SAN JOSE — Senior day is an emotional time for San Jose State coach Brent Brennan, but this year’s celebration will hit a little closer to home.
When the Spartans play San Diego State Saturday night at Spartan Stadium, they will be honoring seniors who were part one of Brennan’s first recruiting classes and pivotal to this season’s turnaround.
“It’s an emotional day for the guys who actually are realizing it’s their last game at (Spartan) stadium,” Brennan said. “The guys we’re talking about are really special guys that have been very impactful on and off the field. I hope there’s just a lot of people here to celebrate the seniors that are playing their last game.”
Among the 17 seniors are running back Kairee Robinson, quarterback Chevan Cordeiro, offensive lineman Jaime Navarro and Anthony Pardue, twin defensive backs Tre and Andrew Jenkins, safety Chase Williams and defensive lineman Noah Lavulo.
Many of the seniors have been with Brennan since they were freshman in 2018, a class that has defined Brennan’s tenure at SJSU.
That class included Robinson, Navarro, Pardue and the Jenkins twins. They all were essential pieces to the team that won the Mountain West championship in 2020 and helped SJSU earn a bowl game appearance in 2022.
The countdown to the last home game of their college careers has been in the minds of Tre and Andrew Jenkins since the season started..
“We kind of knew that going into the season that for all the seniors, we know it’s our last season,” Andrew said. “So we already had those conversations with our best friends, me and Tre have been having those tough conversations to know that we got to enjoy these moments.”
After starting the season 1-5, the Spartans have won four straight to move into a three-way tie for third place in the Mountain West.
SJSU (5-5, 4-2 MW) trails Air Force and UNLV (both 5-1 in conference) with two regular season games remaining, so a few things need to break their way, but there suddenly is a path for the team to get back to the conference championship game for the second time in four years..
The Spartans have leaned on their senior playmakers to get them to this point. Robinson, Andrew Jenkins, Navarro and Lavulo are all having career years.
Robinson has rushed for 919 yards and 15 touchdowns. He recently broke the SJSU record for consecutive games with a rushing touchdown held by Tyler Ervin in 2015, and is tied for the single-season rushing touchdown record with Johnny Johnson (1988) and Deonce Whitaker (2000).
Lavulo has been a standout on the defensive line, totaling 35 tackles, 7 tackles for a loss and 3.5 sacks — all career highs.
“I think playing better football right now is a collective effort and everybody is all in on it,” Brennan said. “That’s why it’s really fun to be a part of it and to just see how hard the players are working and how much they care.”
Robinson says the only thing that has mattered this season is getting to the conference title game.
“I haven’t tried to think about it too much,” Robinson said of his record-breaking personal accomplishments. “I’m just focused on getting an opportunity to make it to the conference championship and focusing on this year and this moment.”
Seats are already filling up at Spartan Stadium in anticipation for senior day. The Jenkins twins reserved 30 seats and are looking for more. Robinson said there will be a whole section reserved for all of his relatives.
“It’s going to be a big crew for sure,” Robinson said. “All from Antioch.”
As emotional as Saturday’s game will be, the end might not be so near for SJSU’s seniors. There will still be one more regular season game and the potential for the Mountain West championship game and a bowl game still out there.
“I still think their legacy is still being written,” Brennan said. “We still have a lot of football to play. Maybe ask me that question. In two weeks.”
