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FOOTBALL HOSTS HUMBOLDT STATE IN 2008 SEASON OPENER ON SATURDAY NIGHT
8/27/2008
The Sacramento State football team officially starts its 2008 season on Saturday, Aug. 30, when its hosts Humboldt State at 6:05 p.m. at Hornet Stadium. The game will be the first night game played at Hornet Stadium under second-year head coach Marshall Sperbeck.
The contest can be heard locally on KRJY 1240 AM with Jason Ross handling the play-by-play and Steve McElroy adding the color commentary. For those outside the greater Sacramento area, the game will also be available on the internet at www.hornetsports.com and on Big Sky TV (www.bigskytv.org).
Sacramento State begins its 2008 season in an unfamiliar setting — at home to start the year for the first time since hosting Saint Mary’s in 2001. In fact, Saturday’s game marks just the third time since 1995 that the Hornets will open a year at Hornet Stadium. The team is coming off a 3-8 overall record but ended the year on a high note, winning its final two contests.
Sophomore Jason Smith outdueled McLeod Bethel-Thompson for the starting job at quarterback during training camp. Smith, who started all 11 games last season, will have the benefit of a bolstered receiving corps which includes returners Tony Washington, Torrell Baker, Ron Richardson, Dylan Lane and Elon Paige and newcomers Kyle Hill and Brett Willis.
The Hornet defense returns just three staters from a year ago but two of those three are All-Americans Mike Brannon and Cyrus Mulitalo. Fellow linebacker Mike Hickman joined the pair as an all-Big Sky selection following the 2007 season.
Humboldt State finished 2007 with a 2-8 overall record. The Lumberjacks brought in head coach Rob Smith in February. Smith was the head coach at Western Washington for 17 years where he was the league coach of the year seven times.
Quick Hitters
• The Aug. 30 start date is the earliest a game has been played at Hornet Stadium in school history. The team has played only one other game earlier (Aug. 28, 2003) at Oregon State.
• Sacramento State has the longest active winning streak (two) among the Big Sky’s nine teams.
• Saturday’s game will be the 37th all-time meeting between the two teams. Sacramento State has only faced UC Davis (55 times) and Chico State (40) more in school history.
With a Win...
• Sacramento State will open the season with a win for the first time since defeating Saint Mary’s (13-6) in overtime in 2001.
• The Hornets will have won three-straight games for the first time since downing CS Northridge and Northern Arizona to end the 2000 season and Saint Mary’s to begin 2001.
• The team will record its ninth-consecutive win over Humboldt State.
With a Loss...
• Sacramento State will start the year 0-1 for the seventh-straight year.
• The team will have lost to Humboldt State for the first time since Nov. 14, 1981 (23-19).
• Humboldt State will win its season opener for the fourth time in the last five years.
A Look at the Hornets
Preseason Honors
Three Sacramento State players earned preseason honors. The trio was comprised of linebackers Cyrus Mulitalo and Mike Brannon and offensive tackle Ray Navar. All three players were named to the Big Sky Conference’s preseason first team and Mulitalo and Brannon each added preseason All-America honors as well.
Mulitalo was a first team All-American by The Sports Network and was unanimous Big Sky selection at linebacker, earning the preseason honor for the second straight year. Last season, he was a first team all-Big Sky selection and honorable mention All-American after tallying 98 tackles, including 13.5 tackles-for-loss. He enters the season ranked fifth in school history with 240 career tackles and is also fifth with 26.0 career TFLs.
Brannon joined Mulitalo as both a first team all-Big Sky selection and honorable mention All-American in 2007. The Rancho Cordova, Calif., native was named to The Sports Network’s third team this summer. He had a breakthrough year with 91 total tackles and a team-best 18.0 tackles-for-loss. He already holds the school’s Div. I-AA/FCS era record with 18.5 sacks and needs just seven more to set the all-time mark. He is also 5.5 TFLs shy of the school record and will move into the top 10 in school history in career tackles with 13 more.
