Caleb Davis looks like he just started driving but hasn’t started shaving. That didn’t discourage San Diego State coach Sean Lewis from hiring Davis as the SDSU football program’s first general manager. “I’m very thankful to have such a smart and cerebral young man in Caleb on board with u s,” Lewis said. “He’s smart, he’s innovative, he’s flexible and he’s going to be able to be like water and go with the flow here in this ever-changing environment that we’re in.” Davis, 25, may look younger than his years. He also appears wiser. “Youth can be a benefit in this world,” said Davis, who sees himself being more able to “learn, develop and adapt” than someone more set in their ways. “My youth, being able to connect with kids, connect with agents, connect with different people in this realm, is actually going to end up suiting me better in the long term.” He is tasked with everything related to the roster, beginning with talent acquisition and retention and including financial allocations and negotiations with players and agents. Davis has packed plenty of experience into his 25 years, highlighted most recently with his role on the Notre Dame staff that guided the Fighting Irish to a national championship appearance. He started down this path as a student assistant at Cincinnati. After graduating in 2021, Davis followed Bearcats defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman to Notre Dame, going from unpaid intern to full-time member of the recruiting staff. Davis spent a year at Troy as head of personnel, then returned to Notre Dame last year as director of recruiting. Now he’s at San Diego State. “The way that we’re going, we’re going to continue to stretch the edges and push forward and be innovative,” Lewis said. “Having a general manager on staff is a part of that process.” The spring portal period opens Wednesday, three days before the Aztecs conclude spring practice. The House settlement is looming. It will introduce revenue sharing to college athletics. Combined with NIL revenue from collectives, it means there is a “payroll” to be managed. “He’s shown that he has a plan to be fiscally responsible to maximize each and every single dollar,” Lewis said. “Not only from the administration but from the private sector as well so that we can use our money in the most cost-effective way and to build a championship-caliber roster year in and year out.” Lewis has said he got into coaching to coach, not to pour over financial spreadsheets and negotiate with player agents. Davis said he always wanted to work in football and be in a position where he could impact kids’ lives. “High school football is what taught me how to grow up, grow into a man and everything,” Davis said. “As I transitioned into college, it wasn’t always recruiting — it was recruiting, coaching, GA stuff, operations.” Davis answered questions about some of the more pressing matters facing the program: How should SDSU allocate it’s NIL and revenue sharing? A: “No. 1, we have to take care of our roster. Player retention. Those are the kids that have repped San Diego State. They’ve got this city on their back. … Then it’s a trickle down. Whatever you have left to enhance the roster, you budget for it. You have a certain amount. But it always starts with retaining the roster and retaining the guys who have poured in their blood, sweat and tears into this program.” The nation’s top programs, like Ohio State, may have more than $30 million to pay players. How do programs like SDSU, with perhaps 10% of that amount, remain competitive?  A: “It all starts with giving them a first-class experience. To where Coach Lewis said, the kids, if they don’t want to leave, they’re not going to. If they want to leave, they’re going to leave regardless of if they’re getting a 10x paycheck or whatnot. I think part of it is investing in the city, investing in the alumni, investing in the donors and everyone around here, the boosters, that can help us continue to ascend. “While we’re not at the Ohio State levels, the top, top, top, there’s nothing that holds us back. This is one program that I truly believe has unlimited potential. When we hit this thing right, when we lead in the Pac-12, the moment we win a Pac-12 championship and start rolling, there’s nothing that holds us back because we do have the city of San Diego at our back, we do have an elite coaching staff and we’ve got elite history and tradition here.” Caleb Davis came to San Diego State after serving as director of recruiting at Notre Dame. (Justin Truong / SDSU Athletics) What is the future financial structure of college football?   A: “Everyone always assumes it’s an NFL model and I think it will get there eventually. I still think things are going to twist and turn and there’s going to be 10 more changes where we get to a final model, final structure. “Things are trending in the right direction, where you sign kids to contracts, you invest in them and, ideally, you keep them for four years and get them to the (NFL). Hopefully, one day, I don’t think it will be anytime soon, you get to the point where you can sign these kids long-term. That’s way (down) the road. My job here is to learn the job as it comes and adapt as these changes happen.” A lot of people talk about bringing the NFL model to college. What exactly does that mean in your mind? A: “The NFL model is really being smart financially. Budgeting, understanding the landscape as things come. So a lot of it is having a plan. A lot of college recruiting is day by day. It’s ebbs and flows. It’s relationships. It’s different things. That will always be the case. Relationships will always be No. 1. But having a financial plan and a financial vision for the future is so much more imperative than it ever has been before. “There will be a little bit of position variance, but we’ve done a lot of studies back form my time at Notre Dame and various places and it actually falls pretty similarly in line. But you also have to go with the flow of what your roster, what your identity wants to be. San Diego State’s roster construction is going to be very different than Notre Dame’s because we are in Southern California and we are a different scheme, but for the most part it stays pretty in line with the NFL structure.” In this new world order, can SDSU be a competitor in the college football playoff? A: “Absolutely. There is no doubt in my mind. I think a lot of people hear that and get scared, but if your goal’s not the highest, what are you doing? “Some people don’t realize the potential that a place has, and I think that’s my job to make everybody realize how special San Diego State has it, and how great of systems we have in place and rocketship this thing into the Pac-12.” ...read more read less