![\"Former](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Ephraim.Salaam.jpeg\")
Former San Diego State offensive lineman Ephraim Salaam speaks to those gathered at the 2026 Aztec Football Kickoff event. (Kirk Kenney \/ San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\nThe water glistened Thursday evening as the sun set on the Pacific Ocean while San Diego State players and coaches, family and friends, boosters and supporters gathered on the deck of the USS Midway Museum.<\/p>\n
It was some setting. They even threw in a lunar eclipse during SDSU\u2019s 2026 Aztec Football Kickoff event. It was a picturesque place, where one could imagine that anything is possible this season, which begins Saturday against Portland State at Snapdragon Stadium.<\/p>\n
In that regard, SDSU chose the right person as its special speaker.<\/p>\n
Former Aztecs offensive tackle Ephraim Salaam stepped to the stage to share some motivational words with the audience. Salaam is living proof that anything is possible.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to tell a quick story,\u201d Salaam said. \u201cSuper Bowl XXXII (in 1998) was here in San Diego. I was a senior at San Diego State. I lived right over here in Talmadge \u2026 and I remember standing on my balcony during the Super Bowl and watching the fireworks from the stadium.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I thought, man, I hope I get an opportunity to play in the NFL, because the draft was coming up. And then I hope I get an opportunity to play in the Super Bowl at least one time. Three hundred sixty-five days later, I was starting in the Super Bowl (for Atlanta against Denver).\u201d<\/p>\n
Former San Diego State offensive lineman Ephraim Salaam speaks to those gathered at the 2026 Aztec Football Kickoff event. (Kirk Kenney \/ San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n
Salaam, a seventh-round pick by the Falcons in the 1998 NFL Draft, spent 13 years in the NFL with six different teams. From there, he transitioned seamlessly into an entertainment career, as a radio host, TV broadcasting, reality show contestant and a Hollywood screenwriter and producer.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve gone on, and I\u2019m a TV writer, write screenplays and all that,\u201d Salaam said. \u201cI couldn\u2019t even come up with that (Super Bowl story). Right? But the thing that I knew was, if I set a goal for myself, there\u2019s no one that can stop me from reaching that goal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Salaam looked out at the SDSU players in the audience. He had spoken to many of them beforehand.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m talking to them like I talked to myself when I was in their position,\u201d he said. \u201cI say, if you want to go to The League, then go to The League. \u2026 We had six freshmen come in together, and our sole purpose was to go to the NFL.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd we all went \u2014 from San Diego State. Not Alabama. Not LSU. Not Cal. Not UCLA. San Diego State. We all went. We all played. Had tremendous careers. But it starts here. It started when we got on campus, and we found like-minded athletes and people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Salaam, who skipped two grades in elementary school and arrived at SDSU as a 16-year-old, encouraged the Aztecs to chase greatness.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you just want to be good, OK,\u201d he said. \u201cI mean, I tell my kids, I have a 12- and 15-year-old, \u2018Hey, look, the world is full of average people. There\u2019s nothing wrong with that. There\u2019s more average people than above average. But nothing in my life that I have done has been average.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd it\u2019s unacceptable. Don\u2019t just be good. Good doesn\u2019t get you there. Great gets you there. OK? You have to want to be great. \u2026 You have to normalize greatness, so it doesn\u2019t seem impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ambitious goals<\/p>\n
SDSU coach Sean Lewis used the gathering to touch on what the Aztecs accomplished on and off the field last year \u2014 a 9-4 record and 3.0 cumulative team GPA \u2014 setting out some goals for the future.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have stabilized the program and advanced the program,\u201d Lewis said. \u201cWe built a connected team on a strong foundation. We became co-champions of our conference during the regular season and returned to postseason play in 2025. \u2026 We\u2019re proud of our progress, but we\u2019re not satisfied. Not even close. We did not take on this challenge simply to become respectable. We did not work this hard to reach one summit and admire the view of where we are. Our climb never ends. San Diego State is entering the new Pac-12, and we are not entering it quietly. We\u2019re not simply joining to participate. We intend to become the dominant force of this conference.