By admin 
The mood has been mixed this week at practice.
Sacramento State players and coaches were frustrated with their season-opening effort last weekend that doubled as the school’s first game as an FBS football program, but the Hornets to a man were encouraged in their conviction that they belong here, rubbing elbows and crashing into players at the highest level of play in the NCAA Division I ranks.
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The Hornets dropped a 28-17 contest at Eastern Michigan last Saturday, a Mid-American Conference opener in which the defense led the way with a defensive touchdown and in limiting the Eagles to 69 yards rushing. Sac State players and coaches appreciated the grit of quarterback Carson Conklin, who suffered a wrist injury in the first half and soldiered his way to the end, completing 25 of 46 passes for 221 yards.
Conklin will not play in Saturday’s contest against FCS-level Mississippi Valley State at Hornet Stadium. A black cast covers his wrist and hand. The 2024 Hornets Freshman All-American passer, who played last season at Fresno State, was in uniform to remain involved but was without a helmet or a football.
Backup Jackson Sharman took first-team reps and will start. He and Conklin are juniors who grew up in Southern California. Sharman played in five games at Idaho State before his winter transfer to Sac State.
MC Hammer, Jerry Rice expected to attend
First-year Hornets coach Alonzo Carter chewed on a group of players for a moment for a lack of blocking effort on Wednesday and then applauded the group in general after Jon Osterhout, the football program’s chief of staff and a former All-American for the Hornets, addressed the team about the significance of home games.
Carter later told The Sacramento Bee that his life-long pal MC Hammer will be a special guest on Saturday. Carter and Hammer are Oakland natives, and Carter was Hammer’s lead choreographer and backup dancer at the peak of the rapper’s career in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Carter then urged Mississippi Valley State’s greatest player to join the fun. That would be Jerry Rice, whom the San Francisco 49ers drafted in the first round and where Rice became the NFL’s greatest receiver.
The Pro Football Hall of Famer has been invited by Mississippi Valley State to attend the game as an honorary captain. His name is on the school’s football venue, Rice-Totten Stadium. Willie Totten was the record-setting passer whose favorite target was Rice in the early 1980s.
“Jerry Rice, if you’re reading this story, come on out, because I’m bringing my right-hand, MC Hammer, my honorary guest, and we’d love to see you,” Carter said.
Mississippi Valley State is the fourth HBCU — Historically Black College or University — that Sac State will face in the 73-year history of the program. The Hornets and coach Ray Clemons lost to Grambling State in the 1968 Pasadena Bowl, and the Bob Mattos-coached Hornets beat North Carolina Central in the second round of the 1988 Division II playoffs at Hornet Stadium. In 1990, Sac State beat Morris Brown in an opener under Mattos.
Mississippi Valley State is led by second-year coach Terrell Buckley, a star at Florida State from 1989 to 1991 who went on to play in the NFL.
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Before Sac State was invited to join the MAC, the Hornets were working on a schedule as a presumed FCS independent, meaning they would have played the season with no conference affiliation. This game was going to happen one way or another.
Coach defends Conklin amid critique
Carter said he doesn’t talk about player injuries, but he did offer this about Conklin: “I am going to say that the things that were said about this young man (on social media during and after the game) were unfair. I’ll say this: the injury was early and significant, but he didn’t complain, and he had his best half in the second half. He played his butt off. Proud of him, the resiliency and toughness he displayed. He’s still out here, big smiles.”
Conklin beat out Sharman for the quarterback job after fall camp. The juniors have developed a close friendship and back each other.
“Carson is a warrior, and we’re going to miss him, but he’ll be back,” Carter said. “Right now, it’s Jackson’s opportunity, and Carson will be his No. 1 supporter like Jackson has been for Carson. They watch film together. They eat together. They study together.”
Onterrio Smith Jr. shines at WR
Onterrio Smith Jr., a former Folsom High School star receiver, had his best Hornets game in the opener. A fourth-year Hornet, Smith had a game-high nine receptions for 88 yards at Eastern Michigan. Carter praised Smith Jr. for “having a great spring, a great fall camp, and we’re excited about Onterrio.”
Smith’s father of the same name was a star running back for the Grant Pacers in the late 1990s who went on to play in the NFL.
Granite Bay’s Isaiah Ene earns keep
A four-year varsity starter at Granite Bay High in Placer County, Isaiah Ene earned his playing time in the opener after impressing coaches at running back in fall camp. He enrolled in the spring semester at Sac State and scored his team’s lone offensive touchdown on a carry. His longest run was 37 yards.
“We have eight running backs on scholarship, but Ene was always in the conversation for that top three or four spot in the rotation,” Carter said. “We figured, ‘Hey, let’s go with some fresh legs (in the second half),’ and boy, did he. He came in running downhill, violent, and selfless kid who waited for his opportunity.”
Mississippi Valley State (0-1) at Sacramento State (0-1)
When: Saturday, 7:05 p.m.
On air: ESPN+, ESPN1320 AM radio
Of note: The Delta Devils lost their opener 44-10 to Nicholls State, trailing 37-0 at the half and scoring their only points on a 95-yard interception return. Mississippi Valley State’s alums include Hall of Fame defensive lineman Deacon Jones, who starred in the NFL in the 1960s and early 1970s and came up with the term “sack.” The school first played football in 1956 and joined the Division I-AA/FCS level in 1979 with the 1984 season marking the lone FCS playoff berth. The Delta Devils are coming off of seasons of 2-9, 1-10, 1-11 and 2-9.
Sac State’s top three tacklers against EMU impressed in their first appearance as Hornets. Defensive backs Boogsie Silvera and Amari Wallace combined for 17 stops, and linebacker Tim Thomas had six tackles. Silvera had previous stops at Charleston Southern, McNeese and USF. Wallace transferred from the Miami Hurricanes, and Wallace transferred from Fresno State. The 69 yards rushing allowed by the Hornets in the opener were the fewest allowed on the ground since a record 63 against San Jose State in 2024.
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