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San Diego State Has Five Freshman This Season

San Diego State’s Recruiting Class Looks To Get Major Minutes This Season

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San Diego State looks to its freshman to step up

San Diego State lost five players from last season’s opening day roster. Kameron Rooks, Malik Pope, and Trey all exhausted their eligibility, Max Montana graduated early and moved on to a professional career overseas, and Montaque Gill-Caesar left the team midway through the year.

With five scholarships open, the Aztecs hauled in four players as part of their 2018 recruiting class, including two players late in the process. Add a freshman who redshirted last season and you have five new faces that should be seeing time on the court for the Aztecs this season.

Let us begin by looking at the player who has one year in the program, Adam Seiko. Seiko committed as part of the 2017 class, coming from Sierra Canyon High School in Chatsworth, California.

A three-star recruit, Seiko was under-recruited due to his role in a star-studded team that included recent draft pick Marvin Bagley III (#2 overall). A good player in his own right, Seiko was known for being a lockdown defender. Whenever he played, Seiko was in charge of defending the opposing team’s best player. On offense, Seiko was a three-point threat who stretched the defense and kept opposing defenders honest with his range.

Seiko redshirted last year after dealing with a number of injuries and falling behind. This year he is expected to be a contributor, playing a similar role to the one he had in high school. It is not a coincidence that the Aztecs made their run last year when they tightened up their defense, and now they are adding arguably the best defender on the roster. Seiko will be a solid contributor who will be vital to the Aztecs success, especially on the defensive end.

Joel Mensah kicked off the celebration last year when he committed to the Aztecs in August. Mensah chose the Aztecs over schools like Nevada, Oregon State, and Santa Clara. A 6-10 big man, Mensah is originally from Accra, Ghana, but he played his high school basketball at JSerra High Schoool in San Juan Capistrano, California.

The four-star Mensah is a long defender who has a strong skill set on offense. On offense, he can shoot the ball well almost out to the three-point line, but is also adept at playing down low and finishing near the basket. Defensively Mensah uses his length to block and alter shots in the paint. After getting a later start to the game of basketball, Mensah is a developing player that is only going to get better as his time continues at San Diego State.

The Aztecs frontcourt is pretty thin, as the only two returning big men are Jalen McDaniels and Nolan Narain. Mensah should find minutes this season as a backup to either McDaniels or Narain. His defensive impact along with his reliability down low in the paint will be something different from past Aztec big men. Expect Mensah’s game to be more like Narain’s, with a little more ferocity down low and a higher penchant to block shots due to his length. Mensah will grow and improve in his time at San Diego State, which makes him even more intriguing.

Following the commitment of Joel Mensah the Aztecs coaching staff hit the recruiting jackpot again with another Mensah, this time it was 6-10 big man Nathan Mensah (no relation). This was really a coup for the Aztecs coaching staff as last year’s class was supposedly weak on big men, especially on the west coast and the staff got two very good ones. Nathan Mensah selected San Diego State over schools like Oregon, Oregon State, Southern California, and Texas Tech. He played his senior season of high school at national powerhouse Findlay Prep in Henderson Nevada.

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