As footballs finally fill the San Diego sky at the football practice field, the 2025 San Diego State football season is officially underway.
At Monday’s press conference, held on July 28, head coach Sean Lewis spoke with local media surrounding the team.
“Well, obviously (it will be a) really exciting year,” Lewis said. “We get to do some football this week. Looking forward to that.”
With training camp set to open Wednesday, fall camp brings 24 practices before the season opener against Stony Brook on Aug. 28.
“This is training camp, it’s phase four,” Lewis said. “There’s been three great phases leading up to this. There’s a really solid foundation that gives me great confidence that we’re going to go do great work this fall.”
That foundation has been reinforced with an offseason focused on culture-building, leadership, and transparency. Whether it was Lewis’s “book club” with his leadership council or unconventional spring drills like dodgeball and obstacle courses, the underlying mission has remained consistent: create a connected, competitive team that embraces adversity.
“Learning how to win,” Lewis said. “That’s what this time of year is for… having great attention to detail, taking ownership, and then when push comes to shove, having the mental and physical toughness to endure and to win.”
Lewis didn’t dodge accountability for last season’s 3-9 campaign either.
“It was poor,” he said. “At the end of the day, you’re judged on your record… Three-and-nine is never acceptable.”
And yet, as he said more than once, this team has changed.
“There’s a greater level of comfort and connection in the building than there was a year ago,” he said. “Our kids and our staff believe in our process… That’s ultimately going to yield a better product on the field and better results on the scoreboard.”
One of those returning leaders is Trey White, the Eastlake High alum and preseason All-American edge rusher. White’s dominance in 2024 turned heads and drew double-teams late in the season. Now, the staff has fortified the defense with impact transfers like Niles King from Grand Valley State.
“Trey still knows where the quarterback is,” Lewis said. “He’s going to go get him.”
White’s leadership, along with fellow returners like Tano Letuli and a largely intact defense, is expected to anchor a unit that Lewis believes can compete at a national level. Offensively, however, the questions remain, especially at quarterback.
“Whoever the guy is, when he has the ball in his hands, not only the offense but the whole organization goes, ‘Yeah, that’s our dude’… That’s going to be the guy who’s going to get the ball,” Lewis said.
That competition begins now, with names like Jayden Denegal and Bert Emanuel Jr. at the center of the quarterback battle. The playmakers around them, including Lucky Sutton, Christian Washington, and Oregon transfer Byron Cardwell in the backfield, will be just as pivotal.
“When’s Lucky Sutton going to shine?” Lewis said. “I really think we’re poised for him to have a great year because of the work he’s done while he’s been waiting.”
At receiver, returning veterans Jordan Napier and Jerry McClure will be joined by transfers Donovan Brown and Jacob Bostic, among others, giving the offense a burst of raw speed and fresh options.
And while the work ahead is intense, Lewis isn’t shying away from the metaphor he’s leaned on since January.
“It’s like we’re sitting at base camp getting ready to scale Everest,” he said. “That’s the height we want to achieve. We’ve done the work. Now let’s start doing the real work.”
Fan Fest on Aug. 14 will be another step in reconnecting with Aztec Nation. The team promises new gameday experiences and “a dress rehearsal” scrimmage at 7:05 p.m. at Snapdragon Stadium, just two weeks before the season kicks off.
The climb continues, and for the 2025 Aztecs, the summit isn’t just a better record. It’s rewriting the narrative, step by step, from the ground up.
“We’ve been quietly working in the dark for a very, very long time,” Lewis said. “But for the next 24 days until we break camp, we get to exponentially get better.”
