SAN DIEGO -- The San Diego State football team practiced for the final time before Saturday’s Fan Fest on Friday, getting in important work before making the short trek to Snapdragon Stadium.
Practicing in only helmets under sunny skies and temperatures in the upper 70s, the Aztecs worked for just over 40 minutes on the practice turf field before moving over to the grass field for the final 55 minutes.
SDSU did mostly individual drills and special teams work for the first half of practice on the turf, eventually working 1-on-1 drills, skelly, pass rush and more special teams drills on the grass. San Diego State ended with a spirited 25 minutes of team situations and executions, and 1-minute situations.
Friday was the eighth of 20 practices scheduled this fall before game week begins on Aug. 25 for the Aug. 31 opener against Texas A&M - Commerce.
“We say all the time that practice repetition is game reality,” head coach Sean Lewis said. “If you’re not practicing for one reason or another, I get that, but don’t tell me you’re a gamer and you’re going to just show up and the lights are going to come on and you’re going to start making plays. I don’t believe in that. Those guys stand next to me on the sidelines. I trust and believe in the guys who do it day in, day out consistently so when we turn on the tape, that is your resume. What we are putting on tape, that’s what gameday is going to be. The jerseys will change. They’ll get a little bit fancier, there will be more people in the stands and the logos will change on the field, but at the end of the day the way we attack each and every single day and what we put on tape, that’s who we’re going to be come gameday. Practice should feel like a game.”
One of the most innovative minds in college football, Lewis brings an extensive résumé to San Diego State, having served as head coach at Kent State from 2018-22 before spending the 2023 campaign as offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach at Colorado under head coach Deion Sanders. He has also witnessed great success as a coordinator/assistant coach in stops at Syracuse (2016-17), Bowling Green (2014-15) and Eastern Illinois (2012-13).
Lewis likes the way transfer tight ends Jude Wolf (USC) and Michael Harrison (Colorado) have played so far in camp.
“They give us some real positional versatility,” Lewis said. “Mikey’s familiarity to the system (and) his background, more of wide receiver in space and then Jude, his mass, they have a thirst for the game. Coach (Ryan) Lindley is doing a great job teaching them the nuances of the position. They know how to do a lot of different things. That’s a group that when we are in 12 personnel, we kind of distribute those guys in a different way.”
Lindley, in his third full season as a coach at San Diego State, embraces his new role as the tight ends coach. Lindley, SDSU’s all-time passing leader, also serves as the team’s senior offensive analyst after previously working as a defensive analyst at Mississippi State (2021-22), an offensive analyst at Utah in 2020, the running backs coach for the Cleveland Browns toward the end of 2018 and their quarterbacks coach in 2019.
“I’ve got (the chance) to be around a lot of good tight ends and I reached out to some this summer,” Lindley said. “I’ve told our guys that they are stepping into a room that has a lot of tradition here at San Diego State. The Gavin Escobar’s, the Daniel Brunskill’s, the David Wells’, Kahale Warring, Rob Awalt, the list goes on and on. I try to remind them weekly in camp this is a group that has had a lot of tradition and success here. They have some big shoes to fill, regardless of whatever situation they get asked to do. They’ve done a pretty good job so far stepping up to that challenge in camp."
Harrison followed Lewis to San Diego State from Colorado, joining the program this summer. Harrison played all 36 games with the Buffaloes from 2021-23, breaking out last season to 31 catches for 284 yards and five touchdowns - the most ever by a Colorado walk-on.
“I think (Lewis) understands by skillset,” Harrison said. “If you look at our games last year, he did a good job of play calling to my strengths in certain situations, and that’s something I valued. And we had a good relationship on and off the field, and that was important for me going into my last year. Having a coach that believes in me and just play calling to my strengths, that’s something that as a player, you want to stay in (the system) for more than one year.”
Admission to Saturday’s Fan Fest is free but all fans need to claim their ticket in advance at https://goaztecs.com/fanfest. Parking is $10 and can be purchased while claiming free tickets.
The parking lot opens at 3 p.m. with the gates opening at 4 p.m. Kickoff is set for 5 p.m.
“It’s going to be awesome,” Lewis said earlier in the week. “The whole purpose of this is to get the team trained and I think Saturday is an awesome opportunity for the community to come out and see how hard these kids have been working. We also get to have a true pre-game routine, get to the stadium, have people in it, turn the lights on and see how guys react to how we can best simulate a gameday environment. We’ll learn a lot about our squad on Saturday.”
Free schedule posters will be available, while supplies last. There will also be a DJ playing music and a 360 photo booth, and several Aztec teams will be on the concourse teaching basic skills to kids.
Additionally, the team store and select concessions will be open with season-ticket holders getting 10 percent off.
Following the scrimmage, the selected football student-athletes will be available for autographs (one item only).
Claim your free tickets to Saturday’s Fan Fest.
Tickets are on sale for all six Aztec home games, including season tickets, two or three-game mini-plans and single-game tickets.
The Aug. 31 opener against Texas A&M - Commerce is set for 5 p.m. PT.