By Austin Turner — Columnist
While many speculated a retooling year for San Jose State football in 2020, the program’s signing day class says otherwise.
Head coach Brent Brennan and the staff are putting together a roster that can cause some serious damage in the Mountain West.
Most holes left by departures from last year’s surprise 5-7 season have been filled. Of the 21 new faces, six are community college or graduate transfers, with many expected to slide into starting roles immediately.
What sticks out about those six is that they clearly fill the biggest needs in the Spartan lineup.
The headliner is, of course, graduate transfer quarterback Nick Starkel.
The former-Arkansas signal-caller’s past is well documented. He struggled last season on a sub-par team. But it’s clear that he’s excited to prove the doubters wrong, and he’s going to be able to step right in and fill the void left by a Spartan great.
“One of the main goals I have is to build on Josh Love’s legacy,” Starkel said. “I would love to just build on what Josh has done in the past season.”
Brennan made it clear: there will be a QB competition in spring camp. But there’s no reason to doubt that Starkel is the front-runner. Nick Nash showed promise last season, but an extra season of development can’t hurt.
With the departures of three-year starting left guard Troy Kowalski and one-year Spartan right tackle Quinn Oseland, there are some obvious spots open at the offensive line.
SJSU added just two recruits to the o-line. You can take that one of two ways, either the staff is confident in the current bunch, or it was more concerned with the other side of the ball.
Brennan took the former side.
“There’s a lot of young players that are freshmen or sophomores at that position group,” he said. “They’re going to have spring practice to battle that out.”
Independence (KS) College transfer junior Lamar Barrett played right guard for the Pirates last season. Expect him to compete for both guard positions in the spring.
Keydrell Lewis is the other lineman, coming from Mallard Creek High School in North Carolina. He is an absolute stud at right tackle. At 6-foot-6 and 320 lbs., expect him to be a difference-maker sometime in the future. But for now, the right tackle spot will be a battle between sophomores Anthony Pardue and Jaime Navarro.
But enough of offense. The Spartans are going for blood on the defensive side of the field.
15 of the 21 signees play defense. The coaching staff recognized the weakness of last year’s team and sought to rectify it immediately.
The Spartans ranked 125th of 130 teams in the nation last year in run defense. They allowed 232 yards per game on the ground. It cost them games.
Size on the defensive line was clearly a focal point in this recruiting period. Players like Soane Toia (6-foot-1, 190 lbs.), Jay Kakiva (6-foot-5, 325 lbs.) and Noah Wright (6-foot-5, 315 lbs.) will surely be run-stuffing interior linemen.
But stopping the run wasn’t the coaching staff’s only priority.
Dion Leonard is a local product that will surely excite as soon as this season. Coming from Foothill college, Leonard is a former safety that transitioned to an EDGE rushing linebacker. He has track-star speed and should join Rahyme Johnson on the pass rush.
The strategy behind this class is telling.
The Spartans got better in areas that they needed to get better at. They got an experienced QB. The o-line shouldn’t skip a beat and the run defense will be improved.
But what matters the most is that this coaching staff went young. There are only six upper-classmen of the 21 recruits. What does this mean?
The staff is confident with what it already has. And after last season’s success, let them do their thing.
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