‘Stanford’s cool, but it’s not Utah State,’ NFL veteran Bobby Wagner tells USU grads

LOGAN — Faces brimming with optimism and pleasure crammed the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum Wednesday as over 6,300 college students graduated from Utah State University.

Marking the primary graduation ceremony of latest USU President Brad Mortensen’s tenure, graduates acquired the possibility to listen to from a real Aggie legend in NFL linebacker Bobby Wagner.

Throughout a profession that has spanned 14 seasons, Wagner has skilled immense particular person and collective success, being named a 10-time Pro Bowler, a six-time First-team All-Pro and Super Bowl XLVII champion.

Additionally, Wagner was named to the NFL’s All-Decade Team for the 2010s and, in 2025, was named because the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year, a prestigious award given yearly to at least one participant within the league whose influence reaches past the gridiron and into the group.

But earlier than he went on to change into a four-year starter, tie the all-time college report in tackles and lead USU to its first bowl look in 14 years, Wagner was near not being an Aggie.

He described being hesitant to decide to Utah State — a sense that was exacerbated on his go to to the college — principally due to the snow.

With USU being the one college to supply Wagner a scholarship, his mother gave him an ultimatum.

“She told me that I either accepted the scholarship or I wasn’t coming back home,” Wagner stated, drawing laughs from the gang. “I accepted the scholarship, and one of the things that taught me was, sometimes the place that you least expect to be is the place that you (are) exactly supposed to be. And ever since then, when I first stepped on campus as an Aggie, everyone, the students, the teachers, my coaches, they accepted me as one, and I felt the love and I felt the energy from Utah State.”

To today, Wagner stated he takes satisfaction in being a Utah State product, even saying he felt offended when individuals across the NFL would assume he went to the University of Utah or Brigham Young University.

He additionally took a while to espouse a bit {of professional} knowledge on the graduates, emphasizing the significance of networking — irrespective of the profession area.

“I walked into the locker room one day… and Richard Sherman and Doug Baldwin were talking about how great Stanford was, and they were talking about the connection they made at this event,” Wagner stated.

This motivated him to hunt related connections, finally main him to trace down USU alumnus Charlie Denson, who spent greater than 30 years at Nike, together with as Nike model president from 2001 to 2013.

This connection, Wagner stated, opened “so many doors” for him within the enterprise world.

“I truly believe that the Aggie alum and this Aggie family is something beautiful that we should appreciate, and we should really take into account, because they want to see you win, just like I want to see you guys win,” Wagner stated.

It was his subsequent line, although, that actually introduced the home down.

“It’s fun to be able to talk trash to every other school, like I tell them, ‘I don’t know, Stanford’s cool, but it’s not Utah State,’ you know what I mean?” Wagner stated.

“Congratulations on everything that you’ve accomplished so far, but understand it is just the beginning. You have so much to accomplish, and I believe that we will win,” Wagner concluded.