of the best MW teams, USU was far off the pace.

Expand things to the entire Group of Five and things look even worse for Utah State. The top 10 G5 teams last year all finished ranked in the top 67 in FPI. The Aggies finished No. 112. When looking at strength of schedule, game control and average win probability, USU ranked No. 93 or worse in every category, far off the pace of the best teams at the G5 level.

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Last year was last year, though. There’s not a lot of reason to rehash it too much, not with a new coaching staff in place in Logan and 50-plus new players on the roster. So how does USU measure up in 2025?

The most notable preseason predictor is ESPN’s SP+ metric, created by Bill Connelly. SP+ takes into account 1) Returning production; 2) Recent recruiting; 3) Recent history.

As Connelly notes, SP+ “is a predictive measure of the most sustainable and predictable aspects of football, not a résumé ranking, and along those lines, these projections aren’t intended to be a guess at what the AP Top 25 will look like at the end of the season. These are simply early offseason power rankings based on the information we have been able to gather.”

Ahead of the 2025 season, Utah State football comes in at No. 119 overall in the SP+ rankings, third-worst among MW teams and ahead of just 17 other teams (all of whom are in the G5). In the MW, only Nevada and New Mexico are rate worse.

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Everything about the SP+ metric hurts the Aggies.

When it comes to returning production, USU brings back just 31% of its total production from last season, the fourth lowest by any team at the FBS level. On offense, USU’s strong suit last year, the Aggies bring back just 19% of the production from last season. Only one team brings back less (Miami-Ohio). On defense, USU brings back 43% of its production, but that isn’t especially encouraging given the team’s defensive struggles last season. And the year before that. And the year before that.

Recruiting rankings don’t do any favors for USU either.

While 247 Sports’ Composite rankings has USU with the third-best 2025 class in the MW that is mostly due to sheer numbers. On a quality basis (average ranking of recruits) the Aggies rank in the middle of the league at No. 6. When it comes to incoming transfers, USU’s incoming class ranks second to last in the MW.

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Throw in the rough 2024 season, which featured the team’s lowest win total in a 12-game season since 2016, and it isn’t hard to see why SP+ does not look favorably on Utah State ahead of the 2025 season.

Could the Aggies proved the predictors wrong? It has happened before. Utah State wasn’t expected to do much of anything in 2021, but a veteran-laden roster — featuring the right mix of returners and instant impact transfers — exceeded all expectations in dramatic fashion.

The Aggies have been remade under new head coach Bronco Mendenhall, in a way not too dissimilar to what Blake Anderson did in his first offseason leading the program, though there are still a lot of unknowns about that rebuild.

Here’s what we know. Many — though not all — of the transfers USU has landed in the winter and spring are players who were at the Power 4 level but didn’t play much, if at all. There is considerable potential there, but not much proven at this point.

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Many of the incoming freshmen won’t be ready to contribute right away either, if they are even on the roster (some of the more notable signees will serving missions for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints).

Of the Aggies’ returners, meanwhile — as noted by Connelly — there aren’t a lot of proven contributors.

Everything points to a long term rebuild being needed in Logan. A one season turnaround is highly unlikely, and the Aggies are not currently among the best the Group of Five have to offer. Not yet at least.

It was a mammoth moment.

Clayton Keller, Logan Cooley, Michael Kesselring and Josh Doan skated over to get a gold medal placed around their necks.

The four Utah Mammoth players suited up for the U.S. Men’s National Team at the 2025 IIHF Men’s World Championship and beat Switzerland 1-0 in overtime on Sunday at Avicii Arena in Stockholm. It marked the first time in 92 years (since 1933) that Team USA won gold at the Worlds.

The World Championship is an annual international men’s hockey tournament put together by the International Ice Hockey Federation. NHL players can opt to participate if their respective teams missed the playoffs or were ousted in the first two rounds. This year’s World Championship was in Stockholm and Herning, Denmark, from May 9-25.

After 60 minutes of scoreless play in the final, USA and Switzerland headed to a 20-minute, 3-on-3 overtime period. The Americans quickly ended the tournament on top.

Cooley corralled the puck out of the defensive zone and pushed it up to Tage Thompson who proceeded to rip it from the right circle for the game-winning tally at 2:02. Cooley’s primary assist on the play marked his 12th point in 10 games. The center had a cumulative four goals and eight assists which tied Frank Nazar (Chicago Blackhawks) for most on the team.

Cooley and Keller — who was named captain for Team USA — were atop the squad’s scoring production. The Mammoth duo was on the first line and played with both Thompson (Buffalo Sabres) and Conor Garland (Vancouver Canucks).

Garland and Keller had familiarity skating with each other; Garland was a fifth-round pick of the Arizona Coyotes in 2015. The forwards had three seasons on the same NHL team before Garland was traded to Vancouver in July 2021.

Following a career-high 90-point season with Utah, Keller posted 10 points (three goals, seven assists) in 10 games in the tournament. The 26-year-old was left off of the Team USA roster for February’s 4 Nations Face-Off and has his eyes on a spot in the 2026 Milan Olympic lineup. It is likely a reason Keller attended the World Championship for the first time since 2019. And his performance — both on the ice and leadership-wise — could bode well for him.

Cooley might be an under-the-radar pick for the Olympics, too. While he was not in the prominent conversation for 4 Nations, Cooley was a consistent difference-maker for Team USA this time around. The 21-year-old anchored the top line and showed the two-way, defensively detailed game that benefited the Mammoth. Cooley finished his sophomore NHL season with 65 points (25 goals, 40 assists) in 75 matchups.

Doan was the 13th forward for Team USA through most of the Worlds. The forward provided a depth role — somewhat similar to his bottom-six minutes in Utah — and had one goal.

