{"id":276028,"date":"2026-04-19T22:01:21","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T22:01:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/276028\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T22:01:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T22:01:21","slug":"new-look-spartans-eager-to-wipe-away-last-seasons-disappointment-the-mercury-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/276028\/","title":{"rendered":"New-look Spartans eager to wipe away last season\u2019s disappointment \u2013 The Mercury News"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN JOSE \u2013 Spring camp officially wrapped up for San Jose State<\/a> on Saturday as the Spartans are quite eager to get going into the 2026 football season. Anything to shake off their 3-9 finish last season, the program\u2019s worst record since 2018.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year was a super disappointing year,\u201d said Ken Niumatalolo<\/a>, who begins his third season as Spartans head coach. \u201cBut I feel like we have knocked it out the park with the new guys who have come in.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Spartans, who held their annual Spring Showcase Saturday, have some big shoes to fill for the upcoming season as the countdown until fall camp hits 102 days.<\/p>\n

Danny Scudero<\/a>, the 2025 FBS leader in receiving yards, hit the transfer portal and committed to Deion Sanders\u2019 Colorado Buffaloes. Scudero, a former Archbishop Mitty star, was the second consecutive Spartan wide receiver to lead the nation in receiving yards, following Nick Nash in 2024.<\/p>\n

The Spartans not only lost Scudero, but they also lost their other two leading receivers from last season. Kyri Shoels transferred to Utah and Leland Smith committed to UCLA. That\u2019s a total of 2,753 yards and 15 touchdowns that left town.<\/p>\n

\"SanSan Jose State Spartans head coach Ken Niumatalolo fist-pumps Kamaehu Kopa-Kaawalauole (83) during the San Jose State Spartans spring football showcase at CEFCU Stadium in San Jose, Calif., Saturday, April 18, 2026. (Ray Chavez\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0<\/p>\n

In addition, former Spartans quarterback Walker Eget transferred to Duke and was awarded a waiver for his sixth year of eligibility. Eget was prolific for the Spartans, throwing for 5,563 yards, 30 touchdowns and 19 interceptions over 27 career games.<\/p>\n

Even with the big departures, there are some solid candidates to step up, including returnees in the Spartans wide receiver room.<\/p>\n

Junior wide receiver Malachi Riley was expected to play a big role in the offense in 2025 before suffering a season-ending injury in the first quarter of a Week One matchup against Central Michigan. Riley is still not at full speed, but he is expected to be ready to go by fall camp.<\/p>\n

Junior wide receiver Cooper Hoch could also be in the mix for a more substantial role as he enters his fourth season with the Spartans.<\/p>\n

Also, San Diego State transfer Jerry McCluire has been turning heads at spring camp. Spartans offensive coordinator Craig Stutzmann said he has been one of the biggest standouts.<\/p>\n

\u201cI spoke to his high school coach and he said he is someone who has been through a lot of adversity and lost his confidence, but with the way you guys coach he could find himself at San Jose State,\u201d Stutzmann said. \u201cHe has gotten better every day and you really see how he was a four-star recruit coming out of high school.\u201d<\/p>\n

After nearly two years as the starting quarterback, the Spartans also need to find Eget\u2019s replacement. Early in camp the search is between three players: Hawaii transfer Luke Weaver, true freshman \u2013 and early high school graduate \u2013 Daniel Rolovich and returning redshirt freshman Robert McDaniel.<\/p>\n

Weaver is the one with the most experience in the group, he played in five games for the Rainbow Warriors, throwing for 628 yards on 63 passing attempts, including the game-winning touchdown pass in Hawaii\u2019s 35-31 victory over Cal in the Hawaii Bowl.<\/p>\n

At Hawaii, Weaver ran the \u201crun and shoot\u201d offense, which is the style of offense that Stutzmann\u2019s \u201cspread and shred\u201d offense with the Spartans derives from.<\/p>\n

Rolovich is the son of Cal senior offensive assistant Nick Rolovich. Stutzmann and Nick played college football together for the Rainbow Warriors, and Stutzmann was the quarterbacks coach on Rolovich\u2019s staff at Hawaii from 2016-2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s funny I\u2019ve had my eye on him the past four years,\u201d Stutzmann said. \u201cBeing able to go watch my son doing 7-on-7 tournaments in high school and (Daniel) is there doing the 7-on-7\u00a0 tournaments. So being able to see his progression through the years really made it easy to know that he\u2019s the right guy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rolovich got reps with the Spartans\u2019 second team during the showcase while Weaver ran the first team.<\/p>\n