Navar shifted from tight end to tackle prior to last season and made the most of the situation, earning honorable mention all-Big Sky honors. The native of Alta Loma, Calif., started all 11 games as the team’s strong-side tackle and paved the way for a Hornet rushing attack which ended the year averaging 323.5 yards per game.
Not to be Forgotten
It is safe to assume that there is not another player who earned all-Big Sky honors last season that get’s overlooked more than Mike Hickman. The senior earned honorable mention honors last year but plays in the shadow of Mulitalo and Brannon. A native of Millbrae, Calif., Hickman was one of the first players to commit to Sacramento State after Sperbeck was hired as head coach. Once here, he reunited with his coach from Foothill JC and tallied 66 total tackles, including 8.0 for loss.
On a Roll
Sacramento State enters the 2008 season with the longest active winning streak in the Big Sky. The Hornets won their final two games of the regular season with a thrilling “Hail Mary” catch by Tony Washington at Northern Colorado and a wire-to-wire victory against Idaho State.
A victory over Humboldt State will give the team its first three-game winning streak since the 2000-01 seasons. During that stretch, the Hornets defeated Cal State Northridge (64-61) and Northern Arizona (28-24) in the final two games of 2000 and Saint Mary’s (13-6) in overtime to start the 2001 season. The team has had four two-game streaks since that point but has come up short each time. The longest winning streak in the Div. I-AA/FCS era is four games spanning from the final two contests of 1999 to the opening two of 2000.
And the Winner Is...
It’s only fitting in an election year that Sacramento State had a battle during training camp which featured an incumbent and an upstart newcomer. The battle came at quarterback where the returning starter, Jason Smith, held off UCLA transfer McLeod Bethel-Thompson for the starting job.
Smith, who started every game last season, secured the starting job with a solid effort in the first scrimmage. Last season as a redshirt freshman, the Brentwood, Calif., native completed 162-of-303 attempts for 1,826 yards and 10 touchdowns. However, he also plagued by 17 interceptions. His highlights included a 396-yard, three-TD effort against Eastern Washington which is tied for the second most passing yards in school history.
Bethel-Thompson came to Sacramento State from UCLA prior to the spring semester. He shared time during spring ball with Duncan White while Smith was sidelined with a back injury. With the Bruins, Bethel-Thompson started the team’s Las Vegas Bowl game against BYU where he was 11-of-27 for 154 yards and a touchdown. A graduate of Balboa HS in San Francisco, he was named all-city and the league’s player of the year after passing for over 2,100 yards and 22 touchdowns.
White and freshman Nick Anderson will also add depth at the position. White played last season behind Smith and is a likely candidate to redshirt this year. Anderson is a local product from Oak Ridge HS who greyshirted at Fresno State in 2007.
Creating a One-Two Punch
The biggest surprise of training camp might have come at running back where sophomore Evander Wilkins won the starting nod over Bryan Hilliard. While Wilkins should play on the first offensive play of the game, expect both sophomores to receive extensive action during the game.
Wilkins, a 5-foot-6 graduate of Florin HS, appeared in five games as a true freshman. All but one of his 34 rushing yards came against Portland State. However, he began to make his progression in the spring when he was shifted to wide receiver. He moved back to running back this summer after Travon Jones was ruled academically ineligible. It was those receiving skills that have helped Wilkins separate himself from Hilliard during camp.
A slow start is nothing new to Hilliard. Last season, he had just one carry in the first three games. From that point, he had 153 carries for 823 years in the final eight games. His two biggest outputs came in the final two games of 2007. At Northern Colorado, Hilliard rushed for 168 yards and a touchdown. One week later, he amassed 243 yards and three scores against Idaho State.
Ironically, Jones was re-certified to practice just last week but is expected to redshirt this season. Others to see time at running back include freshmen Jake Croxdale and Anthony Biasi.
