Three San Diego State players announced Thursday on social media that they will be entering the transfer portal.

The biggest loss is starting wide receiver Jordan Napier, a redshirt freshman from Fontana who had a breakout season for the Aztecs.

SDSU backup quarterback Javance Tupou’ata-Johnson and reserve running back Jaylon Armstead also announced that they will be entering the portal.

The Aztecs now have a dozen players from the 2024 team who have indicated they are entering the portal, which opens Monday.

Napier had 43 receptions for 440 yards and four touchdowns this season. He caught passes of at least 29 yards in six different games. He had catches of at least 40 yards in four games, displaying a go-get-the-ball ability that made him one of SDSU starting quarterback Danny O’Neil’s favorite targets.

Tupou’ata-Johnson, a redshirt freshman from Oakland, started against Cal after O’Neil suffered a knee injury the previous week against Oregon State. He completed 13 of 29 passes for 156 yards and a touchdown with two interceptions. Tupou’ata-Johnson played in parts of three other games, finishing the season 20-for-39 for 222 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions.

Armstead, a senior from Los Angeles, played only in the season’s first three games, rushing 13 times for 42 yards. He can redshirt and have one more year of eligibility. After rushing 103 times for 448 yards and eight touchdowns in 2023, Armstead was used sparingly this season playing behind starter Marquez Cooper and backup Cam Davis.

While SDSU was a disappointing 3-9 this season, the Aztecs had several young players like Napier who had notable seasons.

Sophomore edge Trey White led the nation in sacks for much of the season. He finished with 12 1/2 sacks, which is tied for third on SDSU’s single-season list.

Sophomore linebacker Tano Letuli and junior cornerback Chris Johnson were the team’s top tacklers. Safety Eric Butler and offensive lineman Ross Ulugalu-Maseuli also played well enough to draw attention to themselves.

There has been concern about losing the players in the portal just like last year, when SDSU had 11 players (of 37 who entered the portal) move on to Power Four schools.

Most of the players are believed to be staying, according to sources. Obviously, Napier’s departure means the Aztecs won’t be holding onto all of them.

And, there’s one big qualifier — saying you’re staying today doesn’t mean you won’t be enticed to leave tomorrow.

For example, former SDSU offensive lineman Drew Azzopardi told coaches he was staying following the 2023 season. Days later, Azzopardi hit the portal and went to Washington. He started at right tackle this season for the Huskies.

Players can have their names entered into the transfer portal until Dec. 28.

“There’s been a handful of guys that have jumped in,” SDSU coach Sean Lewis said. “There’s other guys that are still on the fence.

“The majority of the guys have said that they believe in what we’re doing. They see the clear vision and are going to finish what they started.”

Those comments came Tuesday morning, when Lewis was discussing SDSU’s 18-man 2025 signing class.

Lewis said he had conducted exit interviews with 40 players, half the team with remaining eligibility, and at that point only two players in those discussions indicated they were going to transfer.

Lewis had 14 scholarships “in my back pocket right now” out of 85 allowed by the NCAA. Make that 17 scholarships now.

“I still have the rest of this week to go through final exit interviews with the second half of the team,” Lewis said Tuesday. “Just through the natural course of events, there’s still probably going to be a few more guys that come in and tell me that they have other ideas for what’s going on. Or they’re going to tell me they’re going to stay. …

“Everyone that you bring into the program better be providing tremendous value and doing it at a championship level because that’s what the expectation is.”

SDSU brought in 18 transfers last year during the winter portal period (and eight more following April’s spring portal period), though nearly two weeks passed before the Aztecs began plucking players from the portal to fill out the roster.

They expect to act more quickly after the portal opens on Monday.

“We’re going to be active,” Lewis said. “We’re going to be busy. Again, you’ve got to work quick in this day and age. We’re going to hit the ground running.”

Quarterback will be among the positions SDSU coaches will be eyeing in the portal.

“It will be something that we’ll look at,” Lewis said. “We’re going to be looking at evaluating the talent in all position groups, and if we find the right one when it comes to quarterback play, we’re going to do that.”

Tupou’ata-Johnson’s departure is expected to leave SDSU with only three quarterbacks — O’Neil, who earned the starting job last season as a true freshman, junior Kyle Crum and incoming freshman JP Mialovski.

AJ Duffy, a sophomore transfer from Florida State who was among last year’s transfers, was suspended was third on the depth chart in October when he was “suspended from team activities indefinitely” for an undisclosed reason.

Duffy was not reinstated before the season ended and is not expected to return.

Originally Published: December 5, 2024 at 4:49 PM PST