Nevada football’s roster had among the most turnover of any FBS program this offseason.
And at the FCS level, Sacramento State also held that distinction.
Nevada added 62 players this offseason, which seems like a lot — and is — until you realize Sac State added 72 new players. And while both teams had massive roster changes, there’s familiarity on each side entering this game.
Nevada added two Sac State standouts this offseason while the Hornets signed two former Wolf Pack players. And the head coaches of the teams were on the same staff at Texas in 2022 with Nevada’s Jeff Choate the Longhorns’ co-defensive coordinator and Sac State’s Brennan Marion the Longhorns’ wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator. Choate also coached against Sac State when he was Montana State’s head coach from 2016-20, going 0-2 against the Hornets.
“A team that I’m familiar with from my days in the Big Sky,” Choate said during his Monday press conference. “I’m also familiar with Coach Marion. We were on staff together for a year in 2022 at the University of Texas. He’s known for his innovative Go-Go Offense and has kind of the sidecar stuff. Obviously they had a lot of success with it at UNLV a year ago and gave us some real problems with the plus-one run game and some of the triple-option things that can come out of that system. And he’s got some good weapons.”
One of those weapons is Savion Red, who led Nevada running backs in rushing yards last season. He’s joined at Sac State by Kris Ross, a defensive tackle for the Wolf Pack a season ago. Both came with Choate from Texas to Nevada in 2024 but were excised from the Wolf Pack’s roster before spring camp as the program tried to build a group with stronger discipline.
Red and Ross both played in Sac State’s 20-3 season-opening loss last week at South Dakota State, which made the FCS semifinals last season. Ross didn’t record a stat while Red had three rushes for seven yards and caught a pass for minus-three yards.
“They used Savion some as a receiver also last week, and he’s definitely got that skill set because that’s what he was playing when he went to the University of Texas originally,” Choate said. “There’s a lot of versatility that’s available to him within this offense. They had their struggles against South Dakota State, but as I told our team, that’s not the offense that we’re going to see when those guys roll over the hill from Sacramento. We’re going get their best, and we’re prepared for that.”
Marion was UNLV’s offensive coordinator the last two seasons and helped the Rebels beat Nevada in both games with UNLV scoring 45 points in the Fremont Cannon game in 2023 and 38 more last season. While his talent at Sac State doesn’t match what he was working with at UNLV, the Hornets offense is loaded with former FBS players, including quarterback Jaden Rashada, a former four-star recruit who attended Georgia and Arizona State.
“We prepared for him a year ago when he was at UNLV,” Choate said of Marion’s offense. “Obviously different cast of characters around him, but the scheme’s not going to change a whole lot. Working with him in Texas, I can tell you this. Coach (Steve) Sarkisian didn’t go in and say, ‘Hey, what do you want to run this week?’ It was kind of the other way around. Brennan’s always been known as kind of an innovative guy, players coach, good recruiter. That’s kind of been his M.O., and you can see he was able to bring in a lot of talent to Sacramento State.”
Nevada also plucked two of Sac State’s better defensive players this offseason in safety Murvin Kenion III and linebacker Nakian Jackson. Jackson ranked third on the Hornets last season in tackles while Kenion was fourth. Kenion is one of Nevada’s four captains this season and had a team-high eight tackles in the Wolf Pack’s season opener at Penn State. He’s also related to Sac State’s safeties coach, Nathan Kenion.
“I’m going to have a lot of family there, a lot of family ties,” Kenion said. “My cousin is the safety coach at Sac State, so I’m looking forward to it. He got the job after I hit the portal, and he tried to get me to come back. But I told him I wanted to be in an uncomfortable situation and challenge myself for my last season, so I thought Nevada was the best place for me. I’m pretty sure they’re gonna have a good season there. They got a lot of good players coming in, but you know I’m just focused on what we got going on here in Nevada.”
Jackson spent three seasons at Sac State before transferring to Nevada, giving him plenty of familiarity with the players who did return for the Hornets.
“It’s going to be a good game for sure,” Jackson said. “Me and the guys from back home are already talking a little mess. I’ve got some family on that team as well, but it’s going be a good game for sure. I can’t wait to play them.”
Choate said he’s prepped his team by discussing the familiarity between the rosters to make sure Nevada is focused for Saturday’s home opener.
“We talked about that a lot today and last night when we met as a team,” Choate said. “You’ve got to play with emotion because it’s an emotional game, but you can’t get emotional. It’s not about any one individual on that side. It’s about our team and making really good choices and keeping our composure. I don’t think our guys will have a problem with that. Let me say that.”
For Sac State, it will mark the Hornets’ lone game against an FBS team this season. Sac State’s request to move to the FBS an an independent in 2026 was denied by the NCAA in June, a move that stung the Hornets as university president Luke Wood said his department met “every meaningful benchmark for FBS membership.” This game offers Sac State the chance to show it can play with FBS competition.
“It’s an opportunity for those kids to go and play up, and Sacramento is a big recruiting area for us,” Choate said. “Probably a lot of those kids that maybe in high school thought, ‘Hey, is Nevada going to recruit me?’ Those kids usually come into these types of games with a chip on their shoulder, maybe a little bit of something to prove and it is an exciting opportunity for them. I can definitely relate to that.”