Kesselring played on the third pair with the Chicago Blackhawks’ Alex Vlasic. The defensemen have seen each other throughout their hockey careers — they played against each other in Hockey East, for Northeastern and Boston University, respectively, from 2019-21.

Kesselring has joined Team USA at the World Championship the past two years and said it gave him more confidence going into this season with the Mammoth during which he took on a greater role. Kesselring had four points (one goal, three assists) at Worlds and 29 points (seven goals, 22 assists) in 82 games in Utah.

Barrett Hayton and Karel Vejmelka participated in the World Championship, too. Hayton had two points (one goal, one assist) for Canada while Vejmelka logged a .902 save percentage and 2.98 goals against average with Czechia. Both teams were eliminated in the tournament‘s quarterfinal round.

Sunday’s victory was not just historic for Team USA but gave Keller, Cooley, Kesselring and Doan winning experience on a major stage ahead of their second season with the Mammoth — during which they’re aiming to make the playoffs.

Note to readers • This story is available to Salt Lake Tribune subscribers only. Thank you for supporting local journalism.

For the third time in a row, U.S. News and World Report has named Utah the “Best State” in the nation, and our high ranking for internet connectivity moved to top place this year. This recognition is an achievement to celebrate — and so is how we got here.

The internet has come a long way since 1969, when the University of Utah first linked with three other universities by phone lines. Known as ARPANET, this U.S. Department of Defense project was the world’s initial step toward critical infrastructure that more than 5.6 billion people worldwide now live by.

Today, the internet is a lifeline for education, healthcare, commerce and more. Internet access is no longer just about streaming or browsing — it’s about job creation, small business growth and attracting top-tier industries to every corner of our state. Reliable internet provides rural students access to the same educational resources as their urban peers, and it’s essential for patients consulting with specialists hundreds of miles away. It’s a gateway to opportunity for businesses large and small, and it supports family connections, public safety and groundbreaking research.

Utah’s enviable connectivity owes thanks to decades of building toward a long-range vision and collaboration that is Utah’s “secret sauce.” In 1996, the Utah Legislature provided substantial funding for the Utah Education Network — later expanded to include healthcare as the Utah Education and Telehealth Network (UETN) — to connect K-12 schools, higher education, public libraries, government and healthcare sites across Utah. UETN now connects more than 2,000 community anchor locations throughout Utah. In partnership with Utah’s broadband providers, the Utah Department of Transportation and key agencies such as UETN and the Utah Broadband Center within the Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity, Utahns throughout the state enjoy some of the best broadband internet access in the U.S.

By leveraging the state and federal Universal Service Funds — and developing strong partnerships between UETN and many of Utah’s broadband internet access providers — we’ve helped bring high-speed internet to some of the state’s most rural areas. These connections have benefits beyond faster internet for schools and healthcare clinics. Our collaborative projects have improved mobile coverage, traffic and weather monitoring, and enhanced broadband solutions for residential and business customers.

Access to high-speed internet has contributed to business growth in Utah, including increasing opportunities for remote work in rural counties.

The conscientious use of state and federal universal service funding and the development of thriving private-public partnerships have created and sustained this burgeoning internet infrastructure for almost 30 years and serve as a model other states should follow.

Notwithstanding, many Utahns still face barriers to reliable, affordable internet, keeping them from the necessary opportunities to thrive in today’s economy.

Rural internet service providers offered free internet connections during the pandemic. A few years later, when national pandemic-level support for broadband ended, a survey found that 13 percent said they would disconnect due to affordability. The Utah Broadband Center’s Broadband Access Grant (BAG) and Broadband Infrastructure Grant (BIG), totaling over $330M, plans to connect the remaining approximately 45,000 unserved or underserved locations in the state with broadband by 2030. However, ensuring affordable connectivity, devices and digital skills training is an ongoing pursuit.

To unlock our full economic potential, we must connect not just people to the internet, but entire communities to the future. Together we keep working to connect rural areas, tribal communities and outlying urban communities to reduce these barriers that ultimately hamper workers’ access to digital tools and can endanger the public’s ability to access vital health and safety resources in an emergency.

Similarly, Utah is poised to remain at the forefront of technological innovation and all the opportunity it may bring to our great state. As major innovations in security, connectivity and AI rapidly evolve and mature, we must help keep Utah competitive by treating broadband as part of Utah’s critical infrastructure: essential, universal and future-proof.

We’ll get there if we continue to work together — keeping the people of Utah at the heart of every decision.

Spencer Jenkins is the CEO and executive director of the Utah Education and Telehealth Network (UETN), where he leads efforts to expand educational and telehealth access across Utah through innovative technology and statewide collaboration.

Rebecca Dilg, director of the state’s Utah Broadband Center, has convened stakeholders since 2018 to facilitate the state’s broadband internet expansion to households and businesses, most recently through the state’s two broadband grant programs — Broadband Access Grant (BAG) and Broadband Infrastructure Grant (BIG) — totaling over $330 million.

Bruce H. Todd is the president of the Utah Rural Telecom Association and CEO of STRATA Networks, a cooperative delivering broadband and wireless services across Utah’s Uintah Basin. With over 39 years in telecommunications, he is a leading advocate for rural connectivity and serves on multiple regional and national telecom boards.

The Salt Lake Tribune is committed to creating a space where Utahns can share ideas, perspectives and solutions that move our state forward. We rely on your insight to do this. Find out how to share your opinion here, and email us at voices@sltrib.com.

This article is published through the Utah News Collaborative, a partnership of news organizations in Utah that aim to inform readers across the state.

On Jan. 11, 2025, hundreds of people gathered on the steps of Utah’s Capitol Building for the Rally for Public Lands—a show of support for preserving Utah’s national monuments, national forests and national park lands.

