Throwing a football on the sidelines during Saturday evening’s scrimmage at the San Diego State practice field was SDSU coach Sean Lewis’ 9-year-old son Rory, who on Sunday was compelled to watch the Masters with his father.
“He was locked in,” Lewis said. “It was really cool.”
No surprise there. After all, the youngster was named after Rory McIlroy, whose playoff victory over Justin Rose made McIlroy the sixth golfer in history to complete the sport’s career grand slam.
As far as the name Rory, Lewis said: “My wife and I knew we wanted a strong Irish name because of our Irish heritage.”
They didn’t know whether they were having a boy or a girl at the time, so they had to have names ready to go in either case.
“We were solid on the girl name,” Lewis said. “We kept going round and round on the boy name. It was when the British Open was going on. Rory McIlroy was (being introduced) and the starter goes, “Now coming up to the tee, Rory McIlroy.”
Lewis said they knew the child’s middle name was going to be Michael, after his father.
“So we started playing with ‘Rory Michael Lewis,’ ” he said. “We really liked that. That’s it. So we were deeply invested this weekend in a really cool moment.”
It capped a weekend that began Friday with Lewis celebrating his 39th birthday: “Family said, ‘What do you want to do for your birthday?’ I said, ‘Spend time together and watch history.’ Rory McIlroy delivered, so it was awesome.”
What’s shakin’?
Lewis said recently he no longer feels like a tourist now that he has been in town for more than a year. The coach’s California adventure took another step Monday morning, when Lewis experienced his first earthquake.
Lewis said he was standing in the Fowler Athletic Center auditorium with Aztecs AD John David Wicker when the magnitude 5.2 quake hit Monday morning.
“The whole room kind of shook and the TVs rattled and my Midwestern butt was like, ‘What was that?’ ” said Lewis, who was born and raised in Illinois. “JD was like, ‘I think that was an earthquake.’ I’m like, ‘All right, I’m officially a Californian now. We’re good to go.’ “
Any anxiety among the SDSU players, given more than two dozen of them are from out of state?
“Everyone was good,” Lewis said. “Half of our crew was actually in the weight room, so everyone joked that big Mason Baker (a 6-foot-8, 380-pound sophomore transfer offensive lineman from Modesto) just jumped up and down and they felt him.”
Another commitment
San Jacinto High School’s Jeremiah Brown, a 6-3, 197-pound linebacker, is the latest Class of 2026 commitment for the Aztecs.
Brown, who made the announcement Monday on social media, is the sixth player to commit for 2026. By comparison, SDSU didn’t get its first commitment last year until April 29.
A two-sport standout, Brown had 31 tackles last year with three sacks. He also competes in track and field, running 10.81 in the 100 meters and 21.82 in the 200 meters.
