Login to view embedded media
Login to view embedded media
San Diego State continues to roll on in the 2026 recruiting cycle and now has its latest piece to the class as two-way Fresno-Central East athlete Brandon Smith announced his pledge to the Aztecs following a recent junior day visit. The 6-foot, 190-pound running back/defensive back has been a big priority for Sean Lewis and his staff. The SDSU head coach stopped by last week to meet with him along with safeties coach C.J. McGorisk while running backs coach Darian Hagan stopped by the school earlier this week for a visit with Smith ahead of his commitment.

Utah hosted Smith on an unofficial visit over the weekend before he made his decision to pick the Aztecs on Thursday. Arizona, Boise State, Washington State, Nevada, Fresno State and Colorado State are some of the schools that have also been in pursuit of Smith.

He took several trips to SDSU over the course of his recruitment including stopping by again recently for a junior day visit. Smith is being recruited as an athlete so we'll see where he ends up but he shows just as much promise on offense as he does on the defensive side. He had 2,225 total yards as a junior including 1,871 yards rushing and 25 rushing scores. As a defensive back, he had 71 tackles to go along with 12.5 tackles for loss, 2 sacks, 2 interceptions and a forced fumble.

Login to view embedded media
Login to view embedded media

Login to view embedded media
Login to view embedded media
Big Ventura High School junior quarterback Derek Garcia pulled the trigger on his commitment to the Aztecs on Friday giving Sean Lewis and Matt Johnson an important early piece to the 2026 class. The 6-foot-3 signal caller had made multiple visits to SDSU throughout the process, and his ability to see the bond between the coaching staff pushed him to make an early choice. Several schools have been involved in pursuing Garcia up to this point including teams such as Utah, Arkansas, Kansas, Cal, Syracuse and Minnesota.

The chance to potentially play early for the Aztecs played a big role as did the promotion of Johnson to offensive coordinator on Friday. I caught up with Garcia to discuss his decision and detail what went into making the call for San Diego State.

"It felt like a great fit," he said. "It's far enough away from home, but it's also not too far where I can't come home for a weekend, you know, spend a day at my house so it's great. They're really doing a great job of making it a steady home for guys for their college careers. They're wanting to build up the program, stay there for some years and build it up, so definitely looking forward to it."

Read the full update below:


Login to view embedded media