By Kunal Mehta
Staff writer
The first week of February marks the start of the college football signing season for all American universities, and San Jose State football is looking forward to its newest recruits.
Head coach Brent Brennan and his staff signed five student athletes at the start of the 2019 national letter of intent signing period. Fifteen more athletes were signed during the early signing day in December.
“We’re always looking for that delicate balance of the right pieces to the puzzle in terms of how they fit our current roster,” said Brennan.
The group of signees this year features a wide range of positions and years of experience. In total, 13 freshmen, five juniors and two graduate students will be coming from all over California and one as far as Illinois.
“I will always firmly believe that we will be a developmental program where we are trying to help young men grow on and off field, and this class was really able to give us a boost with some upperclassmen and will have a good impact,” he added.
With players who led the team last season graduating, such as tight end Josh Oliver and defensive tackle Bryson Bridges, the coaching staff is turning to its newest upperclassmen, offensive linebackers Quinn Oseland and Scott Breslin, to fill those shoes.
“We identified Quinn really early in the process, and were excited that he fell in love with Silicon Valley and the opportunities that San Jose State provides as an academic institution. But he’s also here to help us grow and play better as football team,” said Brennan.
Quinn Oseland is a graduate student from the University of Minnesota. He played three Big Ten games in 2016 and is now coming on to the Spartan football team to play his final season.
As the only out-of-state signee recruited, Oseland said the Bay Area was better for his future overall.
“I knew that being in Silicon Valley, there’s going to be limitless opportunities outside of football, so knowing that I had a chance to play here one last year and give it my all, and also having the potential to grow in so many ways, I just found that it was going to be the best place for me,” said Oseland.
Along with Oseland, SJSU football also recruited graduate student Alex Galland. Galland was on the Yale University football team from 2015 until 2018, and will be joining the Spartans as a punter.
Coach Brennan spoke highly of Galland’s confidence and skill, as he joins as an all-Ivy League punter. Coming onto a lower-ranking team, he is eager to see how him and the rest of the players will work with one another.
“I think there’s a really young and energetic coaching staff and there’s a lot of good people in this program,” said Galland. “I think the record on paper from last year really doesn’t indicate all the different pieces we have and when you put all those pieces together on the field, you’re going to see a big difference.”
In preparation for the signing day celebration Wednesday night, Coach Brennan emphasized the celebration is not only for the amount of time assistant coaches put into the recruiting process, but also the effort players gave in recruiting their teammates.
“Our players are a big part of the recruiting process and they’re the ones that have to convey to these recruits that they believe in what we’re doing, and they believe in the work that’s happening,” said Brennan. “And they believe in the coaching staff, and they believe in San Jose State University.”
SJSU and football alumni, donors, coaching staff and families joined the team in the Student Union on Tuesday in the celebration of national signing day.
The staff was commended for its effort in curating the team and the new recruits were formally announced and welcomed to the Spartan family.
