If SDSU head football coach Sean Lewis is not talking Aztec Fast, he is likely talking about the mindset he has created and instilled at every coaching stop over the last ten years. “Be the Alpha” has become the leading mantra of the new-look Aztec football program. 

When Blenders Eyewear linked up with Lewis in the spring to talk a partnership, it was a no-brainer to name the resulting sunglass line behind the team’s leading man’s ideology. 

“Coach Lewis has this whole mantra, ‘Be the Alpha,’ so we really wanted to capture that in the spirit of the sunglasses,” said Chase Fisher, the founder of Blenders Eyewear, at a photo shoot to introduce the new pair to select players. “We took the San Diego State colors with that Aztec print and infused it with that kind of energy that coach is bringing into the program.” 

Fisher, an SDSU Class of 2010 graduate, partnered with his alma mater last school year, bringing two new limited edition pairs in an NIL deal with the basketball programs. The football team was up next. 

“Chase has been a great partner with the university,” said Lewis at the photo shoot on Saturday. “(He) reached out, and we organized an event to get to know one another. We got some guys over to learn about his entrepreneurial skills and the business that he has built at Blenders, and, obviously, how powerful that is. We got to talking, and he’s done some great work with the basketball team and wanted to do something with us. It got rolling in the late spring, and it is exciting to see it come to fruition now.”

Fisher calls it “a full circle moment” to be able to help his alma mater and its student-athletes. 

“We are all about celebrating people that inspire us, and we want to lift the boys up and lift the whole program up,” he added. 

Saturday night’s photo shoot included Fisher, Lewis, and five players: DE Trey White, LB Tano Letuli, RB Marquez Cooper, TE Jude Wolfe, and LT Joe Borjon. The men took several group and individual photos, the players in full uniform, for billboards that will go up around San Diego right as the first game of the season kicks off. 

The evening’s activities also included a photo shoot at the campus practice fields with a different selection of players to use for various advertisements for the soon-to-be-released BE THE A1PHA sunglasses. 

Pre-orders go live on September 5th with shipping a few weeks after that. 

Fisher tells EVT that a similar NIL campaign will be initiated for the football team that was conducted for the men’s and women’s basketball programs through Mesa Foundation. Starting in February, the partnership raised $75,000 from the sales of the “TWELVE” line that directly benefited the programs.

Fisher hopes to raise $100,000 for the football program with this endeavor. 

Aztec Link, the official NIL partner of SDSU Athletics facilitated the deal.

“A partnership of this magnitude took a considerable amount of coordination between Blenders, SDSU Athletics, coach Lewis and Aztec Link,” said Aztec Link’s founder JR Tolver. “The Board of Directors are happy to have been the cog in the wheel that got this deal to the finish line.”

For those Aztec fans who bought sunglasses from the “TWELVE” line earlier this year, Fisher says these will be ones they will want to grab as well. 

“Each drop is going to be new; it’s going to be fresh and exciting,” Fisher insisted. “It’s also a give-back moment. All the dollars are going right back to the players and the program and that’s what is making it really special. The players and the program are at the center of everything we do.”

Lewis and the team appreciate the support they have and are receiving from companies in the community like Blenders and hope these types of partnerships grow and propel the athletics department into this new NIL era. 

“Aztec for life is the saying, right?” Lewis explained. “It’s a way of life, and to have Chase embrace us and the community, it is incredibly important to have those partnerships within the community. Recognizing the awesome community that we have and care very deeply about Aztec Athletics and particularly Aztec Football and the way they have stepped up to help our program and our student athletes, we are really, really grateful for the opportunities that have been presented and the partnerships we have been able to create.”

While other companies debate whether they want to hop on the NIL train in the San Diego community, Blenders is all in with SDSU, planning to release new lines for basketball and football each season to benefit the student-athletes. 

With this continued dedication to SDSU, Blenders is embodying Lewis’ mantra and becoming the Alpha partner of SDSU NIL.  

Andre Haghverdian

Avid sports fan and historian of basketball, baseball, football and soccer. UC San Diego and San Diego State alumni living in America’s Finest City. Diverse team following across multiple sports leagues, but Aztecs come first in college athletics.