With the majority of its recruiting completed during the December 2018 signing period, the San Jose State University football program added five student-athletes with position flexibility in their backgrounds to start the 2019 traditional National Letter-of-Intent signing period.
The Spartans signed two freshmen tight end candidates, Jackson Canaan (pronounced Cane-in) from Sacramento's Jesuit High and Dominick Mazotti from Amador Valley High in Pleasanton, Calif.; cornerback Chad Earle, a Riverside Community College transfer; and quarterback Natano Woods from Kentridge High in Kent, Wash., to a National Letter-of-Intent. Also, 2017 second-team All-Ivy League punter Alex Galland, a transfer from Yale University, enrolled at San Jose State as a graduate student in the public administration master's program.
Click Signing Central for a complete list of new Spartans.
Canaan, primarily a running back and an outside linebacker, and Mazotti, mainly a multi-threat quarterback, are making the move to tight end at the major college level. As a running back, Canaan averaged 8.9 yards a carry as a junior. Mazotti, was the East Bay Athletic League's Most Valuable Player and an all-league selection as a quarterback and a tight end that accounted for 31 touchdowns passing, rushing and receiving as a senior.
Woods was a school record-setting quarterback and his division's Offensive Player of the Year. Earle was credited with 14 pass break-ups in his two seasons of community college football. Galland had one-third of his punts fair caught and 57 punts land inside the 20-yard line punting for Yale.
"The early signing date had accelerated everything. It's made it (recruiting) a lot different. Most people you talk to in Division I football are sitting on recruiting classes that are 80 to 100 percent full after the first signing day," said San Jose State football head coach Brent Brennan about the rapidly changing recruiting climate at the major college level. The Spartans had 15 of their 20 newcomers accounted in the fold when the December signing period concluded.
"There was some need to put some guys that joined us late last summer and place them in this class. We feel we got some real good players in (OLB) Christian Webb, (QB) Chance LaChapelle and (DL) Duane Tuitasi. They were some guys that played for us last year, went on scholarship and counted towards this year's recruiting class. They've been in the program six months and they'll be even further along when we get started next August.
"(And) There were some great high school players (running backs Kairee Robinson and Lorenzo Burkes) coming off of injuries that we were able to push into this class, too. With all the pieces moving in college football, it's really interesting in college football."
Moving away from having one of the youngest teams in the Mountain West and nationally the last two seasons with 47 freshmen seeing game action, the 2019 recruiting class includes five community college transfers and two transfers, Gallend and offensive lineman Quinn Oseland, enrolled in a San Jose State master's degree program.
By position:
| Offense | Defense |
| Tight ends – 3 | Linemen - 1 |
| Quarterbacks – 2 | Linebackers - 2 |
| Wide receivers – 3 | Backs - 3 |
| Offensive Linemen – 4 | Specialist |
| Running backs – 1 | Punter - 1 |
Offensive linemen Scott Breslin from Ventura College and Justin Scrempos of Milpitas (Calif.) High who signed in December 2018 received All-America honors in one of the last two seasons.
All-state high school honors:
| Adi Anderson, RB, McClymonds High, Oakland, Calif. |
| Jordan Cobbs, LB, San Leandro High, San Leandro, Calif. |
| Jelani Newman, OL, Saguaro High, Scottsdale, Ariz. |
| Quinn Oseland, OL, University of Minnesota |
| Justin Scrempos, OL. Milpitas High, Milpitas, Calif. |
| Alec Trujillo, QB San Joaquin Memorial High, Fresno, Calif. |
"We're excited about the guys coming in. The coaches did a great job identifying talent and recruiting really hard. Anytime a prospect chooses us, it's awesome for us, because they believe in what we are building here. Our team – our players did a great job in the recruiting process. They're the best recruiters you have. Our current players see the change, see the progress and convey that to the recruits who are then saying they want to be a part of building something special," concluded the San Jose State head coach.