Sacramento State football is ‘starving for success’ as it kicks off spring drills
Brennan Marion hit the ground running when he arrived in December as Sacramento State’s next football coach, and he hasn’t slowed down a bit.
The energized 37-year-old hasn’t been so fast and efficient in what he’s done — recruiting, spring drills, adding staff — to have his trademark cowboy hat fly off into the wind. The lid remains fixed and firm, and Marion’s enthusiasm and zest to achieve has also defined the program in short order.
On Monday, the Hornets kicked off spring practices under cloudy skies with the annual spring game set for April 13. This week is the first chance for Marion and company to fully evaluate, to see guys in motion in pads and helmets, to see them mesh into a unit. There were conditioning drills leading up to spring tackle drills.
Everyone was in motion Monday, including holdover players and 58 new faces, not to mention an army of new coaches. Everyone is bent on turning the Hornets around. After winning or sharing a piece of the Big Sky Conference championship three times since 2019, Sacramento State buckled last fall under a mountain of injuries and crushing late-game losses.
Andy Thompson resigned after one year as coach to join Troy Taylor at Stanford. Taylor was the Hornets head coach for those title teams.
Now it’s Marion’s turn in his first go around as a head coach after years of success as an assistant coach, including recent seasons at UNLV. The goal is to finish back on top of the Big Sky, to win playoff games and to use rolling momentum in the school’s quest to move up from the FCS level to the FBS ranks.
Sac State has FCS’s No. 1 recruiting class
Marion’s influence includes a bounty of a haul of football commitments, resulting in the No. 1 recruiting class in the FCS, a first for the program. Sacramento State has offered full athletic scholarships to players near and far, including 5-star, national recruit senior-to-be quarterback Ryder Lyons of nearby Folsom High School.
Lyons made a visit to Sacramento State, put on gear, took photos with a pinkie finger up for the school’s “Stingers Up” mantra, and he chatted it up with staffers as the highest-rated prospect to make a visit in the 70-year history of the program.
“The joy and energy here has been awesome, and I’m excited to get this rolling,” Marion said of his spring kickoff. “We’re going to practice with great tempo and speed and energy. These guys are out here sweating, getting their hands dirty. We recruit every day at a high level. There’s no limit of how good we can be and where we can go.”
Marion has a motto that has resonated to players and coaches.
“One great year can change your life,” he said. “It doesn’t matter where you came from. It’s about giving it your absolute all to making sure we have one plan, and that’s to be champions.”
Marion said spring drills won’t necessarily decide starting lineups as fall camp will include waves of new players. But the spring drills can certainly set a mood and tempo. And this: No one has a secure spot on the depth chart. All positions are open.
“We want everybody to feel like they’re walking on eggshells,” Marion said. “We don’t want anybody to feel like their spot is safe. In today’s ever-rapid flowing change of college football, we have to work that much harder.”
What the players have to say
Sophomore offensive lineman Jose Soto is a holdover from last season, and he’s eager to regain his form after suffering a season-ending foot injury in the 2024 season opener at San Jose State.
“I’m still here because I want to be here,” Soto said. “The new coaches have been great. Coach Marion says we can be ourselves. I have a cowboy hat, too, from the Central Valley.”
UNLV transfer linebacker Keith Conley experienced Marion last season. He’s hooked. He’s a believer, and that’s why he switched to Sacramento State.
“We’re starving for success,” he said. “Hungry is not the word. The main rule here is to love football, and we do. It starts with Coach Marion. He’s been great.”
Kris Richardson is a hold-over coach from the previous regime, a big name in Sacramento as the former head coach at Folsom and the offensive line coach since 2019. Despite injuries, Richardson’s offensive line has been a rock in the program.
“I always tell people, when he points, everyone moves right,” Marion said with a laugh. “Coach Rich doesn’t have to say anything. All he has to is look at his guys and they know exactly what to do. Any time you have a coach like that, especially in the most important unit on the field, the linemen up front, you have gold.”
Life balance for Marion
Marion has made sure to balance his life so it’s not 24/7 football, morning, noon, late night and dawn. He and his wife, Maddy Lynn, recently binge-watched television episodes of “Yellowstone,” so he went to bed late. Now, he’s an early riser, sometimes as early as 4 a.m.
Marion has also spent time in the Bay Area watching his young son from a previous relationship play flag football, which he enjoys more than watching the young lad pitch.
“Love watching him throw the ball as a quarterback but it’s hard to watch him in baseball because you want everything to go right,” Marion said with a laugh.
Marion said his ability to run laterally or run at all, like his record-setting receiver days at the University of Tulsa in Oklahoma, are long gone. But he can coach up a storm. He’s still gets around in burst, bolting from one drill to another, the cowboy hat not moving.
“I am a teacher now,” he said with a smile, “and I’m loving it.”
This story was originally published March 21, 2025 at 5:00 AM.