SDSU football team to hold annual Fan Fest Aug. 14

San Diego State University kicks off the 2025 football season on Thursday, Aug. 28, at Snapdragon Stadium with a non-conference game against the Stony Brook University Seawolves. Start time is to be announced.

The Seawolves are making the cross-country trek from their den in Long Island and should be hungry. The Aztecs are looking to continue improving under head coach Sean White, now in his second season with the team.

It should be an interesting matchup between fellow NCAA Division I teams, though at opposite ends of the spectrum. SDSU, 3-9 last season, competes at the Football Bowl Subdivision level while Stony Brook, 8-4 last year, competes at the Division I Football Championship Subdivision.

SDSU will host its annual Fan Fest scrimmage on Thursday, Aug. 14, at Snapdragon Stadium to serve as a season preview. Admission is free but all fans will need to claim their ticket in advance through a ticket app (https://am.ticketmater.com/sdsu/buy/AztecFanFest). Fans may claim up to four tickets. For additional tickets, call the Aztec Ticket office at (619) 283-7378.

Parking is $10.

The parking lot opens at 5 p.m. while gates to the stadium open at 6 p.m. Kickoff is set for 7:05 p.m.

The team store and select concessions will also be open.

Fans and season ticketholders will be able to get a first glimpse of this new SDSU unit before it formally opens the season. Lewis said he is looking forward to that as well.

“It will be an open scrimmage for all our fans to be able to come out to support this new Aztec team and be able to get a first glimpse, first look at what this team looks like in a full scrimmage opportunity,” Lewis said. “We’re also going to be showing off for the first time some new gameday experiences, introducing some new gameday traditions that’s going to make Snapdragon Stadium the place to be this fall. We want our fans to be a part of that little dress rehearsal, so two weeks from that date, we can have an awesome home experience.

“Loading up to this event, we are going to be doing some different giveaways to generate some excitement and some buzz around that night and the season.”

The buzz around the 2025 squad is already building from within the ranks.

“I think there’s a greater level of comfort and connection in the building than there was a year ago,” the SDSU head coach said. “I think just the time on task that we have had together that ultimately leads to confidence. I think that any time that you are confident is what you are doing, I know our kids and our staff believe in our process, and they’re trusting one another and, the work that’s getting done that’s ultimately going to yield a better product on the field and better results on the scoreboard.”

This is the Aztecs last season in the Mountain West Conference as the program transitions to the Pac-12 (or whatever number the rebuilt conference comes up with).

“We’re looking at all possibilities as we go,” Lewis said. “As we approach the upcoming season, with everything transitioning to the Pac-12, we’ll still be a 85 full scholarships. We’ll have 20 walk-on players, and there’s a great balance there within the locker room that we’ll continue to manage as more comes in the future, we’ll see where that brings.”

The focus, of course, remains on the upcoming season and a chance to do some damage in the MW standings as a send-off to a potentially greater future.

“I think continuity is a by-product of the day-to-day experiences that you have,” Lewis said. “We’ve had the good fortune of the majority of the retention of our roster, the majority of the guys that we’ve been ablt to keep tied together, and our leaders most importantly, too.

“A lot gets made of the doom and gloom of where we’re at in college football, and I think it’s an exciting opportunity to embrace and to lean into with everything that’s going on. We have an ascending university with an R1 institution. We have an athletic department that’s going to the Pac-12. That’s only going to benefit our program and all the (SDSU) programs, and as we continue to put a better product on the field. I know there’ll be more people in the community that will come out and support us, and that’s going to build and lead to momentum. That will lead to, ultimately, the continuity and retention of our roster year-in and year-out, and to be able to have the development over time that our fans and that the general public has become accustomed to.”

The Aztecs enter the 2025 season riding a six-game losing streak that saw the team drop from a 3-3 midseason record. Three losses, however, were by a combined nine points.

“We have a great collection of talent that’s becoming a team, and that team needs to learn how to win, and that’s what this time of year is for,” Lewis said. “That’s being focused and having great attention to detail, and taking ownership of all the things that we put down, (including) the good, the bad and the ugly.

“Right at the end of the day, you’re judged on your record, right. and so, 3-9 in never acceptable.”

Lewis said the process of coming together takes time, especially with 150 athletes and extended staff on board.

“It’s an everyday thing to make sure that each individual knows and understands that no one, including myself, is bigger than the program, and that in saying that, each individual matters. So that’s the dichotomy of balancing all this,” the SDSU field boss said. “How do you get these new staff members, how do you get these new players, how do you get everyone to align to a vision and get going the same direction? That’s what we’re here to do. Clearly, I didn’t do a good enough job of that last year in the office. But I promise you, no one has a higher standard, higher expectation of what Aztec football is going to be than me.”

Team leaders have already emerged after junior edge Trey White and senior kicker Gabe Plascencia were each named Mountain West preseason players of the year.

White, an Eastlake High School alumnus, was chosen as the preseason MW defensive player of the year, while Plascencia was selected as the special teams player of the year.
Tano Letuli, a South County native who played youth football for the Otay Ranch Broncos, joined White and Plascencia on the all-conference team. The preseason all-conference team is voted on by media representatives.

White has also been named to the Bronko Nagurski Trophy Watch List, one of just 11 defensive ends-edge rushers out of the 60 on the preseason list for the tropohy, which goes to the national defensive player of the year.

White was on the midseason watch list for last year’s Nagurski award. The former Titan totaled 60 tackles (40 unassisted, 18.5 tackles for loss (No. 1 in MW), No. 7 (tied) in FBS), 12.5 sacks (No. 1 in MW, No. 5 (tied) in FBS), two pass breakups and a forced fumble last season. White’s 12.5 sacks were tied for the third most in SDSU single-season history.

