It may be April, but spring football is in the news.
The NFL Draft is coming up April 25-27 in Detroit, Mich., while the United Football League officially kicked off its inaugural season on March 30 following the merger of the revived United States Football League and XFL in December.
Who will be the NFL’s top quarterback taken in the draft, its top running back and receiver? Which team will gain the most impact from the college ranks? What direction with the Chargers, Rams and Raiders take? Will the Chiefs and Lions reload sufficiently to return to the Super Bowl?
All good questions to be answered.
The United Football League consists of eight teams — essentially four from each of the merged leagues. Otay Ranch High School/Southwestern College alumnus Luis Perez is the highest profile local player after leading the Arlington Renegades to last year’s XFL championship following short stints with three NFL teams and one season in the USFL.
Perez, a 2012 Otay Ranch graduate, gained national notoriety after leading Texas A&M-Commerce to the 2017 NCAA Division II national championship and the Harlon Hill Trophy, emblematic of the division’s best player.
Perez re-signed with the Renegades after being named MVP of the 2023 XFL championship game. In three games this season, the former SWC signal-caller has rushed for four touchdowns and passed for four scores.
Closer to home, San Diego State University’s football team will host its annual spring game Saturday, April 20, at 1 p.m. at Snapdragon Stadium.
Fans can claim up to six free tickets for the event by visiting goaztecs.com/AztecFAST.
There’s many sidelights to go with the game, which is officially dubbed the Aztec FAST Showcase presented by Aztec Link.
The first 1,000 fans who enter the stadium and make their way to the South concourse will receive a free Aztec football replica jersey. Free schedule posters as well as the opportunity to win a chance to kick a field goal for $10,000 will also be available at all open gates.
SDSU alumni Cameron Thomas and Zachary Thomas, honorary coaches for the game, will be signing autographs at the Southeast concourse in front of the team store. A group of select players will also be signing autographs after the spring game for roughly 30 minutes on the inner north concourse (limit one item per person).
Fans will be able to purchase SDSU merchandise, including new Aztec FAST merch, at the Shop Aztecs container store in the Northeast concourse.
The day will also feature a face painter, balloon artist, cornhole, and performances by the SDSU band, cheer, diamonds and twirlers.
Football’s Aztec FAST Showcase presented by Aztec Link is part of San Diego State’s Red and Black Weekend that also features Aztec Link’s golf tournament on Friday, men’s tennis against Utah State at 11 a.m. Saturday, baseball against UC Irvine at 6 p.m. Saturday, and women’s water polo against UC San Diego at 1 p.m. Sunday.
Eastlake High School alum Trey White appeared in all 12 Aztec games last season with 15 tackles. Photo by Phillip Brents
Homegrown
San Diego County players abound on the Aztecs’ 2024 spring roster.
Returners include sophomore running back Lucky Sutton (Cathedral Catholic), senior running back Kenan Christon (Madison), sophomore running back Nick Gardinera (Scripps Ranch), junior cornerback Arnold Escano (Olympian), sophomore linebacker Trey White (Eastlake), sophomore linebacker Jaylen Kendricks (Eastlake), sophomore long-snapper Tyson Chavez (Mission Hills) and senior receiver Mekhi Shaw (Scripps Ranch).
Freshmen newcomers include running back Anthony McMillian Jr. (Mater Dei Catholic), cornerback Isaiah Buxton (Mater Dei Catholic) and receiver Ryan Weinberg (La Jolla).
Transfers include receiver Jerry McClure (Mater Dei Catholic/UCLA), linebacker Tano Letuli (Cathedral Catholic/Army), defensive back Bennett Walker (Patrick Henry/Eastern Michigan) and receiver Christian Salacup (Christian/Fresno State).
Redshirts include junior cornerback Xavier Hamlet (Lincoln/Grossmont College), freshman linebacker Chris Fewell (Lincoln) and freshman offensive lineman Jonah Rodriguez (Madison).
Returning players and newcomers will be looking to expand on their experience of playing Division I NCAA football while contributing to the team’s success.
In three seasons, Shaw, the team’s 2023 Offensive Player of the Year and an All-Mountain West Honorable Mention, has scored five touchdowns to go with 766 receiving yards.
