One more season and Ivan Garza would have added his name to the short list of four-year starters at Sacramento State. He would been remembered as a tackle who paved the way for the Hornets to win two Big Sky Conference championships since 2021 and advance three times to the FCS playoffs.
Now he will be known for throwing all of that away. Fans will wonder what happened to No. 52 and find out sooner or later that he quit. They will never understand. How could a player who made 36 consecutive starts and come so far since redshirting in 2019 decide to stop short of the finish line?
With Garza having earned a degree in business, he was under no obligation to stay in school other than to not his teammates leave hanging. Guard Jackson Slater has talked to Garza and came away convinced “it was just his time. Some people move on from the game for different reasons.”
Without anyone associated with the Hornets coming right out and saying it, Garza quit for the sake of his family. He sent a chunk of his scholarship money each month to his parents in Delano. Once his scholarship ran out, Garza would have had to pay to play another season at Sacramento State.
Walking away from football and going to work to earn money for his family made more sense to Garza than laying it on the line against San Jose State on Thursday, He can live without football as long as his family can make ends meet. Football is temporary. Family is for forever.
Kris Richardson had the good fortune of knowing who would be stationed at right tackle the past three years. Richardson might have the longest title of any college coach at associate head coach, run game coordinator and offensive line coach. It would be safe to say he is a good judge of talent.
His days with Slater, who had made 35 consecutive starts, are now numbered, Richardson wishes he could have had a few more with Garza to tell him how much he meant to the team. Garza came to Sacramento in 2019, when Troy Taylor was hired as head coach to resuscitate a pitiful program.
Jody Sears was let go after Sacramento State finished 0-7 in the Big Sky and 2-8 overall in his fifth season at the helm. The death blow was a 56-13 execution by UC Davis in the Causeway Classic, which was played at the University of Nevada with smoke from the Camp Fire blanketing the valley.
The 43-point margin of victory matched the second largest in the 66-year history of the Causeway Classic. UC Davis also had the largest margin (45 points) in 1982. Sacramento State was 3-0 in the showdown with Taylor. The Aggies won 31-21 last year to increase their lead in the series to 47-23.
Forty players left the Hornets after last season for one reason or another. Two defensive stalwarts, senior safety Cameron Broussard and junior lineman Deshawn Lynch, entered the transfer portal and went to Washington. Broussard was a first-team selection in All-Big Sky voting last season and had 73 tackles in 2023 to rank second to Vanden High graduate Armon Bailey, who had 97 and was also an All-Big Sky selection.
Broussard, Lynch and Bailey had company in leaving. In fact, junior safety Gavin Smith-Davis is the only one of the team’s top 10 tacklers last season to return. And Davis-Smith is the only defensive player to start five games in 2023. The offense is stocked in experience with Slater, quarterback Kaiden Bennett, receivers Devin Gandy and Jared Gipson, running back Elijah Tau-Tolliver and tight end Coleman Kuntz. The defense is under construction.
Garza would have added three years to the stockpile of offensive experience. He would have made the pocket much safer for Bennett and redshirt freshman Carson Conklin, who appeared in four games and started two in 2023. Freshmen can play in four games without losing a year of eligibility.
When Garza folded his hand, he left a year of eligibility on the table. Football paid for his college degree, so he came out ahead. He spent four years at Sacramento State as most students do. When his diploma was ordered, Garza got it to go. He had an appointment with the rest of his life.