A light flurry of snow chilled the crowd as author Terry Tempest Williams, Utah Senate Minority Leader Luz Escamilla, Regina Lopez-Whiteskunk of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe and Latiné university student Louise Fernanadez spoke to the value of keeping public lands free of development, while underscoring what polling in Utah consistently states—that dismantling public land protections is overwhelmingly unpopular.

Among those speaking that day was Autumn Gillard, cultural resource manager for the Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah, who emphasized the very specific value of public lands to her people. Gillard addressed how her cultural identity and physical health are intertwined with her ability to steward the landscape, to actively be a part of it. “Today I would like to express the importance of ancestral connection to public land,” Gillard said. “Tribal people, long before the concept of public lands and forced colonization, interacted with the landscape traditionally, ceremonially as well as domestically.”

“Yanawant,” the Paiute word for what is now known as the Grand Staircase region, is her ancestral land and the land her people have stewarded for centuries. According to archeologists, the Paiute Tribes have lived in the region for at least 13,000 years, along with the ancestors of many other tribes, until they were removed by the U.S. government and placed on reservations throughout the 19th and 20th centuries.

The trauma caused by this forced relocation has left intergenerational traces which have been observed in the growing field of epigenetics—how genes are expressed in the body. In 2023, a study was published in the International Journal for Equity in Health titled, “Association Between Gene Methylation and Experiences of Historical Trauma in Alaska Native Peoples,” showing how environmental factors can impact how a person’s DNA is represented. The genetic effects of historical trauma have been linked to elevated rates of depression, anxiety, cardiac disease, diabetes and substance abuse in affected communities. The Alaska study focused on the impact of colonization to Indigenous people’s health and how reconnection to traditional landscapes, food ways and practices can improve overall wellbeing.

“I’ve witnessed it within myself, healing from generational trauma by going out into the landscape and reconnecting,” said Gillard. “But also by being able to provide that to a peer of mine and hearing from them when we’re coming home that they feel so much better.”

To read the full story, visit CornerPost.org.

There are 30 players with Utah ties who have earned opportunities this offseason to try to make an impression as NFL rookies.

For five of them, it’s as a draft pick. For others, it’s as an undrafted free agent. Still more earned invites to try out at rookie minicamps.

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The situation they each find themselves in can be as important as a player’s talent, especially earlier in their pro careers as they try to gain a foothold in the NFL.

Here’s a look at five who, on the surface, have circumstances that could work in their favor.

The first-rounder: Jaxson Dart

• Former Corner Canyon High/Roy High quarterback

• Drafted first round, 25th overall by New York Giants

Dart, a Kaysville native, may have found himself thrust into an ideal situation when the Giants traded back into the end of the first round to snag him.

There are a pair of veterans the Giants brought in this offseason whom Dart, who excelled for three years under Lane Kiffin at Ole Miss, can learn behind while he gets acclimated to the pro game.

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Russell Wilson is in New York on a one-year deal worth $10.5 million, according to Spotrac, while Jameis Winston is on a two-year, $8 million contract.

Unlike when Zach Wilson, another Corner Canyon product, entered the NFL as a first-round pick (albeit as the No. 2 overall selection), Dart looks to be more in a situation where he will have time to work on his progression before being thrown into the fire as a starter.

Zach Wilson is heading into his fifth NFL season, and after falling out of favor with the New York Jets after three seasons, he’s on his third pro team now, signing this offseason with the Miami Dolphins (he spent last season with the Denver Broncos).

Perhaps Dart can avoid a similar fate with the chance to grow outside of the bright spotlight early on in his career, with Russell Wilson and Winston able to handle the early pressure of being the starter and the primary backup.

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Dart already made a solid impression during rookie minicamp, and he will have the chance to do so again when the Giants start offseason voluntary OTAs next week.

“I’m a competitor, so I’m going to come to work every day and do my best to make everybody around me better,” Dart said at rookie minicamp, according to The Athletic. “I understand what the situation is, but for me, I care about winning.

“There’s nothing fun about losing, so it doesn’t matter where you’re at on the depth chart; if you’re playing this much or not playing this much, if you’re losing, it sucks. So, I just want to make the team better. That’s my focus.”

The fourth-rounder: Jalen Royals

• Former Utah State wide receiver

• Drafted fourth round, 133rd overall by Kansas City Chiefs

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During the middle of the draft, Royals spent a decent amount of time listed as one of the “best available” prospects, waiting as he slid a bit more than some draft experts had predicted — there were those who believed he might be a Day 2 selection, likely in the third round.

All the waiting, though, paid off with getting selected by the Chiefs.

Not only is Royals going to Kansas City, one of the most consistently successful franchises in the game right now, but it appears he’ll have an opportunity to contribute early in his career.

The Chiefs have a mix of veteran and young receivers on their roster, with older guys such as JuJu Smith-Schuster and Marquise Brown mixed in with young ones such as Rashee Rice and Xavier Worthy.

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Royals could be someone who helps stretch the field for Kansas City, a need for the Chiefs in the passing game. There have been some who pointed out similarities between Royals and Rice, the third-year wideout who had 937 receiving yards and seven touchdowns as a rookie in 2023 before missing most of last season due to an injury incurred in Week 4.

“His game is very similar to Rashee’s,” director of player personnel Ryne Nutt said of Royals, according to ESPN. “He’s got big hands, strong hands, and he’s very good after the catch.

“[Run after the catch] is a big part of our offense. That’s something we look for in receivers. We look for speed. The kid had that 4.40 [40-yard dash at the scouting combine]. We look for strength, and he has that. Then we look for route running and that’s probably an area where Rashee had to kind of develop a little bit, so we kind of thought they were similar in that respect.’’

