Competition is high among college football programs throughout the country and Sacramento State is no different as the team spent the entire month of August battling from within in order to establish its depth chart for the season opener on Sept. 3.

One such competitor is sophomore quarterback Nate Ketteringham, who beat out juniors Daniel Kniffin and Kolney Cassel for the starting spot. Since assuming responsibility, Ketteringham has helped newcomers contribute to the offense.

“Competition brings out the best in you so I’m willing to have competition,” said Ketteringham. “I feel like it makes everyone better…we got our offense moving even though it was kind of tough getting all the plays down with the new kids coming in, but they’re starting to figure everything out and we’re starting to click so we’ve been rolling.”

Ketteringham — who accumulated 1,414 passing yards with 11 touchdowns, 3 interceptions and a 61.5 completion percentage in six games last year — will rely heavily on an unproven receiving group that lost three seniors to graduation and returns only two wide receivers who caught more than 17 balls last season in sophomore Jaelin Ratliff and junior Isiah Hennie.

“Cody Demps, Johnnie Rucker, Isiah Hennie and all the tight ends have been fantastic,” said Ketteringham. “They’ve been catching everything, making plays, getting upfield yards after the catch…it’s going to be fun. I’m excited and ready for it.”

The Hornets may have uncertainty at the wide receiver spots, but one area of little concern is in the back field as senior Jordan Robinson enters this year after earning back-to-back All-Big Sky honors at the running back position in 2014 and 2015. Sac State junior defensive end Ben Sorensen, who goes up against Robinson every day during practice, described the 5-foot-11-inch tailback as “explosive” and “a beast in the run game.”

The Hornets will also be anchored by the aforementioned Sorensen, who led all defensive linemen on the team with 34 total tackles. There will also be some change on the defense, which allowed an average of 33.5 points and 453.5 yards per game last year, as the unit will have a new signal caller at the defensive coordinator position.

“Defense is looking good. We have a new defensive coordinator with coach [Samuel] Lawanson and he’s awesome; getting everyone fired up and ready to play,” said Sorensen. “He brings a lot of intensity to the defense which everyone is feeding off of. That just adds to the competition as well.”

Intensity and competition aren’t the only factors fueling the Hornets’ energy as the team has shown an increased eagerness to improve upon its disappointing 2-9 campaign last year which tied for the worst finish for the program since it went 2-9 in the 2005 season.

Last year, the Hornets also tied for last place with Idaho State with a 1-7 conference record, which led Big Sky media preseason polls to rank Sac State as last out of the 13 teams in the conference and 11th in the coaching preseason polls.

“Everyone this year is super fired up because I feel like this year we have nothing to lose…during the spring we had a player-led seminar where we all met together as a group and we all set a whole bunch of goals for the team and we had a bunch of personal goals too,” said Sorensen. “We have those printed out and we have those in our locker so we see them every single day and we’re all working to achieve those goals.”

One such goal, which is to begin the season on a high note, will be put to the test immediately as Sac State will go up against Division-II opponent Western Oregon in the home opener at 6 p.m. Saturday at Hornet Stadium.

“Opening with a home game is huge and if you want to be successful you have to win at home,” said Sorensen. “Coming in with Western Oregon we’re not going to take that game lightly at all. We’re going to come in full throttle and hopefully put a W in the win column for that game.”