HOKE: PROGRESS IN YOUNG LINEMEN ON BOTH SIDES
San Diego State was eager to turn the page on the 2022 football season following its Hawaii Bowl loss to Middle Tennessee.
“We were 7-6, and that’s not good enough,” SDSU coach Brady Hoke said Tuesday afternoon, two days before 2023 spring practice concludes. “That’s not why we’re here.
“We were 12-2 a couple years ago (in 2021), and that’s where we want to be and that’s where we want to live.”
SDSU has put some distance between last season and this one, with several weeks of conditioning followed by 14 offseason practices. The work has been done mostly out of view of the general public, whether inside the weight room or on the practice fields located behind Parking Structure 7.
The public dividing line between this year and last year comes Thursday when the Aztecs play their annual Spring Game at Snapdragon Stadium. Gates open at 5 p.m., an hour before the game. Admission is free and parking is $10.
Hoke noted that “our two fronts, offensive line and defensive line, are very young, but at the same time we’re making progress from Week 1 when we started to (Monday), when we got out and had a good practice.”
Most eyes will be on new offensive coordinator Ryan Lindley’s approach when the Aztecs have the ball.
“I’m really excited about the job he’s done,” Hoke said. “From a fundamentalwise and execution-wise (standpoint), there’s been some bigger plays offensively that we’ve been able to make.”
On offense, SDSU must identify three new starters along the offensive line as well two at wide receiver and two at running back.
On defense, the Aztecs are looking for three new starters on the defensive line and two more at linebacker.
The Spring Game is the last offseason practice. Hoke and his assistant coaches then will sit down and go through what has transpired the past five weeks to come up with a twodeep depth chart that will carry into training camp four months from now.
SDSU opens its 2023 season Aug. 26 against Ohio at Snapdragon Stadium.
Eyeing the transfer portal
Hoke said he expects SDSU to invest three or four scholarships in transfers when the NCAA transfer portal opens again in May.
“We need some more depth, some help, at wide receiver,” he said. “I’m always going to look for a really good center, guard, and we’re going to look for a pass rusher.”
RB coach search
SDSU has been down one coach since Ron Gould was hired away by the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams.
“We’re interviewing guys as we go, a little bit,” Hoke said. “We’ll have that completed shortly.”
Help from hoops
SDSU’s overall record for football since 2010 is 113-54 (.677). It is 350-112 (.758) for men’s basketball.
The combined winning percentage for the two programs is .736, which leads the nation in that span.
With the SDSU basketball team advancing to the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16, Hoke was asked if there’s any spillover from the basketball team’s success into football?
“It’s great publicity,” Hoke said. “Believe me, as we talk to recruits on campus, Zoom calls, we’re doing all those things.
“You know, we’re talking about, ‘Hey, make sure at 3:30 pacific time, you know, the Aztecs are going to be on.’
“I think there’s no doubt about it. And, hopefully, we do the same thing for them.”