Portland State Football opens its spring practice session on Tuesday morning at Stott Community Field as first-year Head Coach Chris Fisk leads the Vikings into a new era of football on the Park Blocks.
 
Portland State will have just over 70 available players for spring practice, 25 of whom are newcomers to the roster. The Vikings have 32 letterwinners returning and 19 redshirts from last season's team.
 
Spring football is generally an individual development time for players, but working just as hard will be the first-year coaching staff as it does its first "live" evaluations of the roster. Skill development will be vital, but the first key to the program's success in 2026 will be for Fisk and his staff to mold the team to their identity.
 
CHRIS FISK ON WHAT A SUCCESSFUL SPRING LOOKS LIKE
"Number one, we really need to continue to establish our cultural identity as a program. We want to be the best team in the Big Sky Conference coming out of spring, not necessarily the best team at football, but the best teammates, and have the best type of culture we can possibility put together. I want to make sure we are great at the fundamentals; ball security, tackling, all the things that lead to victory. And finally, just the enthusiasm to play football at Portland State, being excited about being a Viking."
 
"We have a bunch of really good kids we have inherited and now we have to go out see how they play football. It has been a pleasure to work with them. Every kid we have had, they have not balked at anything they have had to do. Figuring everybody out will be a process. We only have 15 practices to do that. That will be a challenge."
 
"How will we know if spring is successful?: If we get out of spring practice healthy, it is a success; If we have all of the pieces coming out of spring, we stay on our feet, do a good job practicing like professionals; If we come out of this thing better at our fundamentals, and more knowledge of the systems that are in place to build into the summer. That is the starting point."
 
"Hopefully what you will see when you come out and watch us practice is a tough-ass football team and a physical football team that is built on stopping the run. I think when you look at sustained success in football, those teams run the football and stop the run. You have got to be able to do that. Time has shown it and we will attempt to do that here too."
 
CHRIS FISK ON EVALUATING RETURNING PLAYERS
"From the first day we got here, evaluating who will stay and who will not, has been challenging. Or maybe we wanted them to stay and they chose to leave. You don't know much until you put the pads on, until you get to the physicality of it, until you figure out how they handle emotions. That is the challenge right now. We think we have some guys that can play football and elevate our program, but we know nothing about them when things get tough. We will find out about that in spring football and the kind of mental makeup we have."
 
CHRIS FISK ON HIS TEAM'S BIGGEST QUESTIONS
"Probably the three really big questions marks that we don't know anything about – the offensive line, the defensive line and the quarterback. We need a lot of answers this spring."
 
PORTLAND STATE FOOTBALL SPRING PRACTICE SCHEDULE
Tues., Apr. 7, 8-10 a.m.         
Thurs., Apr. 9, 8-10 a.m.
Sat., Apr. 11, 8-10 a.m.
Tues., Apr. 14, 8-10 a.m.
Thurs., Apr. 16, 8-10 a.m.
Sat., Apr. 18, 2-4 p.m.
Tues., Apr. 21, 8-10 a.m.
Thurs., Apr. 23, 8-10 a.m.
Sat., Apr. 25, 2-4 p.m.
Tues., Apr. 28, 8-10 a.m.
Thurs., Apr. 30, 8-10 a.m.
Sat., May 2, Scrimmage at Kiggins Bowl, 10 a.m.-Noon
Tues., May 5, 8-10 a.m.         
Thurs., May 7, 8-10 a.m.
Fri., May 8, Spring Football Game, Hillsboro Stadium, 6 p.m.
 
Football practice at Stott Community Field
 
 
COMING ON TUESDAY – CHRIS FISK TALKS ABOUT THE OFFENSE
COMING ON WEDNESDAY – CHRIS FIRST TALKS ABOUT THE DEFENSE
 

2026 PORTLAND STATE FOOTBALL PRIMER

 

