Aztecs approach FanFest scrimmage as ‘dress rehearsal’ for season opener

San Diego State coach Sean Lewis wants Thursday night’s FanFest scrimmage at Snapdragon Stadium to resemble gamelike conditions as much as possible in preparation for SDSU’s Aug. 28 season opener against Stony Brook.

Lewis said there will be “full game-day mechanics.” That includes the players making a midfield entrance at Snapdragon, an officiating crew, putting assistant coaches up in their boxes to oversee the action, players reviewing plays on tablets in real time along the sidelines, and on and on.

“It will be our first live dress rehearsal,” Lewis said, “to see truly, when the lights come on and there’s some strangers in the stands, who has gone about their business the right way and has trained for that opportunity and who needs a little bit more refinement.”

FanFest is free, but fans are required to have a ticket for entry. Fans can claim up to four tickets online at https://am.ticketmaster.com/sdsu/buy/AztecFanFest or by calling the SDSU ticket office at (619) 283-7378.

Parking is $10 and can be purchased online where tickets are reserved. The parking lots open at 5 p.m. Entry gates open at 6, with the scrimmage set to begin at 7.

The Aztecs return virtually their entire starting defense, led by preseason Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year Trey White. The junior edge rusher was among the nation’s leaders last season with 12 1/2 sacks.

There will be a lot of new faces on offense, where linemen Christian Jones and Ross Ulugalu-Maseuli are the only returning starters, though wide receiver Jordan Napier had a breakout season as a true freshman. Junior running back Lucky Sutton, who played at Cathedral Catholic High School, leads three local players out of the backfield.

“There’s a great opportunity here on Thursday to come support and to come get a great, live look at this and to experience what our guys are doing, the energy they’re bring and the excitement that is San Diego State football,” Lewis said.

The coach teased some “new traditions that we’re tying into the San Diego community that we want them to be a part of. Thursday night in a lot of ways is a dress rehearsal for us as a team, and it’s a dress rehearsal for us as a community, so that two weeks from Thursday we can have it start to become one of the greatest college football home-field advantages in the whole country.”

Among the new features Lewis said, is “a tie-in to Top Gun and the city of San Diego that’s going to start the fourth quarter.”

Lewis was asked if Tom Cruise is showing up.

“We don’t have that in the budget,” he said. “We’ll save the cash and retain the players.”