After an appearance in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl last season, the San Jose State Spartans football team looks to find success in the Mountain West Conference despite a difficult non-conference schedule.
SJSU head coach Brent Brennan led the Spartans to a 7-5 overall record and 5-3 against Mountain West opponents.
The Spartans will face back-to-back top-20 ranked teams in No. 6 USC with 2022 Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams and No. 18 Oregon State to start the 2023 season.
Senior quarterback Chevan Cordeiro said his team has a demanding couple of games to start the season.
“We got a tough schedule ahead of us, we got USC Week 0, Oregon State Week 1 and then Mountain West [Conference] everybody’s good,” Cordeiro said in an Aug. 11 post-practice interview. “You can’t take anyone lightly, we’re gonna take it day by day, game by game and we’ll see how we perform.”
Brennan said his team plans to keep its focus on the first game of the season.
“I don't think any of us benefit from looking in the rear view. We need to be focused on what's happening right now with this team,” Brennan said. “Coming out of training camp and just getting ready for this game, that's really all we're worried about.”
Cordeiro heads into his second season as the Spartans starter after leading the Mountain West with 3,250 passing yards and 23 touchdowns last season.
“He's [Cordeiro] an incredibly hard worker,” Brennan said. “Chevan’s expectations for himself are extremely high. He's invested so much in this program and in the guys on the team, and he just puts so much into it.”
Cordeiro, born in Hawaiʻi, plans on having a warm reception when the Spartans travel to Honolulu on Oct. 28 to take on his previous team, the University of Hawaiʻi.
“It’s going to be like playing a home game for me and I can’t wait,” Cordeiro said in the same post-practice interview. “I know they’re going to be better than last season, so it’s gonna be a good game.”
SJSU will look to take home its first Valley Trophy since 2019 when it hosts reigning Mountain West Conference champions and rival Fresno State on Nov. 11.
Despite Cordeiro’s return, the Spartans will be missing key components on both sides of the ball, losing wide receiver Elijah Cooks and linebacker Viliami ‘Junior’ Fehoko to the NFL.
Fehoko was named the Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year while Cooks had 1,076 receiving yards last season.
The Spartans will introduce new players to CEFCU Stadium such as sophomore defensive back DJ Harvey and junior running back Quali Conley.
Harvey, a transfer from Virginia Tech, recorded six tackles last season while Conley, a transfer from Utah Tech, played in all 11 games finishing the season with 1095 rushing yards.
Senior running back Kairee Robinson is set to return in his fifth season for the Spartans after rushing for a career-high 752 yards and 10 touchdowns last season.
Brennan said he’s hopeful that the Spartans can bolster a more effective running game than last year with the help of an experienced offensive line.
“We got some good senior leadership in that group with Jaime [Navarro] and [Anthony] Pardue which I think helps,” Brennan said. “Quali [Conley] has been a great addition to our team we’re very very happy he’s here.”
The Spartans will kick off the season against USC at 5 p.m. on Aug. 26 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
