A BRIEF PREVIEW

• A new era of Sacramento State football begins this weekend as the Hornets will usher into the FBS, a new conference as well as a first-year head coach when they play at Eastern Michigan on Saturday, Aug. 29. The game against the Eagles will kickoff at 3:30 p.m. PT from Rynearson Stadium.
• This week's game will be streamed on ESPN+ with Mick Tidrow on play-by-play and former Cal Bear and New England Patriot Jerod Cherry as the analyst.
• Hornet fans can tune in to ESPN 1320 AM to hear the radio call of Jason Ross (play-by-play), Steve McElroy (analyst) and Danny Sullivan (sideline). Live audio streaming is also available via www.hornetsports.com and the Audacy app.

STORYLINES

• Sacramento State will play its first game as a member of the FBS on Saturday. The Hornets are one of two first-year programs (North Dakota State) who moved up from the FCS during the offseason. Along with the change in subdivision, the team joined the Mid-American Conference and will take an immediate dive into conference play as it faces Eastern Michigan. The game marks the first time the Hornets will open the season with a conference game in school history.
• Head coach Alonzo Carter will also debut on Saturday. Carter has previous head coaching experience and the high school and junior college levels and has spent the past nine seasons as an assistant under Brent Brennan at San Jose State and Arizona.
• Carter is the 14th head coach in school history, the fourth since 2022 and third since 2024. The previous 13 head coaches went 6-7 in their first game as the head coach at Sacramento State.
• The Hornets are coming off a 2025 season which saw the team post a 7-5 overall record and a 5-3 mark in the Big Sky Conference. That performance continued a streak which has seen the team produce a winning record in all but one season since 2019 and post a 48-27 overall record during that stretch. The team won Big Sky Conference titles in 2019, 2021 and 2022 and also added an additional FCS Playoff appearance in 2023.
• However, the Hornets return just a fraction of that squad as Sacramento State brings back only six starters as part of 34 returning letterwinners. To help fill in the gap, the Hornets have brought in 73 new players.
• Eastern Michigan posted a 4-8 overall record last season and was 3-5 in MAC games. The team is coached by Chris Creighton who is in his 13th season with the Eagles — making him the second-longest tenured head football coach in the MAC. Creighton and Carter previously faced one another in the 2022 Idaho Potato Bowl when Carter was an assistant at SJSU.
• EMU returns its leading passer (Noah Kim, 2.817 yards, 18 TDs) and receiver Nick Devereaux (34 rec, 510 yds, 7 TD)s).

IN THE BEGINNING

• Sacramento State is 31-39-1 all-time in season openers and 13-30-1 when opening on the road. Overall, the team has won five of its last seven season debuts and seven of the last 11.
• The Hornets will open the year on the road for the fifth time in the last six years and the sixth time since 2017. Sacramento State started the 2017 season at Idaho with a 28-6 loss, began the 2021 season at Utah Tech (W), the 2023 at Nicholls (W), 2024 season at San Jose State (L) and last season at South Dakota State (L).
• This week's game will be the first time that the Hornets have opened a year with a conference game. In fact the game is the only conference matchup in all of FBS this week (Note: NC State and Virginia are playing a non-conference game even though both are in the ACC).
• Sacramento State will be starting its season against an FBS team for just the second time since 2019. The only other matchup against an FBS opponent during that span came in 2024 at San Jose State where the Spartans recorded a 42-24 win.
• The only other time the Hornets have started the season in the Eastern Time Zone came in 1996 at Hofstra (L, 33-3). That season was Sacramento State's first in the Big Sky Conference. 
• The Hofstra game is also the only one the team has ever played in the Eastern Time Zone regardless of week prior to this year. The 2026 season, will see the Hornets play four games in that time zone this season (EMU, Bowling Green, Ball State, Central Michigan).
• Sacramento State has enjoyed some high-scoring efforts in recent season openers. The team scored 55 points against Saint Francis (Ill.) in 2018, set the school single-game record with 77 against Southern Oregon in 2019 and posted 56 against Utah Tech in 2022. All three of those games were played at Hornet Stadium. In the four most recent season-openers on the road, Sacramento State has averaged 21.0 points per game.