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lewis said the challenge will will require more than winning on Saturdays.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt will require us to lead in how we modernize a college football program,\u201d he said. \u201cHow be build it. How we operate it. How we\u2019re connected. And how our fans experience our culture. We must continue to innovate, deepen our relationships with our fans and partners, using technology improve performance and engagement and create new ways for alumni and supporters to invest in this mission.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Pac-12 should not be simply a conference we join. It should be a platform we help define. We\u2019re hungry to compete for Pac-12 championships. We\u2019re obsessed with building a program capable of earning a College Football Playoff berth. And we believe we can accomplish more at San Diego State than has ever been accomplished here ever before.\u201d<\/p>\n
Questions and answers<\/p>\n
Voice of the Aztecs Jon Schaeffer had some questions for SDSU quarterback Jayden Denegal, running back Lucky Sutton and defensive lineman Malachi Finau when they came up on stage.<\/p>\n
Denegal was asked, how do you grow on and off the field in your second year as the starting quarterback?<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing more confident within myself (after) dealing with the injury and everything like that last year,\u201d he said. \u201cUltimately, mastering my craft. The more reps you get, the better you get at it. With all the reps I get through the weeks of practice and that I got this offseason, with two healthy shoulders, it\u2019s going to be amazing for me this season.<\/p>\n
Sutton was asked, after last year\u2019s success, what would he consider to be success as a team and individually this season?<\/p>\n
\u201cWinning a Pac-12 championship, that first one, for sure, and getting into that College Football Playoff,\u201d Sutton said. \u201cThe individual success is built off that team success. That\u2019s all I look for and what I\u2019m aiming to do this year, focus on the team, the team, the team.<\/p>\n
Finau was asked, how is SDSU going to replicate its success with so many new players (nine starters) on defense?<\/p>\n
\u201cOur mindset here with this year\u2019s defense is \u2018make your own history,\u2019 \u201d Finau said<\/p>\n
Lewis, assuming the persona of a talk show host, asked a few questions of special teams coordinator Zac Barton, defensive coordinator Demetrius Sumler and offensive coordinator Matt Johnson. Lewis saved the best questions for last.<\/p>\n
For Barton, if all your kickers disappeared and you needed someone to make a game-winning kick, which staff member are you sending out?<\/p>\n
\u201cCoach Ryan Lindley,\u201d Barton said. \u201cI feel good about that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe could drop kick,\u201d Lewis said.<\/p>\n
Of course, Lindley, now SDSU\u2019s tight ends coach, made an impact with his arm. As Aztecs quarterback from 2007-11, Lindley passed for a school-record 12,690 yards. Who knows what kind of leg Lindley has? Then again, the way college eligibility is right now, maybe we can find out.<\/p>\n
For Sumler, what animal best represents the personality of a defense led by you?<\/p>\n
\u201cA lion,\u201d Sumler said. \u201cStalk our prey.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Johnson, what fictional character would make the best quarterback in the AztecFAST offense?<\/p>\n
\u201cMy 2-year-old son would want me to say Lightning McQueen (from Cars), who likes to go fast,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cI\u2019m also going to have to go with Ricky Bobby (from Talladega Nights) because Ricky Bobby like to go fast.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you ain\u2019t first, you\u2019re last,\u201d Lewis said. \u201cShake and bake. \u2026 We\u2019re out of here. I\u2019m not going to quit my day job.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The water glistened Thursday evening as the sun set on the Pacific Ocean while San Diego State players…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":448410,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[1327,181,74,76,75,305,127],"class_list":["post-448409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-college-sports","tag-latest-headlines","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-sdsu-aztecs","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448409","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=448409"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448409\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/448410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=448409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=448409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=448409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}