The seventh-rounder: Caleb Lohner

• Former Utah tight end (also Utah, BYU and Wasatch Academy basketball forward)

• Drafted seventh round, 241st overall by Denver Broncos

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Lohner is one of the more intriguing Day 3 selections from this year’s draft after he pursued football during his final collegiate season while also hooping it up for the Utes following two years each at BYU and Baylor.

Lohner’s matchup with Broncos coach Sean Payton makes the Denver selection especially interesting.

Payton helped turn former NFL tight end Jimmy Graham into a five-time Pro Bowler. Graham played basketball at Miami before joining football during a grad season in 2009, then he was drafted by the New Orleans Saints and shined under Payton.

Now, the 6-foot-7 Lohner has the chance to be the next one to go from college basketball to a pro football career — a path that’s rare but has been successfully traversed most successfully by guys like Antonio Gates and Graham.

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Lohner only caught four passes last year for Utah, though all of them went for touchdowns.

Even in limited action in football, which included working out at the Big 12 Pro Day, Payton saw enough in Lohner to want to bring him on board.

“You can see the basketball skill set, that’s easy, at a high level. Then you’re looking at a small amount of playing time and yet enough to where you’re watching them,” Payton said of Lohner, per NFL.com.

“I think the other thing that helped was watching him at the Big 12 Pro Day. There were just a few plays that you see movement skills and it’s a lot to work with. If it turns out like the last one did (Graham), then we’d be really excited.”

Undrafted free agent: Junior Tafuna

• Former Utah and Bingham High defensive tackle

• Signed as undrafted free agent by Houston Texans

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There were several prognosticators who believed Tafuna could be a Day 3 selection, but he never heard his name called during the draft.

That might be a blessing in disguise, as he heads to a Houston team looking to build some younger depth at defensive tackle behind veteran Mario Edwards Jr. and Sheldon Rankins.

“The Texans signed Rankins in free agency, and re-signed Mario Edwards, so the need isn’t immediate. But Houston has wanted to get younger at defensive tackle for the past two years, and finding one in the draft will help,” the Houston Chronicle’s Jonathan M. Alexander wrote before the draft.

Houston used a seventh-round selection on former Rutgers defensive tackle Kyonte Hamilton, but Tafuna was the team’s only UDFA addition at the position.

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That should give Tafuna chances to stand out, and head coach DeMeco Ryans already commented on what he’s seen from the Utah talent after the team’s rookie minicamp.

“Yeah, the thing I saw with Tafuna is a really big, strong guy,” Ryans said, according to KPRC 2’s Aaron Wilson. “He’s very versatile. I like him in the run game and in the pass game. I think he does both. Young guy who can come in and add some depth to our interior defensive line.”

Undrafted free agent: Jakob Robinson

• Former BYU, Utah State and Orem High defensive back

• Signed as undrafted free agent by San Francisco 49ers

The 5-foot-11 Robinson wasn’t expected to be a draft pick, but he did agree to terms with the 49ers soon after the draft, per reports.

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San Francisco used a third-round pick on another cornerback, Western Kentucky’s Upton Stout, but Robinson is the only other rookie corner the 49ers brought in during draft weekend.

One of San Francisco’s needs this offseason has been to add cornerback depth, while many are penciling in Stout as the team’s starting nickelback.

Pro Football Focus highlighted Robinson as the 49ers’ undrafted free agent “to watch” this offseason.

“Robinson earned a 65.0-plus PFF coverage grade in all but one of his four seasons at BYU, and he didn’t allow a passer rating above 100.0 in coverage in any of those campaigns,” PFF’s Ben Cooper wrote.

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“In the Cougars’ bowl-game win over Colorado, he limited LaJohntay Wester and Jimmy Horn Jr. to two catches for 3 yards. And Arizona’s Tetairoa McMillan, the No. 8 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, didn’t secure a catch when matched up with Robinson in BYU’s Week 7 win.”

Robinson will also share the field and be able to learn from another BYU legend, Fred Warner, who recently again became the highest paid linebacker in the NFL with a reported three-year, $63 million contract extension.

There’s a quiet reverence on set of “The Chosen.” Soft whispers and the smack of strappy sandals against the ground are the only noises that come from the 600 background actors filming in Goshen, Utah, in mid-May.

The silence is broken by an assistant director who calls, “Background rolling!” through a megaphone. Hundreds of background actors shuffle back into place, and the sound of chirping birds still rings through.

The scene being shot — which will appear in Season 6 of “The Chosen” — depicts a confrontation between Roman soldier Atticus (Elijah Alexander) and the Pharisee Yanni (Wasim No’mani).

It needs to be reshot. Fluctuating weather and lighting are to blame this time, but it typically takes between one and seven takes to get a scene right.

Adjustments are made for lighting control and the show goes on. Lead actors play their parts while hundreds of extras, the bulk of whom are unpaid fans of “The Chosen,” fill the background with choreographed chaos.

After a couple more shoots, the scene is successfully completed. Hundreds of background actors erupt in applause.

“We’re not used to finishing a shot and having applause,” Dallas Jenkins told the Deseret News while filming on set in Goshen.

For three weeks, a rotation of 600 unpaid extras were on set of “The Chosen,” filming scenes for Season 6. All of these extras are fans of the show and enjoy the opportunity to be part of its creation in exchange for making a donation — after all, “The Chosen” is a crowd-funded series.

When these fan extras are on set, “there’s a ton more joy,” Jenkins said. “Every time they’re here, it gives everybody, the cast and crew, a little bit of a better recharge.

“It‘s very authentic that people are so excited to be here and so excited to be part of it,” he continued. “The scenes, I think, take on a life of their own.”

Filming ‘The Chosen’ in Utah

Filming for “The Chosen” Season 6 is split mostly between a set in Midlothian, Texas and the set in Goshen, Utah — a small town on the southwest edge of Utah County.