HOW WE GOT HERE

• The Hornets started football in 1954 and competed at the NCAA Div. II level as members of the Far Western Conference until 1981. During that era, the team won titles in 1964, 1966, and 1969 under head coach Ray Clemons. The 1968 team also reached the Junior Rose Bowl, taking on Grambling in the famed stadium.
• After a three-year stint in the Northern California Athletic Conference, Sacramento State moved to the Western Football Conference starting in 1985 and continuing until 1992. Led by head coach Bob Mattos, the Hornets recorded four seasons with at least eight wins, including 1988 which saw the team go 10-3 and advance to the NCAA Div. II semifinals.
• The fate of Sacramento State football was in jeopardy in the early 1990s as many schools in California dropped their programs. A referendum was passed by students in the spring of 1995 which increased fees and helped usher the Hornets into NCAA Div. I for all sports (Div. I-AA/FCS for football).
• Sacramento State landed in the American West Conference (1993-95), winning the league title in its final season.
• A move to the Big Sky Conference came in 1996 and the Hornets remained in the league for 30 years. After struggling to find its footing (just six winning seasons in the first 23 years) the team broke through under  head coach Troy Taylor who guided the team to league titles in 2019, 2021 and 2022 and a combined 30-8 record. 
• After Taylor left for Stanford, Andy Thompson continued the success with an 8-5 record in 2023 where the team advanced to the second round of the FCS Playoffs. Sacramento State came close to getting back to the playoffs last year, finishing with a 7-5 record, including a pair of one-score losses.
• Sacramento State accepted an invitation to join the MAC on Feb. 16, 2026 just 14 days after the February signing day.

RIDING MOMENTUM

• Sacramento State has won at least seven games in five of the last six seasons. The Hornets were one of 12 FCS programs to hit that mark.
• The team has gone 48-27 during that stretch and reached at least the second round of the FCS Playoffs four times.
• The Hornets own four wins over FBS programs since 2011. That streak started with a 29-28 overtime win at Oregon State. The following year, the team used a walk-off field goal to down Colorado, 30-28. Sacramento State dismantled Colorado State, 41-10, in 2022 and the team topped Stanford, 30-23, in 2023. The four FBS wins were tied for the second most by an FCS program during since 2011 trailing only five by North Dakota State.

ROSTER REBUILD

• In what has become the norm in this age of college football, Sacramento State's roster will feature over 70 new players for the second-consecutive year. A year after welcoming 71 players, the Hornets brought in 73 newcomers to start the 2026 campaign. That total is comprised of 35 on offense, 34 on defense and four specialists.
• The newcomers are comprised of 24 freshmen, 19 junior college transfers and 30 four-year transfers. That last group breaks down to 16 FBS transfers, 10 from the FCS and four from non-Div. I programs.
• Two of the transfers return to campus after spending a year away. Quarterback Carson Conklin redshirted in 2023 and became the starter in 2024. Following the spring of 2025, he transferred to Fresno State where he started four games and appeared in two others. Tight end Kyle Koontz was a true freshman in 2024 and played at Houston Christian in 2025.
• Sacramento State features just one returning offensive player who started at least six games for the team in 2026 — tight end Jordan Williams (9 starts). The defense is slightly more experienced with four returning starters (CB Elias Mullican, OLB Fata Puloka, ILB Alex Rocha, DE Xavier Williams). The team also brings back kicker Grant Meadors.
• Overall, the team has 17 players who have spent at least two seasons with the program heading into 2026.That includes 14 who have played their entire career with the program.
• The only player returning to complete a pass last season is wide receiver Jaxon Fresques who was 2-for-2 for 15 yards. Running back Jamar Curtis, who played in one full game, is the leading returning rusher with 155 yards while Williams tops the returners with 11 catches for 170 yards. Wide receiver Ajon Bryant, who suffered a season-ending injury in the second game of the year, ranks second in both categories with 34 rushing and 58 receiving yards in 2025.
• The Hornets do return two of their top-five tacklers and three of the top 10 from a year ago. Alex Rocha was third on the team with 49 stops while Fata Puloka was fifth (43) and Derek Houston ninth (32).
• Meadors led the team in scoring a year ago after making 12-of-15 field goals and 51-of-53 PATs. However, the team does not return a player who kicked off or punted for Sacramento State.