Changing of the Guard
For the first time in four years, Sacramento State will start a pair of safeties that are not Brent Webber or Brett Shelton. The pair combined for 577 career tackles and both started all 11 games in 2007. In fact, at least one of the two started every game over the past four seasons.
The leading candidates to take over at safety are junior Dorian Brown and sophomore Peter Buck. Brown played in the secondary two seasons ago but moved up to linebacker last season where he had 23 stops. Buck tallied 14 stops as a true freshman while playing behind Webber and Shelton.
Seniors Matt Evans and Jared Vanderbeek will also play at safety. Evans was a linebacker last year and had 12 tackles while Vanderbeek had nine stops at safety.
The starting cornerback jobs will go to senior Kevin Davis and newcomer Michael Casper. Davis has seen limited action since last season after suffering injuries in a car accident during the spring and then spraining his ankle early in training camp. Last year, he played in 10 games and recorded a career high 35 tackles.
Casper returns to his hometown after spending two seasons at Mendocino JC. A graduate of Valley HS, he has exceptional speed. True freshman Deionte Gordon and senior Ryan Battle will also contribute.
A Look at the Lumberjacks
• Garrett Hubrich has been named the team’s starting quarterback. Hubrich spent last season at Western Oregon and also played two years at Shasta JC. Last season’s starter Brian Hildebrand will be the backup. Hildebrand threw for 869 yards and two touchdowns with 11 interceptions in 2007.
• Wide receiver Matt Smith transferred to HSU from Portland State in late August. Smith caught a 47-yard touchdown pass against Sacramento State at PGE Park for his lone TD of the year.
• Defensively, linebacker Allen Brunner led the team in 2007 with 88 total tackles, including 6.5 tackles-for-loss and 3.0 sacks.
• Calvin Robinson, who earned honorable mention all-Big Sky accolades as a special team’s player for the Hornets in 2006, is listed as backup at inside linebacker.
• The Lumberjacks’ two-deep also features wide receiver/punt returner Kevin Miles of Del Campo HS and inside linebacker Michael Lynch of Valley HS.
8/27/2008
The Sacramento State football team officially starts its 2008 season on Saturday, Aug. 30, when its hosts Humboldt State at 6:05 p.m. at Hornet Stadium. The game will be the first night game played at Hornet Stadium under second-year head coach Marshall Sperbeck.
The contest can be heard locally on KRJY 1240 AM with Jason Ross handling the play-by-play and Steve McElroy adding the color commentary. For those outside the greater Sacramento area, the game will also be available on the internet at www.hornetsports.com and on Big Sky TV (www.bigskytv.org).
Sacramento State begins its 2008 season in an unfamiliar setting — at home to start the year for the first time since hosting Saint Mary’s in 2001. In fact, Saturday’s game marks just the third time since 1995 that the Hornets will open a year at Hornet Stadium. The team is coming off a 3-8 overall record but ended the year on a high note, winning its final two contests.
Sophomore Jason Smith outdueled McLeod Bethel-Thompson for the starting job at quarterback during training camp. Smith, who started all 11 games last season, will have the benefit of a bolstered receiving corps which includes returners Tony Washington, Torrell Baker, Ron Richardson, Dylan Lane and Elon Paige and newcomers Kyle Hill and Brett Willis.
The Hornet defense returns just three staters from a year ago but two of those three are All-Americans Mike Brannon and Cyrus Mulitalo. Fellow linebacker Mike Hickman joined the pair as an all-Big Sky selection following the 2007 season.
Humboldt State finished 2007 with a 2-8 overall record. The Lumberjacks brought in head coach Rob Smith in February. Smith was the head coach at Western Washington for 17 years where he was the league coach of the year seven times.
Quick Hitters
• The Aug. 30 start date is the earliest a game has been played at Hornet Stadium in school history. The team has played only one other game earlier (Aug. 28, 2003) at Oregon State.
• Sacramento State has the longest active winning streak (two) among the Big Sky’s nine teams.