Construction on the Utah replica of Jerusalem began in 2010. The set, which is officially called the Motion Picture Studio South Campus, is owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

“The Chosen” has used the set for filming since Season 2.

“You can tell that the people who built this set cared about every detail, and so do we,” Jenkins said. “When you’re working on a set that‘s this rich and clearly built with honor and respect for the story and authenticity, it inspires me to do the same.”

Cast and crew from “The Chosen” spent three weeks filming scenes for Season 6 in Goshen in May. They’ll soon head to Italy to shoot the final scenes.

While still in Utah, a few scenes will be shot on off-set locations such as at the Little Sahara Sand Dunes in Juab County and the Bonneville Salt Flats in Tooele County.

“The first time I saw (the Goshen set), I couldn’t believe the scope and the scale of it. … It‘s just extraordinary,” Karla Cameron, a paid background actor for “The Chosen” told the Deseret News.

“I‘ve actually visited Israel and been to Jerusalem and seen the sites. They’ve done an excellent job of recreating this in the middle of beautiful Utah.”

‘The Chosen’ fans are co-creators

When Jenkins released Season 1 of “The Chosen,” he didn’t anticipate how large the biblical drama’s fan base would be.

“I didn’t know that there would be any fans,” he said.

Now, more than 280 million viewers in 175 countries have seen “The Chosen” and more than $43.3 million has been fundraised to put the sixth season of the series in front of audiences, per the official “Chosen” site. The bulk of that money comes from fans.

Ahead of filming the Sermon on the Mount scene in Season 2, Jenkins found a way to involve fans who’d made donations to funding the series, while simultaneously benefiting its creation.

“The Chosen” didn’t have the “ability to bring in thousands of people” to form the massive audience gathered around Jesus during the Sermon on the Mount.

So Jenkins came up with a solution. “We thought, ‘Well, the fans would love to be here. They’re willing to support the show. Maybe in exchange for their donation, we could give them an opportunity to be here.’”

Fans of the series travelled great distances — some from foreign countries — and bought their own costumes so they could be part of “The Chosen” experience.

Now nearly six seasons into the series, fans of “The Chosen” continue to show up.

“The fans have always been co-creators of the show. We’re a free show. The majority of our income is generated by donations, by fans choosing to give in some way to the show,” Jenkins said. “I’ve always considered it to be a partnership. When they’re here on set, it‘s even more so because they’re literally part of the scene.”

He continued, “That‘s deepened my relationship with the fans. And I think them being here and seeing how hard everyone works to justify their faith in the project deepens their passion as well.”

Why extras make the trek to Goshen, Utah

The bulk of background actors won’t receive even a modest bit of screen time. They will blur and blend into the backdrop of the show.

But for these 600 extras, it‘s all about getting a taste of “The Chosen” experience and helping put it in front of a global audience.

Simona Pester travelled from Belfast, Northern Ireland, to blend into the background of “The Chosen” for the fifth consecutive time.

“I’m here … because I love the show. I think it‘s very well done, very well written,” Pester told the Deseret News while on set in Goshen. “I just love to be a part of it. It‘s great opportunity.”

She continued, “‘The Chosen’ is a way of people hearing the gospel across borders … and I want to support that. It‘s worth more to me than any possession or any riches. … I’m willing to give my treasures and possessions to support the show so that other people (can) have the real treasure.”

Karla Cameron, from Atlanta, shared similar motives for making the trek to Utah to be in “The Chosen.”

For Cameron, it‘s about supporting cast and crew of the series to bring the “story about Jesus Christ‘s life” to audiences.

“(’The Chosen’) is a way to access the information, because perhaps you’re not going to read the Bible, but you can see the story, and it will incentivize you to then maybe get a little deeper into the story by opening the Bible and reading it,” Cameron said. “I love it. I think it‘s amazing.”

She concluded, “I am definitely here for the word and for God’s word. … I love it so much.”

The last time Ruth Haws Pauni drove out to the lone cemetery in Utah’s remote and deserted Skull Valley, the tiki statues her family had placed there to guard their ancestors were still standing.

She remembers smiling as she walked past them on April 23, visiting her father’s gravesite two days before his birthday. Her nephew lovingly carved them to honor the generations of Pacific Islanders buried in this desolate place far from anywhere they had known.

In the early 1880s, their ancestors came to Utah from Hawaii to be part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and help build the faith’s temple in Salt Lake City. But when construction was done in 1889, faith leaders instructed them to leave for the isolated desert of Tooele County to start their own outpost, which they named Iosepa after church leader Joseph F. Smith, who had proselytized in Hawaii.

Haws Pauni felt like the wooden tikis were a beautiful nod to that history and culture.

A week after she last saw them, though, they were destroyed and left in pieces.

Someone came to the Iosepa cemetery— all that remains of the town that was ultimately abandoned in 1917 — and cut the statues down.

They chopped the tikis into chunks and stacked the pieces next to the fire pit at the site, where families gather each Memorial Day for a celebration and commemoration that includes cooking a pig over a traditional imu underground oven. The faces carved into the colorful statues were sliced down the center. The leaf crown that had been on one was torn apart.

The only sign that they had once stood were the clean-cut remnants of their bases, which had been cemented into the ground when Haws Pauni’s family originally installed them in May 2024 ahead of the annual gathering.

“They literally took a chain saw to it,” Haws Pauni said, choking back tears. “It just broke my heart.”

Haws Pauni, 52, said she’s glad that her mom got to see the tikis while they were still standing.

She had brought her mom, Vermine Haws — or “Tutu” as most know her, which is Hawaiian for “grandma”— with her last month to visit the grave of Paul Haws, who was Haws Pauni’s dad and Vermine’s husband.

