Thursday was a day all SDSU fans will not forget so soon. The majority of Aztecs Nation were glued to their monitors and cellular devices to witness the installation of the grass on Bashor field at their new home—Snapdragon Stadium.
Reports in the last few weeks detailed the sacred sod as the “hearty” Latitude 36 Bermudagrass by American Sod Farms in San Diego, California. A variety of grass fit for the Gods—Aztec God’s specifically. The visibility of the stadium’s progress has been on full display for all to see via SDSU’s video feed.
Originally tweeted by Jon Schaeffer (@jonschaeffer) on June 17, 2022.
DID YOU KNOW?
SDSU’s Bashor field will be the one and ONLY stadium in the whole Mountain West Conference to feature an all natural grass playing turf.
While screenshots and memes celebrating Snapdragon’s “Turfday” were plenty to be found on social media, it was one different budding Aztec that stole the day.
Javance Tupou’ata-Johnson, QB out of West Hills, CA (Chaminade) made his announcement via his Instagram to commit to San Diego State. In doing so, Javance became the highest rated quarterback to commit to SDSU (in the recruit ranking service era) since Ryan Lindley back in 2007 (El Capitan-San Diego, CA).
247Sports lead recruiting analyst Greg Biggins crystal balled Tupou’ata-Johnson coming to San Diego State two days prior to his official announcement. By Greg’s account, it was Javance’s wish to make the announcement on his then birthday.
San Diego State came into the day with 5 total commitments lined up for the 2023 class; Jordan Napier, Marcus Ratcliffe, Ryan Silver, Baylin Brooks, and Tyson Berry. The Sons of Montezuma Podcast introduced 4 of these early commitments in our latest episode. Listen below now to get caught up on all things Aztecs football.
Tupou’ata-Johnson, who enters his senior season in 2023 stands tall at 6’4″ and slightly above 195lbs. Known for his big arm, Javance can sling it. His foundation to get set for the D1 level was built working with skills coach Danny Hernandez of Team Dime in LA. Below is a clip of Javance during his 2021 season creating space and finding the open receiver.
Below is a clip showcasing some of Javance’s arm strengths & accuracy during his play at Team Lillard’s 7on7 in the Portland, Oregon area in March of this year.
Javance stands tall in the pocket. His long rangy size at QB, ability to make plays with his legs and velocity on his throws all show he has the physical abilities the Aztecs are now fully enthralled with in their offensive philosophy.
Javance is young and will still need to fill out his frame a bit more before he is asked to take a pounding running out of the pocket on a consistent basis. But below is a clip of Javance showing more of that all important arm strength at the Polynesian Bowl back in March.
But why San Diego State? Since his early days of playing Javance was on the national scene attending camps from California to Florida. His college interest list depicted just that. Arizona State, Florida State, Kansas, and Nevada all had Javance in high regard.
But it was one school other than SDSU that also caught the eye of many recruiting experts as being in it for Tupou’ata-Johnson.
For the first time in back to back recruiting classes, San Diego State has beaten out BYU for a quarterback commitment. It was just last years 2022 signing class that QB Liu Aumavae packed up from his home in Provo, Utah and headed west to SDSU. Though Aumavae is not a native of the state of Utah, the announcement pleased many Aztecs fans to this day.
References to Tupou’ata-Johnson being a part of the LDS had some feeling BYU was the eminent choice. But after several trips to San Diego Javance felt comfortable enough to joining the Aztecs program on the rise. At such a high ranking—the signs of growth within SDSU football recruiting cannot be ignored any longer.
The buzz of SDSU’s 7v7 camps on campus have opened the doors for recruits to see the beautiful Montezuma Mesa and all of what America’s finest city, San Diego has to offer.
Without a doubt the up close views of a new stadium near it’s completion have given the Aztecs program the valuable recruiting boost they hoped for. The green blades of that Latitude 36 Bermudagrass now make the whole plan feel complete. But let this new growth always remind us of the seeds that SDSU administration, coaches, staff, donors, student-athletes and you the city of San Diego voters all sown for so many years. And now, it’s time to water that grass.