• Saturday’s game will be the 37th all-time meeting between the two teams. Sacramento State has only faced UC Davis (55 times) and Chico State (40) more in school history.
With a Win...
• Sacramento State will open the season with a win for the first time since defeating Saint Mary’s (13-6) in overtime in 2001.
• The Hornets will have won three-straight games for the first time since downing CS Northridge and Northern Arizona to end the 2000 season and Saint Mary’s to begin 2001.
• The team will record its ninth-consecutive win over Humboldt State.
With a Loss...
• Sacramento State will start the year 0-1 for the seventh-straight year.
• The team will have lost to Humboldt State for the first time since Nov. 14, 1981 (23-19).
• Humboldt State will win its season opener for the fourth time in the last five years.
A Look at the Hornets
Preseason Honors
Three Sacramento State players earned preseason honors. The trio was comprised of linebackers Cyrus Mulitalo and Mike Brannon and offensive tackle Ray Navar. All three players were named to the Big Sky Conference’s preseason first team and Mulitalo and Brannon each added preseason All-America honors as well.
Mulitalo was a first team All-American by The Sports Network and was unanimous Big Sky selection at linebacker, earning the preseason honor for the second straight year. Last season, he was a first team all-Big Sky selection and honorable mention All-American after tallying 98 tackles, including 13.5 tackles-for-loss. He enters the season ranked fifth in school history with 240 career tackles and is also fifth with 26.0 career TFLs.
Brannon joined Mulitalo as both a first team all-Big Sky selection and honorable mention All-American in 2007. The Rancho Cordova, Calif., native was named to The Sports Network’s third team this summer. He had a breakthrough year with 91 total tackles and a team-best 18.0 tackles-for-loss. He already holds the school’s Div. I-AA/FCS era record with 18.5 sacks and needs just seven more to set the all-time mark. He is also 5.5 TFLs shy of the school record and will move into the top 10 in school history in career tackles with 13 more.
Navar shifted from tight end to tackle prior to last season and made the most of the situation, earning honorable mention all-Big Sky honors. The native of Alta Loma, Calif., started all 11 games as the team’s strong-side tackle and paved the way for a Hornet rushing attack which ended the year averaging 323.5 yards per game.
Not to be Forgotten
It is safe to assume that there is not another player who earned all-Big Sky honors last season that get’s overlooked more than Mike Hickman. The senior earned honorable mention honors last year but plays in the shadow of Mulitalo and Brannon. A native of Millbrae, Calif., Hickman was one of the first players to commit to Sacramento State after Sperbeck was hired as head coach. Once here, he reunited with his coach from Foothill JC and tallied 66 total tackles, including 8.0 for loss.
On a Roll
Sacramento State enters the 2008 season with the longest active winning streak in the Big Sky. The Hornets won their final two games of the regular season with a thrilling “Hail Mary” catch by Tony Washington at Northern Colorado and a wire-to-wire victory against Idaho State.
A victory over Humboldt State will give the team its first three-game winning streak since the 2000-01 seasons. During that stretch, the Hornets defeated Cal State Northridge (64-61) and Northern Arizona (28-24) in the final two games of 2000 and Saint Mary’s (13-6) in overtime to start the 2001 season. The team has had four two-game streaks since that point but has come up short each time. The longest winning streak in the Div. I-AA/FCS era is four games spanning from the final two contests of 1999 to the opening two of 2000.
And the Winner Is...
It’s only fitting in an election year that Sacramento State had a battle during training camp which featured an incumbent and an upstart newcomer. The battle came at quarterback where the returning starter, Jason Smith, held off UCLA transfer McLeod Bethel-Thompson for the starting job.
Smith, who started every game last season, secured the starting job with a solid effort in the first scrimmage. Last season as a redshirt freshman, the Brentwood, Calif., native completed 162-of-303 attempts for 1,826 yards and 10 touchdowns. However, he also plagued by 17 interceptions. His highlights included a 396-yard, three-TD effort against Eastern Washington which is tied for the second most passing yards in school history.
