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San Diego State has quickly turned the page on a disappointing 2024 football season, with the focus shifting this week to player acquisition (and retention) for the 2025 season.
The NCAA’s early signing period begins on Wednesday. Five days later, the NCAA transfer portal opens.
SDSU coach Sean Lewis said by the end of the week he will speak with each player in the Aztecs’ program who still has eligibility remaining.
“The way I’m approaching it is we have 100-plus guys that are unrestricted free agents, and we’re going to have 100 unique conversations,” Lewis said. “That’s the nature of college football right now. … We’ll have a great idea of who on our roster is excited to build and create with us versus who thinks there’s greener grass at different pastures.”
National signing day
Lewis said he expects to sign 17-20 players during the 72-hour early signing window. SDSU has early commitments from 17 high school players.
The most recent announcement came Sunday, when 247Sports.com reported that Las Vegas Arbor View High School defensive lineman Brian Townsend committed to the Aztecs.
Townsend is a 6-foot-4, 230-pound three-star edge rusher who is rated the No. 9 prospect in Nevada.
SDSU’s early commitments include three local players — Mount Miguel High School wide receiver/defensive back Braylon Cardwell, Cathedral Catholic High School defensive lineman Sidney Dupuy and La Jolla High School offensive lineman Jett Thomas.
SDSU’s first commitment came in April, when Long Beach Millikan quarterback JP Mialovski revealed his decision on his social media. The 6-foot-2 Mialovski completed 62% of his passes the past two seasons for more than 4,000 yards with 46 touchdowns and 14 interceptions, according to MaxPreps,com.
SDSU had four other early commits change their minds, with two flipping to Power Four schools (Arkansas and Washington) and two going to Mountain West peers (Boise State and UNLV).
Transfer portal
SDSU had 46 players come and go through the transfer portal leading into the 2024 season. It would not be surprising to see similar movement between now and the 2025 season.
SDSU edge Ezekiel Larry kicked things off Monday when he announced on social media that he is entering the transfer portal.
Larry transferred to SDSU this past spring from Yale, where he was coming off a six-sack season. Larry had two tackles in seven games for the Aztecs.
SDSU had two dozen players enter the portal last season after Lewis was named coach. It included 11 players who signed with Power Four schools.
The Aztecs are concerned with losing several impact players once again. Lewis believes tampering has been going on, with several Aztecs players already contacted before placing their names in the portal.
“I’d probably say there’s a half dozen who have already been contacted,” Lewis said. “It’s the nature of the beast.”
Thirteen SDSU starters, counting special-teams players, have exhausted their eligibility.
The Aztecs face the challenge of trying to keep several other players with remaining eligibility, including at least six returning starters — edge Trey White, linebacker Tano Letuli, cornerback Chris Johnson, safety Eric Butler, wide receiver Jordan Napier and offensive lineman Ross Ulugalu-Maseuli — who could be tempted by Power Four opportunities.
Players have from Dec. 9-28 to enter their names in the transfer portal. A second portal window will open after spring practice, from April 16-25.
Last year, SDSU signed two dozen players between the two portal periods.
The new 12-team playoff extends the 2024 college football season to Jan. 20, 2025, when two teams will play for the national championship in Atlanta. SDSU’s spring semester begins the following day, so the Aztecs already will be into winter conditioning and building out their 2025 roster.
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