![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/PunchtheClock.jpg\")
The time clock provides reminder to SDSU players to clear their minds, shift focus to the field and getting better.<\/p>\nWhen San Diego State football players jog out onto the practice field, as they did Wednesday morning to open fall camp, they tap an old green clock held up by a staffer.<\/p>\n
It is a relic from an era when factory workers placed physical cards into a slot for a timestamp when they clocked in and out for their shifts.<\/p>\n
Written on the clock are motivational phrases, like \u201cBlue collar nasty,\u201d \u201cWork, works!\u201d and \u201cPunch the Clock!\u201d<\/p>\n
Jeff Sobol, SDSU\u2019s head of football performance, found the clock on eBay. It has been present at everything the team has done since Day 1 of winter workouts in January.<\/p>\n
And there it was again on Day 1 of fall camp.<\/p>\n
\u201cWanted it to be something that they can do to clear whatever they have going on and make it time to work and get better,\u201d Sobol said. \u201cTrue clock-in mentality. Don\u2019t clock in if you\u2019re not ready to work.\u201d<\/p>\n
The time clock provides reminder to SDSU players to clear their minds, shift focus to the field and getting better.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
There are those who would arch an eyebrow at the clock, which could be considered gimmicky to some.<\/p>\n
Whatever it takes to be more mindful \u2014 more \u201cintentional\u201d as SDSU coach Sean Lewis says \u2014 following a 3-9 season that concluded with six straight losses.<\/p>\n
The disappointing finish \u2014 Lewis has called it embarrassing \u2014 led the coach to alter the acronym on the second half of the \u201cAztecFAST\u201d moniker.<\/p>\n
FAST originally stood for Fun, accountable, smart and tough. The \u201cF\u201d now stands for \u201cfocused.\u201d<\/p>\n
Why the change?<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we have better focus, we\u2019re going to win,\u201d Lewis said, \u201cand winning is fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
Added the coach: \u201cWhen we say, \u2018focus,\u2019 that one word tells a whole story. \u2026 It\u2019s the depth and direction of your time, effort and energy. So where is your time, where is your effort, where is your energy going? Where is it pointing to? How deep are you willing to go so that we don\u2019t just know things at a surface level.\u201d<\/p>\n
The focus since January has featured three phases \u2014 winter strength and conditioning, spring practice and then summer conditioning.<\/p>\n
Phase 4 began Wednesday morning, with the focus on football.<\/p>\n
![\"San](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/SUT-L-AZFOOT-0731-020.jpg\")
San Diego State coach Sean Lewis on the first day of team practice at San Diego State University on Wednesday, July 30, 2025, in San Diego, CA. (Nelvin C. Cepeda \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s Christmas morning \u2014 let\u2019s go play,\u201d said Lewis, who noted, \u201cIt\u2019s easy to have good energy on the first day. Guys came around, flew around. There were some explosive plays offensively. Turnovers defensively. A ton that we need to clean up, but install is as heavy as it\u2019s ever been on our first day because of the access that we had to the guys over the summer.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere wasn\u2019t a ton of mental errors, just some things we need to refine from a technique standpoint for better consistency and execution.\u201d<\/p>\n
An impressive debut could be due in part to more offseason continuity. A year ago, Lewis juggled staff hires, transfer portal comings and goings and a hundred other tasks in the days and weeks after being hired to replace Brady Hoke.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe bond of the team is a lot closer than last year,\u201d said SDSU kicker Gabe Plascencia, voted preseason Mountain West Special Teams Player of the Year. \u201cI feel like a lot more guys are bought in than last year. Guys are ready to go out there and win for the City of San Diego, not just win for themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Aztecs lost games to Central Michigan, Washington State and New Mexico by a combined nine points.<\/p>\n
SDSU junior edge rusher Trey White, voted preseason Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year, is among those who believe a more close-knit team will turn around the outcome of close games.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve done more things outside of football to get to know each other,\u201d White said. \u201cI feel like that focus and intent is there because you\u2019re trying to fight for your brother and you care more for that brother now that you know him and know what he\u2019s been through. \u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cThe intent and energy that we brought today, I felt like everyone was excited to be out here. Everybody was intentional in what they were doing. They paid more attention to detail. There were less mistakes out there on Day 1, which is good. We\u2019ve got a lot to work on still, but I\u2019m excited to see what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n
When he gazes out on the field, Lewis sees what he calls \u201ca great collection of talent.\u201d There is the matter now of molding the talent into a team, a team that needs to learn how to win.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re in this really cool moment of the season where all eyes are on us after we\u2019ve been working quietly in the dark for a very, very long time,\u201d Lewis said. \u201cBut for the next 24 days, until we break camp, we get to exponentially get better because we get to kind of sequester ourselves in this football bubble and really get good at our craft.\u201d<\/p>\n
Notable<\/p>\n
SDSU will have 18 practices over the next three weeks of fall camp before moving into \u201cGame Week\u201d mode on Aug. 23. That\u2019s actually a Saturday rather than a Monday, the schedule moved up two days to align with the Aztecs opening the season on a Thursday, Aug. 28, against Stony Brook at Snapdragon Stadium.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Redshirt freshman wide receiver Heath McRee<\/strong> walked into the football office at the start of the week and announced he was quitting the team. McRee, out of Texas\u2019 Westlake High School, was not listed on the preseason two-deep. He did not appear in a game last season.<\/p>\n \u2022 Senior transfer wide receiver Myles Kitt-Denton<\/strong> (Northwestern State), listed as a first-team slot receiver, went down during practice. The extent of his injury was not immediately known. Running back Jordin Thomas<\/strong>, a true freshman from Tracy\u2019s Lincoln High School, tweaked his right ankle, but looked to walk it off after getting the ankle wrapped by a trainer.<\/p>\n \u2022 Senior safety Jatavious Magee<\/strong> and redshirt freshman safety Prince Williams<\/strong> have moved to cornerback.<\/p>\n Originally Published: July 30, 2025 at 4:43 PM PDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When San Diego State football players jog out onto the practice field, as they did Wednesday morning to…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":106541,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,1369,1370,3549,7264,18257,62,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-106540","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-college-sports","12":"tag-latest-headlines","13":"tag-san-diego","14":"tag-sandiego","15":"tag-sdsu-aztecs","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-united-states-of-america","19":"tag-unitedstates","20":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","21":"tag-us","22":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114945766529513406","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106540","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106540"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106540\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}