• NEW CAPTAIN OF THE SHIP: Chris Fisk was named the 15^th Head Coach in Portland State Football history when his hiring was announced on Dec. 12, 2025. Fisk comes to Portland State following seven seasons as Head Coach at Central Washington University. While in Ellensburg, Fisk compiled a 48-22 record, including 38-7 in conference play. He won three conference titles (Great Northwest Athletic Conference and Lone Star Conference) and led four teams to the NCAA playoffs. Fisk was named GNAC Coach of the Year twice and selected as the NCAA II Region IV Coach of the Year in 2025 after leading the Wildcats to a 10-2 record, including 9-0 in Lone Star play… in all, Fisk spent 10 years at Central Washington. Prior to that he worked at Southern Oregon (2011-15) where he was Co-Offensive Coordinator and Offensive Line Coach. From 2002-10, Fisk coached at the University of Mary as Offensive Coordinator and Offensive Line Coach. He is a 2001 graduate of Jamestown University.
• FIRST MATES:  Joining the Portland State Football staff are five coaches who worked for Fisk at Central Washington. They include: Grant Torgerson (Associate Head Coach/Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers), Alex Kastens (Run Game Coordinator/Offensive Line), Jared Gallatin (Special Teams Coordinator/Safeties), Patrick Belony (Defensive Line), and Brady Crane (Director of Player Personnel)… Matt Adkins (Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks) joins the Vikings after working at Arizona. He coached with Fisk at Southern Oregon… Kiante Goudeau (Cornerbacks) comes to PSU from Montana State. He worked for Fisk in similar role in 2023… Caleb Moore (Wide Receivers) worked previously at Arizona as an Offensive Assistant and in conjunction with Vikings OC Matt Adkins… Nick Kernaghan (Defensive Quality Control) comes to PSU after coaching linebackers for three seasons at Linfield… Dominick Mazotti (Tight Ends) worked last season as an Offensive Analyst at Mercyhurst. He played previously under Vikings Coach Alex Mastens at San Jose State… Chase Coalson (Defensive Quality Control) played under Fisk at Central Washington and finished his All-Conference career in 2025… CJ Jordan (Offensive Quality Control) spent the last two seasons on the Vikings team… Brandt Goetz (Special Teams Quality Control) worked at Western Kentucky last season, and has also worked at UNLV, Tigard (OR) High School and George Fox University.
• OLD AND NEW: Portland State Football has added the role of General Manager in 2026. Taking charge is Rashad Floyd, a former Viking All-American and PSU Athletics Hall of Famer. Floyd, a private businessman and founder of Emmy-Award Winning Heart and Hustle Productions, will spearhead efforts in NIL development, branding, strategic planning for the football program and creating a long-term vision.
• THE ROSTER: Portland State Football returns 51 players from the 2025 roster, including 32 letterwinners… seven starters return on offense and one starter returns on defense… 19 redshirts return, including five with game experience… the new coaching staff has signed 52 newcomers, 28 freshmen and 24 transfers… there are currently 76 football players on campus, though a few will be unable to practice will rehabbing injuries.
• OFFENSE: On offense, the Vikings have experience. In fact, all three quarterbacks who saw significant action, the top running back, two of the top three receivers and top tight end return. In addition, three starters on the offensive line and one part-time starter are back… JR QB John-Keawe Sagapolutele (148-261-16-1,623-4TD), SO QB Tyrese Smith (40-69-4-551-2TD, 98-405-6 rushing) and JR QB Gabe Downing (15-26-2-140-0) are experienced signal callers… JR RB Delon Thompson (191-662-7 rushing, 22-217-1 receiving) led the Vikings in rushing and has over 1,300 career yards on the ground… SR WR Terence Loville (33-517-1) received an NCAA waiver for an additional year of eligibility after leading the Vikings in receiving yards… SO WR/QB/KR Cru Newman (29-302-0, 12-70-1 rushing, 669 return yards) proved to be the Vikings top all-purpose player, earning Freshman All-American and Honorable Mention All-Big Sky honors… JR TE Tanner Beaman was a 2024 second team All-Big Sky Conference selection and preseason All-Big Sky choice in 2025. Unfortunately, a foot injury ended his season before it started. He will be back to full health in 2026… the offensive line features returning starters SR James Minot (12 starts), SO Pule Leatigaga (11 starts), SR Semisi Latu (8 starts) and RS FR Juan Pasillas-Stanton (4 starts).
• DEFENSE: On defense, the Vikings lost a number of players to graduation and the transfer portal, particularly on the line. However, 27 players return on that side of the football… leading the way is veteran SR LB Jaxton Helmstetler (71 tackles, 6.5 TFLs, 2 sacks, fumble recovery for touchdown), a starter in all 12 games… the Vikings return 10 defensive backs, including eight that are redshirt freshmen or sophomores… three of the eight returning defensive linemen were redshirts in 2025… two of the six returning linebackers were also redshirts.
• STARTING OVER: Portland State will strive to be healthier than it was in 2025. The Vikings have eight returning players on the roster for 2026 who never had a chance to compete in 2025 due to preseason injuries. Included in that group were returning lettermen TE Tanner Beaman, LB Davin Beason and DE Elijah Eason, all of whom were projected to start last season.
• STUDENT-ATHLETES: Honorees from the 2025 roster include: SO WR/QB/KR Cru Newman (Freshman All-American, HM All-Big Sky Conference); SR LB Jaxton Helmstetler (Academic All-District); JR QB John-Keawe Sagapolutele (Academic All-District)… Portland State had a program record 3.22 team GPA in the fall of 2025 and bettered that with a 3.36 GPA in the winter of 2026.