\"SanSan Jose State Spartans quarterback Luke Weaver (3) huddle with teanmates during the San Jose State Spartans spring football showcase at CEFCU Stadium in San Jose, Calif., Saturday, April 18, 2026. (Ray Chavez\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0<\/p>\n

McDaniel, although only seeing action in three games in 2025, has a year of experience in learning Stutzmann\u2019s spread and shred scheme, which has a self described \u201csteep learning curve.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sophomore Tama Amisone who appeared in eight games and made one start at quarterback for San Jose, won\u2019t be in the mix at QB. He\u2019s making the switch to wide receiver. The move was described by Stutzmann as an effort to get his best players on the field, who noted Amisone would have had a tough time getting meaningful snaps at quarterback.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like the transition mentally because it makes it much easier for me and simpler,\u201d Amisone said. \u201cNow I just need to hone in on my sets, stems and all the little things as a receiver.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sophomore Tuli Tagovailoa-Amosa is making the change to safety after spending last season at wide receiver.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis transition has been fantastic,\u201d said new defensive coordinator Bojay Filimoeatu<\/a>. \u201cHe has that little edge that you want at safety. Having him in the room with all the guys has been great.\u201d<\/p>\n

Junior kicker Trajan Sinatra from Idaho State was the first addition the Spartans grabbed out of the portal this offseason. The former Idaho State kicker addresses one of their biggest issues from last season.<\/p>\n

Sinatra made his new head coach pretty happy after hitting a 54-yard field goal to end the action Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was our No. 1 recruit and he hasn\u2019t disappointed,\u201d Niumatalolo said. \u201cHe\u2019s been super consistent this whole spring and I really believe he\u2019s going to help us this year. As tough as it was last year, if we make three kicks we\u2019re going to a bowl game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sinatra went 18-for-22 on field goal attempts and set the Idaho State single-season kick scoring record with 97 total points.<\/p>\n

Filimoeatu now enters his first full season as defensive coordinator after taking over for the longest tenured coordinator in SJSU history Derrick Odum.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Bojay gives us that fire that we need,\u201d defensive end Justin Stearns said. \u201cHe dominates every detail and he\u2019s super deep into the schemes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Niumatalolo praised the 36-year-old Filimoeatu for his football knowledge which Niumatalolo said goes beyond his years. That paired with Filimoeatu\u2019s ability to fire up his players led to him being hired full time after serving as interim defensive coordinator for two games.<\/p>\n

Filimoeatu\u2019s defensive scheme is similar to that of Odum, but with a different mindset.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe came up with a defensive philosophy that we thought matches what coach Ken wants from the team,\u201d Filimoeatu said. \u201cThose kids have picked it up well and they are pushing forth the effort.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another big coaching addition that SJSU added was offensive line coach Ramsen Golpashin from UCLA, who is taking over for John Estes.<\/p>\n

Golphashin has been praised by his fellow coaches for the physicality and energy he brings to the team. Niumatalolo said that practices have \u201ca lot more yelling\u201d since Golphashin was brought on.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the last couple seasons, for one reason or another it seemed like (the offensive line) weren\u2019t the toughest and they didn\u2019t play the hardest,\u201d Stutzmann said. \u201cRamsen cures that. He swings the pendulum in the opposite way. He motivates them and holds them to a standard.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN JOSE \u2013 Spring camp officially wrapped up for San Jose State on Saturday as the Spartans are…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":276029,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[184,7,1321,1327,402,181,88,90,89,997,198,200,127],"class_list":{"0":"post-276028","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-jose","8":"tag-bay-area","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-college-football","11":"tag-college-sports","12":"tag-inside-sports","13":"tag-latest-headlines","14":"tag-san-jose","15":"tag-san-jose-headlines","16":"tag-san-jose-news","17":"tag-san-jose-state-spartans","18":"tag-santa-clara-county","19":"tag-south-bay","20":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=276028"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276028\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/276029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=276028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=276028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}