Vermine, who is 87 and has dementia, sometimes asks for Paul, forgetting that he died and is buried there now. And so Haws Pauni drives her to the site when she can. Vermine joined in strumming her ukele as family members sang “Happy Birthday” to his headstone surrounded by seashells.

The family learned the tikis were gone on May 1, after several members of the Iosepa Historical Association had gone to the cemetery to prepare ahead of this year’s Memorial Day event and sent Haws Pauni pictures of the toppled remains.

Her brother, Brook, jumped on his motorcycle and raced out to Iosepa to see for himself. Haws Pauni cried.

Reporting the vandalism

Haws Pauni feels the destruction may have been “premeditated.” She said she hadn’t heard until after they were cut down that some families who have relatives in the Iosepa cemetery took issue with them.

The two tikis were crafted to represent Wahine and Kāne, woman and man, in the Hawaiian tradition. It took Haws Pauni’s nephew about 100 hours to carve them from a dark wood with help from his dad, using a stain to color their teeth.

The female tiki was about 4 feet tall, with the leaf crown. The male was about 5 feet tall, with a red-stained top. Next to them, a wooden sign also explained, “Guardians and protectors of our ancestors’ sacred land.”

The family had intended to install a nicer, more permanent metal sign but hadn’t yet finished it. The wooden one was also chopped down when the tikis were destroyed.

Ron Manuela, the president of the Iosepa Historical Association, said he’d recently heard from a handful of members who “made their thoughts known” that having the tikis at the cemetery was, they felt, in bad taste.

“I was surprised that people had objections to it,” he said. “But they didn’t feel that was appropriate out there.”

Manuela said that ancestors in the past would make tikis when they lived in Hawaii and believed in many gods. He noted they are part of their heritage and on display, for instance, at Hawaii’s Polynesian Cultural Center.

But some community members, he said, felt that having tikis conflicted with their ancestors’ decision to switch to Christianity, and particularly at Iosepa, to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

“They just didn’t see there was room for both,” Manuela added.

It’s unclear why some took issue with the tikis when a separate metal-and-cement warrior statue has long watched over the site without complaint, he said. A new lei is placed around its neck each Memorial Day.

“Their native songs and dances filled this beautiful valley, which they made bloom as a rose with love and aloha,” the memorial below it reads.

There’s also a plaque recognizing the work of Hawaiian women’s suffragist Hannah Kaaepa, who is buried there, that Manuela said hasn’t drawn ire.

During the annual gathering on Memorial Day, families clean each grave at the cemetery, pulling the weeds that have cropped up since the previous year. They also place seashells and Hawaiian flags around the headstones and lay down traditional tapa cloths, woven from the bark of the paper mulberry trees in the Pacific Islands.

They sing Hawaiian songs and hold a Sunday service in line with the LDS Church.

Haws Pauni said tikis have historically watched over sacred sites, and that was the family’s only intention. “It’s not like we’re suggesting a return to paganism,” she said. “These were made with love. They were made with the most beautiful love. … It was just there as a symbol of our love for our ancestors.”

Manuela said he does not know who cut down the tikis, but he believes they should be held responsible. He has reported the vandalism to the Tooele County Sheriff’s Office, which confirmed to The Salt Lake Tribune that it is currently investigating.

Sgt. Brandon Light said the department believes the tikis were destroyed on April 30 or May 1, based on when people had last seen them standing and when the historical association documented they had been cut down.

“We’re still diving into it,” Light said. “It’s a ways out there, and it’s a lot to look into.”

The family’s history at Iosepa

The Iosepa cemetery is 46 miles from the closest major city of Tooele and 60 miles from Salt Lake City.

Before he died, that was something Paul Haws talked about often — feeling that it showed the tenacity of the Hawaiian Latter-day Saints who lived there.

“Finding a way to make their city grow, they went up here in the mountains and poured cement ditches to get the water to run down,” he said in a video recorded in May 2023, the last time he went to Iosepa before he died in October of that year.

He was 89 years old then and still working hard to clean the graves like he had done for about 70 years before. Family photos show him with a huge smile, gloves on his hands and spots of dust on his knees from bending down in the desert dirt.

Haws wasn’t Hawaiian — his daughter Haws Pauni describes him as a red-headed, blue-eyed Utah cowboy. But he met his wife, Vermine, in Hawaii in the early 1950s when he was stationed there during his military service.

Paul and Vermine married as teenagers and moved to Utah together, running a farm below West Mountain in Utah County. Vermine is a direct descendant of the Iosepa ancestors, and the two raised their children to understand that history.

Paul was particularly devoted to Iosepa, Haws Pauni said, and actually started the tradition of cleaning the graves when he brought his children to do it each year. He wanted them to know where they came from and to respect their ancestors. Their mom also taught them to dance hula and about the Hawaiian way of being.

Haws Pauni remembers visiting Iosepa every summer, getting eaten by gnats and sunburned as they removed the tall yellow grasses and thistles around headstones; soon, other families started joining.

“That’s something that was instilled in us,” she said. “We came here to honor our ancestors and clean up for them.”

After a time, though, as they grew up, she and her siblings stopped going. And, she said, her dad pleaded with them to return and bring their kids so it wouldn’t be forgotten.

Haws Pauni started going again in 2023, not knowing it would be her dad’s last time. She remembers him joking that he needed to give the younger generations a reason to visit. And so he declared then that he would be buried at Iosepa.

In October 2023, a week after he died, the family gathered there for his funeral. It was a beautiful mix, she said, of military, Hawaiian and Latter-day Saint traditions.

“Iosepa is even more important to us now because our papa is buried there,” Haws Pauni said. “It was just such a special place, and we pulled ourselves back into it.”

It was shortly after that, she said, that her nephew started working on the tikis.

