Putting the team’s success in the hands of underclassmen is risky, but the Sacramento State athletic programs are giving it a shot. 

There are 20 teams and 457 athletes at Sac State. Of the 20 teams, 14 are made up of more than 50 percent freshmen and sophomores. 

Freshman point guard Dylan Garrity of the men’s basketball team is one of the 163 freshmen athletes at Sac State. He said he thinks having so many young players on all the teams will bring Sac State sports success soon.

 “I think (having so many freshman) just shows how the sports at Sac (State) are on the uprise and that sports will be good for years to come, especially in the next few years,” Garrity said. 

Looking at all 20 teams at Sac State, the team with the most youth is football.

The Sac State football team has 43 freshmen, 15 sophomores, 15 juniors and 20 seniors.

For a team that has not had much success at Sac State with zero championships, trying something different may help and sophomore linebacker and the team leader in tackles this year, Todd Davis, said having so many young guys will help them in the near future.

“I feel that the amount of youth that we have on our team is going to allow our program to succeed in the future,” Davis said. “There is such a tremendous amount of young guys that will need to step up and step into leadership roles at a younger age than in the previous year.” 

With many key defensive starters exhausting their eligibility like Sac State sack leader Zack Nash and safety Joe Larche, Davis will need to step up into a leadership role as not only an upperclassman, but the voice of the defense.

Davis said he is looking forward to becoming a leader and he thinks having the team made up of so many underclassmen will force them to work harder.

“I can’t wait for the ability to help lead my team to a great season next year,” Davis said. “I’m also excited for the guys that will step up and have a huge impact on our defense because we lost some key players, but I think our up-and-coming players will do a great job. This will help our program mature and also help us work harder because underclassmen will know what is expected of them.”

But football is not the only team centering its program around underclassmen. 

Even teams like men’s tennis, which has won six straight Big Sky Conference championships, is dominated by freshmen. 

Of the 11 players, seven of them are freshmen and five of them start almost every match. 

Freshman Sean Kolar was immediately thrown into the starter role and will have to help be a leader on this team.

“It’s inspiring to be totally honest,” Kolar said. “One reason is because I’ve had already this season so many matches I should have won, but barely lost. Now I’m learning from them and in the later years, I can help the underclassmen that are coming in with the same problems.”

So far this year, some of the teams trying to win with underclassmen have seen success.

 The women’s basketball team made the Big Sky Tournament and won its first round game for the first time in school history. 

The gymnastics team just concluded the Western Athletic Conference season with a second-place finish and freshman Kalliah McCartney earned WAC Freshman of the Year. 

 Of the teams still in season right now, the softball, baseball and men’s and women’s tennis teams have seen success as well.

The men’s and women’s tennis teams are both undefeated in Big Sky play.

The softball team is 16-8 thus far and has won eight more games than it had at this point last season. 

The baseball team has done the same as it has won six more games than it did at this point last season as well.

The youth movement at Sac State has seen success so far, but it is too early to tell where the underclassmen will take the programs. 

Former quarterback Jeff Fleming is one of the seniors graduating and leaving a team behind to underclassmen, but he thinks having a young team grow together will only make them great in the end. 

“They might start off a little rough, but they are going to get all the experience together,” Fleming said. “It’s going to be a really tight-knit unit when it comes down to the end. Three years from now, four years from now, once they are juniors and seniors, they are going to know each other like the back of their hand.”

Josh Stanley can be reached at [email protected].