COACHING CAROUSEL

• As expected with a head coaching change, the Sacramento State staff has numerous new faces on the sideline this season. Of the 13 full-time assistants on the staff, only offensive line coach Kris Richardson returns. Richardson has handled the o-line coaching duties since 2019 and produced three FCS All-Americans.
• After serving as a offensive analyst and director of alumni relations last year, Bobby Fresques returns as quarterbacks coach. Fresques previously held the role since 2019 and was the team's offensive coordinator in 2023 and 2024.
• Fresques and associate head coach Angus McClure are both Sacramento State graduates. McClure is back at his alma mater, having previously coached the offensive line from 1997-2003.
• The team's offense will be guided by Eric Kiesau who's had stops at several P4 schools including Florida, Auburn and Alabama. The defense is led by Adam Clark who comes to the Hornets after two seasons at the defensive coordinator at Northern Arizona.

LET'S GO STREAKING

• Sacramento State enters 2026 with some interesting statistical streaks...
• The Hornets are 38-7 when outrushing its opponent since the start of the 2019 season and 10-20 when the opponent has more rushing yards.
• Passing yards don't seem to make as much of a difference as Sacramento State is 31-15 when outpassing the opposition but 17-10 when on the short side.
• The Hornets have are undefeated in their last 10 games when getting a defensive or special teams score.
• The team is 23-1 when scoring at least 40 points during that same span. The only loss was the 66-63 loss to Incarnate Word in the quarterfinals of the 2022 FCS Playoffs.
• Sacramento State is 30-6 when losing the coin toss but just 18-21 when winning the toss since 2019.

NEXT IN LINE

• Whoever is the starting quarterback for Sacramento State at Eastern Michigan will become the 21st different Hornet to begin the year at the position in the school's Div. I era (1993-pres.). During that stretch only seven quarterbacks have started multiple season openers led by four-year starter Ryan Leadingham (2001-04). Jason Smith (2007-09), Garrett Safron (2012-14) and Kevin Thomson (2017-19) each own three starts in the first game of the year while Tony Corbin (1995-96), A.J. Bernhardt (1997-98) and Ashar O'Hara (2021-22) started two.
• Being the opening-game starter has not been a good omen of things to come in the last three seasons for the team. In 2023, Carson Camp started at Nichols before being replaced by Kaiden Bennett who started 10 of the final 12 games. In 2024, Bennett earned the starting nod in the first two games but was replaced by Carson Conklin for the remainder of the season. Last season, Jaden Rashada started the first two games and was relieved by Cardell Williams after an injury.
• Conklin is the only quarterback on this year's team who has started a game at a four-year college. 

LIKE HE NEVER LEFT

• Carson Conklin will be the likely signal caller for Sacramento State on Saturday at Eastern Michigan. If that holds true, Conklin will make his first start for the Hornets since the final game of 2024. Following a coaching change after that season, Conklin participated in spring practice before deciding to enter the transfer portal and land at Fresno State.
• With the Bulldogs, Conklin started four games, including a win at Boise State which snapped the Broncos' NCAA FBS leading 16-game home winning streak. He finished the season by completing 47-of-96 passes for 354 yards and a touchdown.
• In 2024, Conklin finished third for the Jerry Rice Award which goes to the top FCS freshman. That season, he set school records with 2,876 yards and 28 passing touchdowns to earn Freshman All-America honors.
• His touchdown total ranked second in school single-season history regardless of class while his yardage total and completions (261) were fourth.
• Conklin recorded four games with over 300 passing yards comprised of 389 against UC Davis, 357 against Weber State, 314 against Portland State and 308 at Cal Poly. He also threw at least one touchdown pass in 11 of the team's 12 games and had multiple TD tosses in eight games.
• The Yorba Linda, Calif., native enters the season already ranked in the school top 10 in numerous career passing categories and can crack the top 10 in career passing yards with 180 yards against the Eagles.

Sac State Career Passing Yards
1. Garrett Safron (2011-14) 9,713
2. Ryan Leadingham (2001-04) 8,376
3. Kevin Thomson (2017-19) 6,424
4. Jake Dunniway (2019-22) 5,575
5. Jason Smith (2007-09) 5,357
6. Mike Sullivan (1981-83) 5,085
7. Tony Corbin (1995-96) 4,866
8. Ricky Ray (1999-00) 4,622
9. Greg Knapp (1982-85) 3,806
10. Drew Wyantt (1986-89) 3,800
11. Bobby Fresques (1990-92) 3,757
12. Carson Conklin (2023-24, 26) 3,620

Sac State Career Touchdowns TDs
1. Garrett Safron (2011-14) 86 
2. Kevin Thomson (2017-19) 52 
3. Ryan Leadingham (2001-04) 50 
4. Jason Smith (2007-09) 38 
5. Jake Dunniway (2019-22) 36 
T6. Carson Conklin (2023-24, 26) 34
T6. Tony Corbin (1995-96) 34
T6. Mike Sullivan (1981-83) 34