Now it’s unclear, she said, if he will come out to the cemetery for the Memorial Day gathering this year; he is devastated. He declined to speak with The Tribune but agreed to be identified as a grandson of Paul and Vermine Haws.

‘We will go there with aloha’

Manuela said he’s not sure yet what the Iosepa Historical Association will do with the tikis. He’s still talking with the family to see what they want, including piecing them back together, making new ones or removing them altogether.

As of now, he said, he’s leaving the bases that mark where they stood until a decision is made.

He wishes, though, that instead of someone destroying the statues that the community could’ve come together and talked about what was best for everyone.

Haws Pauni agrees. And she said she is ready to forgive whoever cut them down.

“I was super angry at first,” she said, “but the more I learn about it, the more I think these are imperfect humans.”

She said she still plans to attend the Memorial Day gathering with her husband, kids and Vermine, who she plans to drive up from St. George. She hopes her mom doesn’t cry when she realizes the tikis are missing.

“We will go there with aloha. We will go there with love,” she said. “We’ll still go and honor our dad.”

Note to readers • This is part of a collaborative project between The Salt Lake Tribune and the Highland High School Rambler. Read more here.

The modern world is full of connection. In each person’s pockets is a tiny little box that shrinks the globe and gives access to the entire world anytime anywhere.

Never before have people been able to experience the troubles of the world at such a young age before they fully know how to carry it.

This leads to a lot of anger and despair amongst younger people.

But feeling that anger and despair also gives people — like Highland senior Ali Jadallah — more motivation to cry out against injustice in the world. He has turned to social media to spread awareness about the war in Gaza and the consequences that it’s been having on the people there.

“You couldn’t give someone a piece of paper and then somehow the entirety of the United States would see that,” Jadallah said. “But now you can make a post, and the entirety of the world can see that post.”

This ability has only come about in the last 20 years, and even then, social media didn’t come close to possessing the global hold that it does now until the last 15 years.

These are uncharted waters.

Jadallah believes that this ability to connect is a good thing because it allows voices to be heard. And young people like Jadallah are looking for places from which to shout.

“It just really allows people to get their voices out now,” Jadallah said. “I think the fact that people around the world can see what’s happening on the other side of the world, that’s a good thing. The spread of information is good.”

It’s humanizing, he said.

“You feel much more connected to something if you actually see it happening with your own eyes,” Jadallah said. “You can see a news article and be like, ‘Oh, 20 dead in a house fire.’ But if you actually saw a video of someone in that house fire with the house burning down and their final moments, you’re going to feel much more impacted if you saw that video rather than just read[ing] a random news article.”

But as information is spread, misinformation soon follows. Through social media, misinformation spreads like wildfire through the masses.

“Certain people aren’t open to all viewpoints and all kinds of information and stuff like that,” Jadallah said. “They only want to see stuff that fits their narrative, and social media is a big part of that. There‘s a bunch of people that will spread misinformation and claim it to be true just because it fits their certain narrative.”

It’s a unique problem to the modern world, and one that Jadallah believes carries a simple fix.

“Just get educated,” Jadallah said. “Someone could see a news article that says the sky is purple, and they won’t go out to go look if the sky is purple. They’ll be like, ‘Oh my God, the sky is purple. What should we do?’ People, before they wholeheartedly believe anything they see, just need to go do their own research. Like actually read into things, get their own opinions and their own basis actually built off of information and actual evidence. Not opinions, evidence.”

Jadallah believes that getting your voice out and making a change are two very different things, which is why he also recommends getting involved in the community and reaching out to those in power.

“The government is literally built off of ‘We the People,’” Jadallah said. “I feel like people need to get more involved. People need to go to our representatives and stuff like that and actually push things that we need to see change in.”

Luca DiGregorio is a senior at Highland High School and is editor-in-chief at The Rambler, his high school newspaper. After graduating, he plans to pursue journalism. When he’s not reporting, he can be found at any number of coffee shops reading and enjoying the world around him.

Elyse Martin-Smith began meeting with her classmates at Harvard University last summer to plan the annual Black student graduation hosted by a campus group she leads.

The ceremony was set to be a celebration of Black culture, featuring musicians, poetry readings, messages about the historic struggle for racial equality, and a speech by Nikole Hannah-Jones, the creator of the “1619 Project,” Martin-Smith said.

Students had reserved Harvard Memorial Church on campus for the event, she said.

But in early May, Martin-Smith said she received an email from university officials saying she would not be allowed to host the Black graduation on campus.

Harvard is among several universities across the country that have canceled affinity graduations amid threats from President Donald Trump to block medical research funding and revoke accreditation from schools that don’t end diversity, equity and inclusion practices. Trump decries these programs as “illegal and immoral discrimination.”

Affinity graduations are optional events typically led by students to celebrate different student identities and ethnicities. Commonly held ceremonies often honor Black, Hispanic, Asian, first-generation and LGBTQ+ students. Students say the events are significant because they honor the music, apparel, food, history, language and traditions unique to their identity.

Harvard and other elite universities have also clashed with Trump over his demands for crackdowns on student protests, including pro-Palestinian demonstrations and purported antisemitism.

The lost support for affinity graduations — coming just weeks before most universities were set to hold their commencement events — left some students scrambling to find ways to still host the events.

Martin-Smith said she was “disappointed but not surprised” when the school canceled the Black student graduation hosted by her group, Harvard Undergraduate Black Community Leaders.

In late April, Harvard announced it was renaming its diversity, equity, and inclusion office and rescinding all funding from affinity group commencement celebrations. The move came after the Trump administration froze $2.2 billion in federal funding for Harvard when the Ivy League school initially said it would not follow policy demands from the administration.

“This isn’t the first time the university has catered to PR (public relations) concerns rather than student concerns,” Martin-Smith said.

