Sacramento State’s new football coaches vowed to recruit locally. Have they?
They said they would go local, mine the region and offer their pitch, and they have.
Sacramento State’s new coaching staff, headed by longtime pals Troy Taylor and Kris Richardson, only has a handful of scholarships to offer this winter, but they are maximizing their opportunities. They are meeting and greeting, shaking hands, making the rounds in their quest to lay the foundation for a new Hornets beginning.
The coaches have landed three verbal pledges amid a whirlwind of campus and home visits. The Hornets received scholarship commitments from Sacramento Bee Defensive Player of the Year Tyler Hardeman, a defensive lineman from Folsom High School; Joe Wagner, a two-way Folsom lineman and All-Metro standout; and Inderkum All-Metro star Brandon Knott, deemed the best offensive lineman in school history by Tigers coaches.
Sac State has also made an offer to Jesuit’s Cade Brownholtz, a two-time Bee All-Metro defensive end who had a recruiting trip to Oregon State last week, and to Del Oro All-Metro kick and punt return specialist Johnny Guzman, who said he will sign with the Hornets.
Taylor and Richardson know the regional prep landscape well. They were co-coaches at Folsom for much of this decade before Taylor left to coach at Eastern Washington and Utah. Under Richardson, Folsom kept winning, claiming the 2017 and 2018 CIF State Division 1-AA championships.
Taylor last month accepted the Sac State job and immediately named Richardson his assistant head coach while also bringing from Folsom assistant coaches Bobby Fresques, Sam Cole and Chris Parry.
Hornets coaches cannot talk publicly about recruits until student-athletes sign binding letters of intent Feb. 6.
Hardeman can speak, though, and the senior is still on Cloud 9, including a spirited downtown Folsom parade last week to celebrate the school’s second successive state championship.
“I was really fired up about being a Hornet before the coaching changes, but after everything happened, my decision got much easier,” Hardeman said. “Being able to play in front of my family is an amazing opportunity. Coach Taylor and Richardson are the best there is, and I couldn’t be more fortunate. I am thankful beyond words.
“Coach Taylor said that Sac State has the best high school football in the Big Sky Conference to recruit.”
Sac State for decades has relied on the local region, though scores of parents have not always viewed it that way while not fully understanding how recruiting works. A criticism of the previous coaching staff was that Sac State bypassed too many local players.
The Hornets will focus on the local area but will also keep an eye on the rest of the state. It would be foolish not to.
What’s more, college programs at the FCS level, including UC Davis, do not have three dozen scholarships to hand out. No one does.
Sometimes, programs have just 15 or 22, or sometimes much fewer, so a pool of 30 candidates cannot possibly land at one school with 15 rides available.
Sac State went from sad sack to contender under Bob Mattos in the 1980s with local recruiting, starting with the first scholarship signee in program history in running back Donald Hair of McClatchy in 1985.
In the early 1990s, Sac State was recruiting statewide, and that trend continued under John Volek in the late 1990s, though Volek remained especially loyal to local athletes. Sac State last won a conference championship in 1995, under Volek, and last reached the playoffs in 1988, under Mattos, whose top players in ‘88 included local gems Hair and Mark Young, the receiver out of Cordova and Sacramento City College.
Taylor said last month he prides himself in knowing “every high school coach in this town.”
He added, “I’m familiar with Sacramento and what this city has to offer. There’s no better high school coaching in the country than right here. We have great coaches, great players, and Sacramento will be a priority recruiting wise for us. The biggest recruiting region in the Big Sky is right here.
“We want to give players a reason to be here. We don’t want to be a cookie-cutter program. We want to be unique. The vision will be based on love. We want players who love Sacramento, love each other, love to compete. Love is the most powerful force..”
Two other Folsom seniors gave verbal commitments to North Dakota - defensive lineman Chandon Pierre and defensive back Caleb Nelson.
Along with Hardeman, Wagner, Kaiden Bennett and Joe Ngata, that gives Folsom six scholarship signees. Bennett and Ngata signed early commitments in December with Boise State and Clemson.
Folsom could have other players sign next week as well.
Who’s going where
Verbal commitments from area athletes for full athletic scholarships. Signing day is Feb. 6.
For updates and to be included on this list: jdavidson@sacbee.com
Wyatt Berry Del Oro DL San Diego
Tyler Bohannon Grant DB Montana State
Jonathan Boyd Capital Christian Princeton
Will Buck Capital Christian OL/DL San Diego
Jackson Canaan Jesuit TE San Jose State
Michael Graves Sheldon WR Idaho
Johnny Guzman Del Oro KR Sacramento State
Tyler Hardeman Folsom DL Sacramento State
Matty Horne Elk Grove DB Northern Arizona
Elijah King Cosumnes Oaks DB Montana State
Brandon Knott Inderkum OL Sacramento State
Caleb Nelson Folsom DB North Dakota
Chandon Pierre Folsom DL North Dakota
Shane Semeit Capital Christian Northern Arizona
Jacob Trach Cosumnes Oaks RB Air Force
Joe Wagner Folsom OL/DL Sacramento State
Ryan Whalley Del Oro K UC Davis
Follow The Bee’s Joe Davidson: jdavidson@sacbee.com, @SacBee_JoeD, sacbee.com/high-school.
This story was originally published January 29, 2019 at 5:31 PM.