‘Commitment’ only goes so far as Aztecs recruit QB of the future

The San Diego State football team has all but completed its 2026 recruiting class as it shifts the focus to fall camp and the 2025 season.

The Class of 2026 includes two dozen players, but no quarterback.

Not that the Aztecs haven’t tried to get one.

In fact, Ventura High School quarterback Derek Garcia was the first member of the 2026 class when he committed to SDSU on Jan. 10.

Garcia decommitted in April, and SDSU searched for a replacement at the position. The Aztecs had a commitment lined up with Rancho Cucamonga High School quarterback Jacob Chambers in June when that, too, went sideways.

Both QBs have committed to SDSU’s Mountain West rivals — Garcia to UNLV and Chambers to Fresno State.

It speaks to the nature of recruiting in an era where the word commitment is defined differently than in years past.

What’s in a word?

“Commitment usually means an engagement,” said Brandon Huffman, national recruiting editor at 247Sports.com. “You’re not married, and we see engagements broken all the time. I’ve said the last couple of years that all a commitment does is show other schools that want you how much harder they have to recruit you because you made reservations at one place.

“Now, with the way NIL’s involved, it’s almost like I make a commitment so I can up the ante with other schools. It’s completely changed.”

Everything is sped up now, with some players committing nearly a year before signing day. For decades, commitments came during a player’s senior season, or shortly after it ended.

“Commitment is the word the industry still uses, and it’s the word coaches still seek from players,” said Huffman, prompting a memory from the movie “The Princess Bride” regarding the definition of the word inconceivable. “You keep using that word,” the character Inigo Montoya says. “I do not think it means what you think it means.”

Case in point: Four-star wide receiver Jasen Lopez committed to Florida State last month. Then he told Rivals.com: “This isn’t me shutting down my recruiting.”

“I’m going to stay in contact with other coaches,” said Lopez, who was still considering Miami (Fla.), West Virginia, Georgia Tech and North Carolina State. “It’s just me committed to a school verbally.”

Said Huffman: “Well, then you didn’t give a commitment if you’re still fielding offers. It’s basically a buzzword more than there means anything to it.”

Feeling at home

When the Union-Tribune contacted Garcia after his commitment to SDSU in January, the three-star QB said: “San Diego State has made me feel at home since the first time being there. They are going to be a steady program for me to be at and they are going to build it up to be a great school.

“They also are going to a great conference (the Pac-12 in 2026) when I am going to be a freshman that I am super excited about. The staff has always made me feel confident and made me feel wanted.”

Feeling wanted is more of a thing these days with recruits, so much so that some need to feel wanted by other schools even after they’ve committed.

On March 12, Garcia tweeted: “Grateful to be re-offered by UNLV.”

On April 28, Garcia announced that he was decommitting from SDSU. Four days later, he announced his commitment to UNLV.

“At the time, I thought San Diego State was the right fit for me,” Garcia said in an interview with The Scarlet Standard. “UNLV hadn’t jumped in the mix at that time, and once they did, I kind of stayed in contact with them.”

Garcia focused on the Rebels’ past two years of success, as opposed to decades of struggles, as one of the reasons for changing his commitment.

“They have that experience how to win,” Garcia said. “They have that experience how to produce guys. … Also, the resources, I always talk about, at UNLV are just unmatched. They help you out in everything you do there and their facilities are top-tier. So it was a really easy decision after the first time I was able to go out there.”

Too many cooks

Recruiting conversations now include a larger circle of people than just the recruit, his family and college coaches.

“That’s the other thing,” Huffman said. “There’s so many cooks in the kitchen now that you’re not sure what’s being created. … It’s an agent. It’s representation. The days of the DB coach going to recruit the defensive back, those are done. Now, it’s a personnel assistant or personnel director who’s talking with the representation.

“The kid still wants to go and the DB coach wants the kid, but the people doing the negotiating are hitting a snag and that marriage never happens.”

Huffman said he has been able to evolve and pivot with the changes rather than get tired and frustrated with them.

“We used to joke that the day after signing day is ‘National Unfollow-a-kid-on-Twitter Day.’ ” he said. “Now, you might have to cover his second, his third, his fourth recruitment, so you keep those relationships going.”

Prioritizing truth

Chambers, the Rancho Cucamonga quarterback, committed to Sacramento State after a June 6 visit to the school.

On June 13, Chambers accompanied his high school team to a 7-on-7 tournament at SDSU. While there, he received a scholarship offer from the Aztecs.

Chambers agreed to take an official visit to SDSU the following week, a source said, and planned to flip his commitment to the Aztecs.

But SDSU’s offer came with a caveat, the source said: Chambers was not to make a side trip to Fresno State before returning to San Diego.

The QB agreed, the source said, only to travel to Fresno and throw for the Bulldogs anyway. When the Aztecs found out, the official visit was canceled and the scholarship offer withdrawn.

On June 28, Chambers committed to Fresno State.

NCAA rules preclude coaches from talking about specific players before they have officially signed. Coaches can speak in general terms about recruiting philosophy.

“We prioritize truth, honesty, transparency and loyalty from the families that we’re going to recruit and the families that have committed to us,” SDSU coach Sean Lewis said. “Those are great values and priorities that they share with us. There will always be a premium put on that through our process that the families and individuals that we recruit mean what they say and say what they mean.

“That’s how we conduct our business. The trust in the relationship that’s going to be established from very early on through the high school recruiting process and has led to a solid foundation and great culture that has allowed us to retain our top guys.”

Still looking

SDSU is still looking to add a Class of 2026 quarterback, although there is not the urgency to do so as in years past.

The advent of the NCAA transfer portal has signaled a shift. Why develop a QB out of high school, the thinking goes, when you can go grab a transfer who is game-ready?

The Aztecs have brought in a transfer quarterback virtually every year the past decade. Graduate transfers were the original targets because they were immediately eligible, while underclassmen had to sit out a year.

Everyone and anyone is immediately eligible now.

That’s what allowed SDSU to bring in juniors Jayden Denegal (Michigan) and Bert Emanuel Jr. (Central Michigan) after freshman starter Danny O’Neil transferred to Wisconsin.

Denegal and Emanuel will compete for the starting role when fall camp opens on Wednesday. Behind them in the QB room are junior Kyle Crum and true freshmen JP Mialovski and Draiden Trudeau.

So SDSU may have its 2026 quarterback on campus already. Those players, after all, have already committed.