Predicting Utah’s Three Most Impactful Transfer Additions

On3’s Brett McMurphy recently released his top 10 most impactful Big 12 transfers for the 2026 season. The list was filled with mainly Oklahoma State and Texas Tech additions, and not a single Utah football transfer made the cut. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t impactful transfers on this year’s roster: WR Braden Pegan Utah successfully outbid several Big Ten suitors for Pegan when he entered the portal in December. And the coaching staff has already placed a lot on the junior. As one of the few players accustomed to the system that new OC Kevin McGiven runs, Pegan was asked to help bring along both the WR room and the offense as a whole during the winter and spring. Obviously, he did a good job at that, as he was named to the leadership council before spring ball. From a production standpoint, Pegan comes in after having a career-best season for Utah State. With 926 yards and five touchdowns on 60 receptions last season in this same offense, the expectation should be high for him coming into 2026. Utah hasn’t had a 1,000-yard receiver since 2013 when Dres Anderson crossed the elite mark. Can Pegan break the dry spell this fall? DT Lucas Samsula Utah’s run defense left a lot to be desired in the back half of the 2025 season. They retooled the room this offseason, and Samsula looks to be a massive (no pun intended) piece of the puzzle. Although Samsula’s stats aren’t the flashiest, he is focused and locked in on stopping the run. Samsula is the second biggest body in this tackle room. Having both him returner Karson Kaufusi are on the field at the same time, should cause some issues for opposing offensive lines. And with them occupying the offensive line, it might free up others on the defense to get into the backfield and cause some big-time havoc plays. CB Elijah Reed Reed still need to win the final starting corner spot for this fall, but his addition was key to the Utes’ corner room. Last season, the pass defense thrived on the speed of Scooby Davis and the length of Blake Cotton. With Cotton now with the Denver Broncos, the team needed to add some length to the room. Reed not only brings the length, but he also brings a sizable amount of experience with him. Last season, he recorded 47 tackles, two TFLs, one sack, one forced fumble, two picks, and four PBUs for Akron. Even though this is his first and only year with Utah, Reed understands how Sharrieff Shah develops high-level corners. With the right level of physicality, Reed can be an extremely hard corner to beat, and Utah will need that this fall. Not a subscriber? Sign up now to get access to everything UteZone has to offer, including daily content from the largest staff covering Utah athletics and access to the largest and most active community of Ute fans on the Web. Like us on Facebook. Follow us on X.