By Niles Hall (@n23hall) – Content Editor | Senior Offensive Lineman Simeon Afalava lines up during spring camp on March 21. (Photo by Max Garcia (@maxgarci09) – Spear Photographer)
San Jose State football spring practices are in full swing as the Spartans’ offense is in the early phases of preparing for the 2026 season.
After losing key offensive starters to the transfer portal, SJSU has starting jobs up for grabs across the lineup.
The Spartans’ most important position to fill is quarterback, as they lost 2025 starting redshirt quarterback Walker Eget, who transferred to Duke University. He started 18 games for SJSU throughout the past two seasons.
SJSU quarterbacks, redshirt freshman Robert McDaniel, University of Hawaii transfer redshirt senior Luke Weaver and true freshman Daniel Rolovich are in a three-way competition for the starting position.
“It’s relatively close right now between Robbie, Daniel and Luke; they’re all doing good things, they’re making mistakes. I think it’s a really heated battle,” SJSU head coach Ken Niumatalolo said. “We’re trying to give them an equal amount of reps … been encouraged by them, but there’s no clear-cut starter right now”.
McDaniel played in three games for the Spartans last season, completing three of 11 passes and throwing one interception.
Weaver appeared in five games for Hawaii last season, making two starts.. He averaged 295 total yards of offense in those starts, passing for five touchdowns and one interception.
Rolovich played at San Marin High School during his two seasons starting; he threw for 2,435 yards and 28 touchdowns.
“It’s a stiff competition with Luke coming in, Robbie being here and Daniel coming in; they all have different qualities, different traits, they all have something special about them.” SJSU offensive coordinator Craig Stutzmann said, “It’s really those guys growing with the rest of the offense and just producing”.
Sophomore Tama Amisone, who appeared in eight games at quarterback for the Spartans last season, has switched positions to become a wide receiver.
Wide receiver is another position in competition at SJSU, as the team lost its top three receiving leaders via the transfer portal.
The Spartans have 13 rostered wide receivers, adding four in the transfer portal. The team retained seven receivers from last season, five of whom redshirted and signed two freshmen.
Redshirt junior Cooper Hoch has the most experience in SJSU’s offense, as he’s the team’s only receiver to be at SJSU the last four years. Hoch has 119 receiving yards during his stint as a Spartan.
Redshirt junior wide receiver Malachi Riley was one of the Spartans’ top additions during the 2025 transfer portal window. Unfortunately, he had suffered a season-ending injury in the first half of week one last season.
The Spartans’ transfer portal additions at wide receiver have limited statistics to show. Most notably, the team added redshirt sophomore Jordan Anderson, who was second on Sacramento State with 361 receiving yards.
Throughout Stutzmann’s career, he has proved that his ‘Spread and Shred’ offense is a place for wide receiver talent to bloom.
“The things they were able to get done in past years with guys in my position, they have a really good track record of guys putting up some pretty good numbers,” Penn State transfer and redshirt senior SJSU wide receiver Anthony Ivey said. “I think Coach Billy and his brother Coach Stutz do a phenomenal job of getting their playmakers the ball.”
The offensive line is another unit that has positions up for grabs after the Spartans lost four linemen, three of whom were starters.
SJSU lost both starting tackles and its left guard, replacing them with redshirt senior guard Lavaka Taukeiaho and tackles redshirt sophomore Ikiansio Tupou and redshirt freshman Brian Tapu, each transferring from power-conference schools with limited experience.
“It’s been great work, Ramsen Golpahsin, our new offensive line coach, is working hard,” Niumatalolo said. “I love what he’s doing with them, playing physical and practicing physical.”
The Spartans will continue to prepare for the 2026 season with eight more spring practices and the spring game on April 18 at 1 p.m at CEFCU Stadium before the return for fall camp.