Martin-Smith was determined to hold the Black graduation and spent time between finals study sessions calling venues to secure a space off campus, she said.

She ultimately found a venue and obtained support from the Black Graduate Student Alliance and the Harvard Black Alumni Society. The event will be held on May 27 and will still feature a similar program to the initial event, Martin-Smith said.

“It’s an undue burden that continues to be placed upon Black students to create the change that we want to see,” Martin-Smith said.

Students at the University of Kentucky faced a similar dilemma when the school announced earlier this year it was canceling all affinity graduations.

“Following a number of federal and state policy changes and directives, the university will no longer host identity-based or special-interest graduation celebrations,” university spokesperson Jay Blanton said in a statement. “In the past, these were held outside of our official commencement ceremonies as optional celebrations and social events. We will continue to comply with the law, while celebrating all students and their distinctive achievements at our official commencement ceremonies.”

Kristopher Washington, a University of Kentucky graduate, said he was disappointed to learn that there would no longer be a Black student graduation on campus — an event he had looked forward to throughout his college career.

Washington collaborated with his fraternity brothers from Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. to find an off-campus venue where they could still host a cultural graduation for their peers.

He secured support from the Lyric Theatre & Cultural Arts Center in Lexington, where they held the event dubbed “Senior Salute,” Washington said.

The ceremony was open to all graduates and Washington’s fraternity encouraged students to wear items signifying their identity or culture.

“I feel it’s important to show that there are people coming from other places, underprivileged areas and many different backgrounds and struggles and still making it over to UK (University of Kentucky) and still getting their degree,” Washington said. “It’s a tremendous achievement.”

‘Giving us a space to celebrate’

One expert said graduations celebrating students’ ethnic identities are important because most main commencement celebrations have European roots.

Antar Tichavakunda, an assistant professor of race and higher education at the University of California, Santa Barbara, pointed out that “Pomp and Circumstance” — a song commonly played at graduations — is by English composer Edward Elgar. He also noted that the tradition of wearing graduation gowns originated in Europe during medieval times.

Many Black graduations have embraced Black culture by incorporating West African drums, strolling by Black Greek letter organizations, and featuring guest speakers who understand the Black experience, Tichavakunda said.

“Giving us a space to celebrate like we’d like to and not be policed, play music that feels more affirming and culturally responsive in a smaller setting really just makes that moment of completing a degree that much sweeter,” said Tichavakunda, who is also author of “Black Campus Life: The Worlds Black Students Make at a Historically White Institution.”

“It definitely speaks to pride and not having to dim part of your identity to be palatable to others.”

‘We stand up and stand strong’

Members of the LGBTQ+ community have also seen their traditional Lavender Graduations canceled at schools across the country due to anti-DEI policies at both the state and federal levels.

Last year, Utah Republican Gov. Spencer Cox signed a bill banning diversity, equity and inclusion programs from higher education, the public education system and government employers.

Jacey Thornton, executive director of Project Rainbow Utah, said that the law led to the closure of resource centers focused on gender, race and identity at colleges and universities. It also meant that universities would no longer support the Lavender Graduations that celebrate the achievements of LGBTQ+ graduates.

Thornton said Project Rainbow helped LGBTQ+ students at Weber State University and the University of Utah find ways to gather with their community.

For example, Thornton said Project Rainbow sponsored an event at a church for the University of Utah’s LGBTQ+ community where they hung pride flags and graduates wore the lavender stoles and rainbow tassels that are traditionally worn at Lavender Graduations on college campuses. Students from Westminster University and Salt Lake Community College were also invited, she said.

It’s important for LGBTQ+ students to be able to celebrate their graduation in a space where they feel welcome and embraced, Thornton said, who graduated with a master of social work from Weber State this spring.

“We are holding space to celebrate the obstacles we have overcome as queer people,” Thornton said. “It’s important that we stand up and stand strong. A lot of us lose biological family in the process of transitioning or coming out as queer. This supports that space for us to come together and find a new chosen family.”

Tichavakunda said universities’ withdrawal of support from affinity groups signals to students that they should consider schools that fully embrace their identity and offer programs to help them navigate college. For Black students, he recommended considering HBCUs.

Students who choose to attend universities despite the loss of DEI practices will need to work harder to preserve cultural traditions, Tichavakunda said.

“For future classes, I think this administration is forcing students and faculty to think creatively beyond the university and work around it,” he said. “But I don’t think this will be the end of culturally specific graduations. I just think it might be the end of universities supporting them.”

By THEO LLOYD-HUGHES

Associated Press

Barbra Banda scored the fastest hat trick in National Women’s Soccer League history on Friday night as the Orlando Pride snapped a three-game winless streak with a 3-1 victory at the Utah Royals.

The Zambian national scored three goals in the first 38 minutes of the match for the first hat trick in team history and also the first by an African player in the NWSL.

“Priority was to come away with three [points] before we go into the international break,” Pride coach Seb Hines said. “I think in our recent games, we have played well but we haven’t really gotten the results. We wanted to make sure we performed and got the result. It is great to come away from this game with three points with a nice 3-1 victory.”

Banda scored her first goal at America First Field in the sixth minute with a close-range finish from Ally Watt’s pass.

After Utah’s Brecken Mozingo tied the game in the 14th minute, Banda put the Pride (6-3-1) back in front 2-1 when she intercepted a pass, dribbled beyond Royals goalkeeper Mandy McGlynn and slotted the ball into the open net in the 37th minute.

Banda made it 3-1 a minute later with a well-struck low shot that skipped off the grass and past McGlynn from 14 yards out.

Banda is tied for the most goals in the NWSL this season with seven.

Utah (1-7-2) has one draw and four defeats in its last five games.

Up next …

Orlando vs. Houston

WHEN: June 7, 7 p.m., Inter&Co Stadium

TV: NWSL+