Christon has appeared in 23 games over the past two seasons with 625 rushing yards and 408 receiving yards and four total touchdowns (three receiving and one rushing).
White logged 15 tackles in 12 games last season, including nine solo stops, one interception, two passes defended and one fumble recovery.
In six games over two seasons, Sutton has rushed for 165 yards and two touchdowns
Escano tallied two unassisted tackles last season.
One prominent name not on the 2024 SDSU spring roster is Chula Vistan Marcus Ratcliffe, who appeared in 12 games (11 starts) as a true freshman in the Aztec secondary.
The Cathedral Catholic alum recorded 51 tackles (31 unassisted) and made 1.5 tackles for a loss with one interception in his debut season as an Aztec but declared for the transfer portal following SDSU’s disappointing 4-8 season, landing instead at Texas A&M.
The San Diego South County region is still well represented on this year’s spring roster with six alumni from area high schools, including three from Mater Dei Catholic, two from Eastlake and one from Olympian.
Cameron and Zachary Thomas are brothers. The duo led San Diego State to a school-record 12 victories in 2021 and No. 25 ranking in the final Associated Press Top 25 poll.
Cameron Thomas was an Aztec from 2018-21 before being selected in the third round of the 2022 NFL Draft by the Arizona Cardinals. At San Diego State, he recorded 21 sacks, fourth most in program history, and his 39 tackles for loss are 11th most. He is one of just three Aztecs to be named the Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year and is one of two defensive linemen to earn three all-conference first-team selections in the team’s Division I era.
His 11.5 sacks and 20.5 tackles for loss during the 2021 campaign are sixth and seventh, respectively, in single-season history. Through the first two seasons of his career, both with the Cardinals, Thomas has played in 32 games registering 37 tackles and three sacks.
Zachary Thomas, the older of the brothers, played at Montezuma Mesa from 2016-21 before being selected by the Chicago Bears in the sixth round of the 2022 NFL Draft. As an Aztec, he started 41 games on the offensive line, earning two all-Mountain West selections. A first-team pick in 2021, he graded as the 16th-ranked offensive lineman in FBS and No. 18 run blocker.
Over the course of his final two collegiate seasons, he committed just three penalties on 1,144 total snaps. Thomas would go on to sign a free agent contract with the Los Angeles Rams in November 2022, where he has spent each of the last two seasons and made his NFL debut during the 2022 campaign.
Spring football
The UFL’s lineup includes the Birmingham Stallions (defending USFL champions), Renegades (defending XFL champions), St. Louis Battlehawks, San Antonio Brahmas, Michigan Panthers, D.C. Defenders, Memphis Showboats and Houston Roughnecks.
The former USFL teams are grouped in one conference and the former XFL teams are grouped in another conference.
Perez has spent time in the NFL (Rams, Eagles and Lions, the USFL (New Jersey Generals) and XFL (Los Angeles Wildcats, New York Guardians, Vegas Vipers) following a brief fling in the Alliance of American Football League’s truncated season with the Birmingham Iron.
Perez played one season in The Spring League, leading the Jousters to the league’s first and only Mega Bowl in 2021.
Perez passed for 1,460 yards and five touchdowns against six interceptions in his pro debut for the Iron in 2019. He passed for 1,200 yards and nine touchdowns and one pick with the Generals in his return to the gridiron in 2022 following the COVID pandemic.
He started last season with the Vipers before being traded to Arlington where he appeared in two playoff games, both wins, to win his first professional football championship following a 35-26 upset win over the Defenders,
In 28 regular season pro games (22 starts), he has passed for 4,709 yards with 26 touchdowns against 15 interceptions.
He recorded a 112.3 quarterback rating in last year’s XFL playoffs with 768 passing yards, and six touchdowns.
The UFL regular season runs through June 2 with 72 percent of games broadcast over-the-air (ABC or FOX). ESPN, ESPN2 and FS1 also will air games on cable.
Semifinal playoffs are scheduled June 8 (ABC) and June 9 (FOX). The championship game is set for June 16 (FOX).