The four finalists for the Nagurski award will be announced in mid-to-late November. The winner will be announced Dec. 8 at an awards banquet.

Letuli, a team captain in 2024 along with White, led the Aztecs last season with 70 tackles despite missing two games with a broken hand.

An honorable mention pick in 2024, Letuli (Cathedral Catholic) had at least eight tackles in five games and seven in another two.

The Aztecs return seven of their nine all-conference performers from a year ago and have all 11 starters back on defense this season.

Plascencia, meanwhile, became SDSU’s third MW preseason special teams player of the year over the last four seasons (also kick returner/punt returner Jordan Byrd in 2022 and punter/kicker Jack Browning in 2023). Plascencia made 13 of 14 field goals last year for the best field goal percentage (.929) in program history.

The left-footed kicker from Oakland has made 12 consecutive field goals entering 2025, tied for the sixth-longest active streak in the country and the second longest by an Aztec since at least the 1996 season.

Plascencia was a second-team All-MW selection last year and is the third SDSU kicker to make an all-MW team — all since 2015 (also Donny Hageman in 2015 and John Baron II in 2017).

The Aztecs were picked to finish eighth in the preseason poll with 202 points — 11 behind Hawaii in seventh place and 37 points ahead of Utah State in ninth place.

Defending champion Boise State is predicted to win the league with 464 points, totaling 35 of the 39 first-place votes. UNLV is second with 415 points. San Joss State is third with 359 points, followed by Colorado State (326), Fresno State (301), Air Force (280), Hawaii (213), the Aztecs (202), Utah State (165), Wyoming (150), New Mexico (84) and Nevada (83).

SDSU SAN DIEGO COUNTY LOCALS

•Nathan Acevedo, junior wide receiver, Lincoln High (Fresno State)
•Marlon Ames, freshman defensive line, El Capitan High
•Isaiah Buxton, redshirt freshman cornerback, Mater Dei Catholic High
•Braylon Cardwell, freshman cornerback, Mt. Miguel High
•Byron Cardwell, Jr., senior running back, Morse High (Cal)
•Tyson Chavez. Junior long snapper, Mission Hills High
•Josiah Cox, junior safety, Lincoln High (New Mexico State)
•Sidney Dupuy, freshman defensive line, Cathedral Catholic High
•Xavier Hamlett, senior cornerback, Lincoln High (Grossmont College)
•Eemil Herranen, redshirt junior punter, Del Norte High (Northern Arizona)
•Jayden Kendricks, junior linebacker, Eastlake High
•Tano Letuli, junior linebacker, Cathedral Catholic High (Army)
•Jerry McClure, sophomore wide receiver, Mater Dei Catholic High (UCLA)
•Lucky Sutton, junior running back, Cathedral Catholic High
•Jett Thomas, freshman offensive line, La Jolla High
•Christian Washington, junior running back, Helix Charter High (Coastal Carolina)
•Trey White, junior EDGE, Eastlake High

San Diego State University
2025 Football Schedule
August
28: Stony Brook at SDSU, TBA
September
6: SDSU at Washington State, 7:15 p.m.
20: California at SDSU, 7:30 p.m.
27: SDSU at Northern Illinois, TBA
October
3: Colorado State at SDSU, 7:30 p.m.
11: SDSU at Nevada, 7:30 p.m.
25: SDSU at Fresno State, TBA
November
1: Wyoming at SDSU, 4 p.m.
8: SDSU at Hawaii, 8 p.m.
15: Boise State at SDSU, 7:30 p.m.
22: San Jose State at SDSU, TBA
28: SDSU at New Mexico, 12:30 p.m.
December
5: MW championship game, TBA

University of San Diego
2025 Football Schedule
August
30: Cal Poly at USD, 5 p.m.
September
6: Southern Utah at USD, 6 p.m.
13: USD at Montana State, TBA
20: USD at Princeton, TBA
27: St. Thomas at USD, 1 p.m.
October
4: USD at Marist, TBA
11: Drake at USD, 2 p.m.
25: USD at Davidson, 9 a.m.PT
November
1: Dayton at USD, 1 p.m.
8: USD at Valparaiso, TBA
15: Butler at USD, 1 p.m.
22: USD at Stetson, TBA

Southwestern College
2025 Football Schedule
August
30: Canyons at Southwestern, noon
September
6: Southern at Orange Coast, 6 p.m.
13: Southwestern at Long Beach, 1 p.m.
20: Mt. San Jacinto at Southwestern, 1 p.m..
27: Southwestern at San Diego Mesa, 6 p.m.
October
9: Southwestern at Palomar, 6 p.m.
18: Riverside at Southwestern, 2 p.m.
25: El Camino at Southwestern, 6 p.m.
November
1: Southwestern at Saddleback, 1 p.m.
8: Chaffey at Southwestern, 1 p.m.

Grossmont College
2025 Football Schedule
August
30: Compton at Grossmont, 3 p.m.
September
6: Grossmont at L>A> Southwest, 6 p.m.
13: Grossmont at Antelope Valley, 6 p.m.
20: L.A. Valley at Grossmont, 3 p.m.
27: Grossmont at Victory Valley, 5 p.m.
October
11: West L.A.at Grossmont, 3 p.m.
18: Gross,mont at L.A. Pierce, 6 p.m.
25: Grossmont at Santa Monice, 6 p.m.
November
1: San Bernardino Valley at Grossmont, 2 p.m.
8: Glendale at Grossmont, 1 p.m.