Sac State Career Completions
1. Garrett Safron (2011-14) 833
2. Ryan Leadingham (2001-04) 658
3. Jason Smith (2007-09) 442
4. Kevin Thomson (2017-19) 441
5. Jake Dunniway (2019-22) 410
6. Mike Sullivan (1981-83) 365
7. Tony Corbin (1995-96) 351
8. Ricky Ray (1999-00) 347
9. Carson Conklin (2023-24, 26) 312

STARTING FROM THE TOP

• Heading into the opening week of the college football season, no FBS player has more career rushing yards than Jamar Curtis. The fifth-year senior enters the year with 3,214 yards and is one of three FBS players with more than 3,000 career rushing yards.
• The bulk of Curtis' yards came at Lafayette where he amassed 3,064 yards in three seasons with the Leopards. Curtis rushed for 465 yards as a freshman in 2022, added 1,460 at 15 touchdowns the following year and finished with 1,139 yards and 16 touchdowns in 2024. He was a Walter Payton Award finalist his final two seasons at Lafayette and was the Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year in 2024.
• Curtis arrived at Sacramento State prior to last season but was sidelined by an injury which limited him to just four games. He ended his season with 24 carries for 105 yards and a touchdown at UC Davis in the Causeway Classic. Overall, he had 36 carries for 150 yards and also caught three passes for 22 yards.

Career Rushing Yards (FBS players

1. Jamar Curtis (Sacramento State) 3,214
2. Ismail Mahdi (Arizona) 3,181
3. Ahmad Hardy (Missouri) 3,000
4. Makhi Hughes (Houston) 2,849
5. Jalen Buckley (Western Michigan) 2,716
6. LJ Martin (BYU) 2,541
7. Jai'Den Thomas (UNLV) 2,457
8. Darius Taylor (Minnesota) 2,455
9. Devon Dampier (Utah) 2,329
10. Mark Fletcher (Miami, FL) 2,313

• Curtis will have nearly an entirely new cast of running backs joining him this year. The Hornets have brought in transfers Cincere Rhaney (San Diego State) and Davion Godley (Weber State), junior college transfers Daniel Swinney and Bryant Collins and freshmen Isaiah Ene and Montrell Rice. The only returning players on the team aside from Curtis are redshirt sophomore Curron Borders and senior Elias Brown neither of who had a carry last season.

MIX AND MATCH

• Sacramento State returns just two offensive linemen that started a game for the team last season in senior Bryson Summers and sophomore Jeremiah Stallworth.  Summers has made four career starts for the Hornets, including a pair last season. After playing tackle in the two previous years, he moved to center in the spring.
• Stallworth started three games as true freshman a year ago — all when the team started six offensive linemen. At 6-7, 325, he is one of the largest players on the team and will hold down one of the tackle spots.
• A pair of four-year transfers will add experience up front. Shontrail Key came to the team from Incarnate Word and is slated to start at tackle opposite of Stallworth. Vae Soifua will start at guard after playing three years at Weber State.
• The final starting spot will belong to JC transfer Jamin Guilbert. The junior played for current Hornet Chief of Staff Jon Osterhout at nearby American River College the last seasons.
• Others in the mix up front include senior Brandon Sousa, UCLA transfer Garrison Blank and JC transfers Hayden Frazier and Shaan Lathan.

RUN IT BACK

• Defensive end Xavier Williams returns for his seventh season with the team. Williams graduated high school in 2020 and joined the program where his older brother, Pierre, was an FCS All-American wide receiver. 
• Williams'  first season should have been in the fall of 2020 but that was wiped out by COVID and Sacramento State later opted to not compete in the spring.  The following year, Williams ruptured both of his patella tendons requiring knee surgery and forcing him to miss all of 2021.
• He made his collegiate debut in 2022, playing in all 13 of the team's games and making five tackles during the year. He added 14 tackles the next year while seeing time in 12 of 13 contests and helping the Hornets to the second round of the FCS Playoffs.
• With a starting position on the horizon in 2024, Williams instead missed the entire year after tearing his pectoral during the spring.
• Once healthy, returned in 2025 to play in all 12 games, starting 11. He finished the season with a career-best 31 tackles and had at least one stop in each of his games. His 11 career starts at Sacramento State tie him for second among defenders.
• Williams has already earned bachelor degrees in communications and journalism and is currently pursuing his master's in educational leadership.
• While he is the longest tenured Hornet, he is only the fourth oldest. Punter Mike Melanson is 32 years old while offensive linemen Shontrail Key and DeAnthony Sheffield are both 24 and a few months older than Williams.

