By Mark Pszonak
WR Nick Nash – San Jose State
Arriving in San Jose as a quarterback, Nash passed for 1,317 yards and 10 touchdowns before making the fulltime move to wide receiver before the 2022 season. After grabbing six receptions last season for 62 yards and one touchdown, he blew up against USC on Saturday night with six receptions for 89 yards and three touchdowns. Quarterback Chevan Cordeiro was looking for a new top target and may have found him in the opening game of the season.
TE Mark Redman – San Diego State
Redman started his collegiate career at Washington before transferring to the Aztecs prior to the 2022 season. In his first season at San Diego State he performed well, finishing with a modest 21 receptions for 233 yards and two touchdowns. On Saturday, in a 20-13 victory over Ohio, Redman enjoyed his best collegiate game to date with five receptions for 62 yards and both of the Aztecs’ touchdowns. The San Diego State offense did not look very explosive on Saturday, so having a reliable weapon over the middle like Redman could prove to be very important this season.
S Jaylin Smith – USC
While the Trojans cruised to an easy victory on Saturday night against San Jose State, the performance by the defense left as many questions as answers. One answer though was the play of Smith, who had a career-high eight tackles, including seven solo, during the victory. He translated a very strong summer camp, which won him a starting job, into an impressive performance in the opener. Now the Trojans will hope that more players on the defensive unit will step up their game in the coming weeks as the schedule gets more difficult.