Bethel-Thompson came to Sacramento State from UCLA prior to the spring semester. He shared time during spring ball with Duncan White while Smith was sidelined with a back injury. With the Bruins, Bethel-Thompson started the team’s Las Vegas Bowl game against BYU where he was 11-of-27 for 154 yards and a touchdown. A graduate of Balboa HS in San Francisco, he was named all-city and the league’s player of the year after passing for over 2,100 yards and 22 touchdowns.
White and freshman Nick Anderson will also add depth at the position. White played last season behind Smith and is a likely candidate to redshirt this year. Anderson is a local product from Oak Ridge HS who greyshirted at Fresno State in 2007.
Creating a One-Two Punch
The biggest surprise of training camp might have come at running back where sophomore Evander Wilkins won the starting nod over Bryan Hilliard. While Wilkins should play on the first offensive play of the game, expect both sophomores to receive extensive action during the game.
Wilkins, a 5-foot-6 graduate of Florin HS, appeared in five games as a true freshman. All but one of his 34 rushing yards came against Portland State. However, he began to make his progression in the spring when he was shifted to wide receiver. He moved back to running back this summer after Travon Jones was ruled academically ineligible. It was those receiving skills that have helped Wilkins separate himself from Hilliard during camp.
A slow start is nothing new to Hilliard. Last season, he had just one carry in the first three games. From that point, he had 153 carries for 823 years in the final eight games. His two biggest outputs came in the final two games of 2007. At Northern Colorado, Hilliard rushed for 168 yards and a touchdown. One week later, he amassed 243 yards and three scores against Idaho State.
Ironically, Jones was re-certified to practice just last week but is expected to redshirt this season. Others to see time at running back include freshmen Jake Croxdale and Anthony Biasi.
Changing of the Guard
For the first time in four years, Sacramento State will start a pair of safeties that are not Brent Webber or Brett Shelton. The pair combined for 577 career tackles and both started all 11 games in 2007. In fact, at least one of the two started every game over the past four seasons.
The leading candidates to take over at safety are junior Dorian Brown and sophomore Peter Buck. Brown played in the secondary two seasons ago but moved up to linebacker last season where he had 23 stops. Buck tallied 14 stops as a true freshman while playing behind Webber and Shelton.
Seniors Matt Evans and Jared Vanderbeek will also play at safety. Evans was a linebacker last year and had 12 tackles while Vanderbeek had nine stops at safety.
The starting cornerback jobs will go to senior Kevin Davis and newcomer Michael Casper. Davis has seen limited action since last season after suffering injuries in a car accident during the spring and then spraining his ankle early in training camp. Last year, he played in 10 games and recorded a career high 35 tackles.
Casper returns to his hometown after spending two seasons at Mendocino JC. A graduate of Valley HS, he has exceptional speed. True freshman Deionte Gordon and senior Ryan Battle will also contribute.
A Look at the Lumberjacks
• Garrett Hubrich has been named the team’s starting quarterback. Hubrich spent last season at Western Oregon and also played two years at Shasta JC. Last season’s starter Brian Hildebrand will be the backup. Hildebrand threw for 869 yards and two touchdowns with 11 interceptions in 2007.
• Wide receiver Matt Smith transferred to HSU from Portland State in late August. Smith caught a 47-yard touchdown pass against Sacramento State at PGE Park for his lone TD of the year.
• Defensively, linebacker Allen Brunner led the team in 2007 with 88 total tackles, including 6.5 tackles-for-loss and 3.0 sacks.
• Calvin Robinson, who earned honorable mention all-Big Sky accolades as a special team’s player for the Hornets in 2006, is listed as backup at inside linebacker.
• The Lumberjacks’ two-deep also features wide receiver/punt returner Kevin Miles of Del Campo HS and inside linebacker Michael Lynch of Valley HS.
