Aztecs notebook: SDSU coach Sean Lewis hits campus, community in bid to build following

San Diego State coach Sean Lewis and his staff used an off week to go recruiting for players — and fans.

SDSU held community engagement events everywhere from downtown to Pacific Beach to North County; 4,000 complimentary tickets were distributed for Saturday night’s game against Cal at Snapdragon Stadium.

They were “all over the place to get some opportunities for youth events, for military, for educators, to be able to come and to have an experience,” Lewis said. “We wanted to create an opportunity where for a lot of people if it was their first time coming, that was going to be on us. And the second time, when they have a good experience, that was going to be on them.”

There was a particular focus on youth events. A flag football organization in Rancho Bernardo was among the groups where the Aztecs aimed to make an impact.

“There was probably close to 1,000 tickets that were passed out,” Lewis said. “You’ve got groups of families that are, obviously, interested in football. There’s young kids and there’s an opportunity to have them be Aztecs fans forever …

“It was really well-received. I’m hoping that we got enough notice to them that this Saturday, there will be a bunch of people that come out and spend the evening with us.”

Lewis recently visited SDSU chemistry and statistics classes to encourage students to attend the game.

SDSU typically sets aside 5,000 tickets for students in the north end zone. A school spokesman said 8,000 student tickets will be available for Saturday’s game. Students receive free tickets to athletic events.

“Knowing and understanding that every single student can come for free,” Lewis said, “I was championing with the students that the stadium can hold just over 32,000 people. We have 35,000 students that go to school here. It should be standing-room-only, like it was in that chemistry class I went to where there was only 500 seats but there were more than 500 students in that classroom.

“For the students, in particular, part of the collegiate experience is going to the athletic events and being tied together as a community rallying around the Aztecs.”

Students comprised nearly half the crowd for SDSU’s season opener against Stony Brooks two weeks ago. The Aztecs announced a crowd of 20,624, with an in-house total of 13,516.

More free tickets

SDSU season-ticket holders are being offered two free tickets to Saturday’s game to give to family members or friends. Additional tickets have been discounted to $40.

Nearly half the tickets in the 32,500-seat stadium still remained for sale two weeks ago for the Cal game. That’s representative of the challenges SDSU has faced filling seats for football games, where only 52% of seats have been occupied the past two seasons.

“I’m grateful for all the people who have shown up, but I think we can, obviously, pour some more people in,” Lewis said. “We’ve got to play better so that more people are interested, but there’s some great things that are going on (for game-day experience).”

A pair of free tickets were first offered to football season-ticket holders last season for last season’s home game against Hawaii. The offer boosted attendance by about 1,000 fans, to 31,307 announced (22,318 turnstile).

Similar offers were made to non-football season-ticket holders for the New Mexico game (21,832 announced/12,745 turnstile) and football season-ticket holders for the Air Force game (18,045/10,429), which drew the two smallest crowds in Snapdragon’s brief history.

Bostick listed as starter

SDSU junior transfer wide receiver Jacob Bostick moved ahead of Myles Kitt-Denton on the two-deep updated for the Cal game. Bostick leads Aztecs receivers with 101 yards and two touchdowns. His six receptions are second behind team leader Jordan Napier’s 10.

Injury update

SDSU junior linebacker Tano Letuli, who injured his left shoulder at Washington State two weeks ago, is expected to play against Cal.

Next game details

SDSU’s Sept. 27 game at Northern Illinois will start at 12:30 p.m. and be streamed on ESPN+.

It is the only game this season that won’t be broadcast on TV.

Northern Illinois (2-1) plays at Mississippi State this weekend after beating Holy Cross and losing to Maryland this season.