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The San Diego State football program has received an unprecedented number of commitments the past week, boosting the Aztecs’ 2025 recruiting class to 15 members.
The group includes three local prospects — Cathedral Catholic High School defensive lineman Sidney Dupuy, La Jolla High School offensive tackle Jett Thomas and Mount Miguel High School cornerback Braylon Cardwell.
By the end of June last year, SDSU had commitments from six players for the Class of 2024. Three of them later recommitted.
SDSU’s largest number of early commitments came in 2017; the Aztecs had a dozen of them by the time fall camp began the first week of August. But none of those commitments came before the last week of June.
It is the immediate dividends being paid after the Aztecs hosted two dozen recruits for visits earlier this month.
“We wanted to identify the prospects that were a great fit for us and the people that were a great fit for us and actively recruit them very, very hard,” SDSU coach Sean Lewis said, “so that we could get them a part of the class and build a special class.”
All commitments are verbal and nonbinding. Players cannot sign national letters-of-intent until the NCAA’s early signing period begins Dec. 4.
The 15 players who have committed to SDSU all are high school seniors. All are three-star prospects, according to 247Sports.com.
Air Force (18) is the only Mountain West team with more commitments than the Aztecs at the moment. Boise State and San Jose State both have nine commits and Hawaii and Nevada have eight apiece.
Greg Biggins, national recruiting analyst for 247Sports, said the Aztecs are off to a “great” start.
“They have been a lot more aggressive in offering players and are closing really well on guys, too,” Biggins said. “It’s an amazing run.”
The recruiting service ranks Thomas (No. 70), Dupuy (No. 108) and Cardwell (No. 134) among the top 150 players in California as well as three of the top six prospects in San Diego County.
“What stood out to me most on the visit is how cohesive the staff and players are,” said the 6-foot-6, 260-pound Dupuy, adding, “and the fact that the culture seems very centered around incremental development.”
Cardwell, a 6-3, 190-pound two-way player for the Matadors, is part of a Mount Miguel team that won the passing tournament SDSU hosted two weeks ago. He believed it was important to make a college decision sooner rather than later.
“I committed early because I know how the sport of college football and the recruiting process is changing,” Cardwell said. “So I knew I had to make a decision quick.”
Cardwell said he was impressed by the “how much they’re changing the culture of how the game is played there. And I feel that I would develop in that culture and what they have in store for me.”
The other dozen commitments SDSU has received include five other players ranked among the top 150 prospects in California — Pittsburg High School safety Etene Pritchard (No. 86), Temecula Chaparral High School tight end Jacob Alvarez (No. 89), Mission Viejo High School edge Jaden Williams (No.92), Chatsworth Sierra Canyon High School tackle Ashdon Wnetrzak (No. 131) and Long Beach Milliken High School quarterback JP Mialovski (No. 137).
There also is Fossil Ridge (Colo.) High School wide receiver Marcos Mozer, who is the second-ranked player in Colorado.
Mozer and Liberty Christian (Texas) wide receiver Jaylon Hawkins are the only two commitments to come from outside California.
Lewis said he expects the 2025 recruiting class to include roughly 20 high school players. That reverses a recent trend during the transfer portal era in which SDSU averaged 15 high school signees its past three recruiting classes.
The last time the Aztecs signed as many as 20 high school seniors was 2021, when 23 of 25 signees were prep players.
“For us, the importance of high school recruiting is always going to be key,” Lewis said. “I want to be able to build a championship culture with a really strong foundation of high school recruiting and be about development and retention.
“And then using the portal as an opportunity and way for us to supplement any holes or weaknesses that we see within the roster.”
Biggins, the national recruiting analyst, said seeing early commitments is nothing new. It’s just new to SDSU.
“All the top schools have always wanted to sign the best high school players they can,” Biggins said, “and most have the majority of their classes done before the fall season.
“(That’s) why I’ve always advocated for moving the early signing period to July or August instead of December.”
Lewis — and his Group of Five peers — would probably be good with that since it would eliminate the possibility of Power Four schools poaching players before commitments are in writing.
For now, Lewis will settle for being encouraged by the response from recruits.
“The trend that we have seen is that a majority of these young men and their families want to have a decision wrapped up before they start their senior year,” he said. “Obviously, getting ahead of that and being at the forefront of their mind was important for us. I feel like the staff has done an unbelievable job with it.”
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