NEW FACES IN THE TRENCHES

• Along with Williams, Sacramento State only returns four other players who appeared in a game for the Hornets last season on the defensive line. That quartet is comprised of nose tackles Malachi Kindle and Malik Tullis and tackles Miles Bailey and Brodie Tagaloa. 
• Of that group, only Bailey saw significant action, appearing in all 12 games and recording 17 tackles. Tullis played in eight contests before missing the final four games of the year with a shoulder injury while Tagaloa started the season opener at South Dakota State but suffered a knee injury which wiped out his year.
• To bridge the gap, the Hornets brought in three four-year transfers in Jamel Howard, Jr. (Wisconsin), Nick Dimitris (Florida A&M) and Isiah Chala (Fresno State). The team also welcomed JC transfers Austin Chambers, Collin Kallhoff, Kaden Briggs, Austin Aten and Jadakiss Vaokakala. True freshmen Devyn Blake and Peyton McCutcheon could also both work their way into the rotation.

PUTTING IT BACK TOGETHER

• Last year's linebacking corps had high expectations but injuries to Derek Houston and Alex Rocha saw the pair start just two games together. Those absences opened the door for Oscar Moore (graduated) to lead the team with 69 tackles in his senior season.
• Houston appeared in six games and recorded 32 tackles while Rocha is the leading returning tackler on the team with 49 stops in eight games.
• Houston was placed on the watch list for the Allstate Good Hands team as well as the Allstate Wuerffel Trophy this summer. Both of those awards recognize the off-the-field community service accomplishments by student-athletes.
• Senior transfer Darson Jeanty will bring experience to the position as he played in 56 games at Lafayette.
• Senior Diego Davis and sophomore KJ Jefferson both return to the unit after contributing last season. Davis played in all 12 games and finished the season with 27 tackles. Jefferson was credited with four tackles in eight games as a true freshman.
• True freshmen Jiah Walls and Leki Holani will also be in the mix. Both were early enrollees and were able to be with the team through spring ball. 

CRACK THE WHIP

• The Hornets will also use a third linebacker in this year's defense. The position, which is titled Whip, will be led by Fata Puloka. The senior played in every game last season and ranked fifth on the team with 43 tackles, including 3.5 for loss and a sack.
• Puloka, who prepped at nearby Monterey Trail HS in Elk Grove, began his Hornet career as a safety. He then made the jump to linebacker, played a season at defensive end and now returns to linebacker.
• The redshirt junior has not missed a game the last two year and owns 73 career tackles with 3.5 career sacks.
• Joining Puloka at the position are Fresno State transfer Tim Thomas and Northern Illinois transfer Ivan Moore, Jr.

JUST FOR KICKS

• Grant Meadors is the lone specialist who appeared in a game last season to return to the team. Meadors made 12-of-15 field goals last season and 51-of-53 extra points. His PAT total placed him fourth in school single-season history while his field goals left him one away from cracking the top 10.
• With Sacramento State joining the MAC, Meadors will now play in his fourth conference in as many years despite being at just two schools. He redshirted at Oregon in 2023 while the Ducks were members of the Pac-12 Conference. In 2024, he played for Oregon in the Big Ten and then transferred to the Hornets where he competed in the Big Sky Conference in 2025.

Career PATs
8. Tyson Becker (1992-95) 68
9. Jim Couch (1990-91) 61
10. Mark Franscechetti (1981, 83) 55
--- Grant Meadors (2025-26) 51

• True freshman Saul Marks is the only other kicker on the roster and will battle with Meadors for both place kicking and kick off duties.
• The team features three punters who have never kicked in a game for Sacramento State. Mike Melanson returns for his third season with the program, Australian Hamish Adams is back for his second and Jay Brockhaus transferred to the program from Southeastern in Lakeland, Fla. Brockhaus was named all-Sun Conference in 2023 and brings a career average of 39.4 yards per punt with a ling of 73 yards.
• Junior college transfer Kellan Sutton handled all the long snapping duties in the spring and was joined by true freshman Caden Sim in fall camp.