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:
QB Derek Garcia becomes SDSU's first 2026 commitment
The Ventura High School standout junior picked the Aztecs over several Power 4 offers.
