Spartans program becomes a destination

San Jose State received letters of intent from 13 players Wednesday on the first day of the early signing period, and this group had a distinctly different look than previous classes under coach Brent Brennan.

Only one of the 13 players is from the Bay Area, that being offensive lineman Kai Peterson-Davison from Marin Catholic High School in Kentfield.

Brennan and his coaching staff have turned around the SJSU program by placing a heavy emphasis on Bay Area kids, with about 35 players from Central Coast and North Coast section schools. Throw in another dozen players from the Sac-Joaquin Section (Sacramento/ Stockton), and the Spartans have almost 50 players within a couple hours drive of the SJSU campus.

Most of the 2021 class — at least the early portion — comes from the southern half of the state. Tight end Nathan Lewis is from Jesuit High in Carmichael, there are two players from Fresno and one from San Luis Obispo, and two from outside Californis.

Nine of the players will report on offense and four will play defense. Only Hawaii and Utah State were ranked lower in the Mountain West Conference by 247sports.com

Of course, recr uiting rankings often don’t mean much. In the three previous years, only the 2018 class finished in the middle of the pack in the Mountain West. Two years ago it was at or near the bottom. Last year there were three schools ranked below the Spartans.

And on Saturday SJSU will be playing Boise State for the Mountain West championship. The Spartans are 6- 0 and ranked 25th in the country in the Associated Press Top 25.

Also, expect the Spartans to add a few more players during the traditional signing period that begins on Feb. 3. The early period is a three-day affair that ends Friday. Many of the Power- 5 schools will complete their classes now, but Group of Five schools such as San Jose State rarely get done in the early period.

In addition to the offense, Brennan and his staff stressed height and length. Six of the 13 players are 6-foot- 3 or taller. That includes quarterback Walker Eget from West Ranch- Stevenson Ranch. Eget is a pro style quarterback who passed for 3,250 yards and 40 touchdowns in 2019, leading the Wildcats to a 10-3 season.

The Spartans added three receivers in JC transfer Donald McKinney from Santa Ana College, Assani Berkeley from Mission

Prep-San Luis Obispo and Branden Alvarez from perennial power CentennialCorona. Berkeley is especially intriguing because of his speed and athleticism. He averaged 33.5 yards per catch, returned two kickoffs to the house and contributed 56 tackles on defense.

McKinney is a big, rangy receiver whom stands 6-5.

Lewis, the other Northern California product, is a tight end who measures 6- 4, 200.