Former star Noel Grigsby wants to help make San Jose State’s upcoming bowl experience a good one.

Grigsby, whose football career ended last year when the Raiders cut him, is organizing former players to help buy some of the school’s allotment of 5,000 tickets for the Cure Bowl on Dec. 19 against Georgia State in Orlando, Florida.

“Why not? I am an alum,” Grigsby said Monday. “Just for future Spartans to get to go to a bowl game.”

Grigsby doesn’t want his alma mater to be penalized for not having enough fan support when it comes to traveling to bowl games. Such support is one of the factors bowl organizers use in determining whom to invite.

Grigsby’s actions are similar to what some Spartans alums in the NFL did in 2012 for the Military Bowl.

“When it is his turn, he is able to do the same thing,” assistant athletic director Blake Sasaki said of Grigsby. “We hope all the former San Jose State alums feel the same way.”

Grigsby understands the importance of propping up San Jose State’s reputation as well as anyone after the 6-6 Spartans were passed over for a bowl in his senior season in 2013.

The receiver missed all but two games that year after suffering a torn meniscus. But the school’s all-time leader with 3,121 receiving yards could have played in a bowl game had San Jose State been selected.

“We haven’t been covering the ticket” allotment and “the school has been taking a hit,” Grigsby said.

Now an executive for Staples Corporation and an assistant coach at Crenshaw High in Los Angeles, Grigsby won’t be able to attend the Spartans’ first bowl game since 2012.

But that hasn’t stopped him from rallying former teammates to support a new bowl offering a $1.35 million payout. Grigsby wants 20 buddies to each purchase five tickets that range in cost from $22 to $250.

Sasaki said buying tickets from the school helps San Jose State’s perception “even if you can’t go.” He added the bowl has a mechanism for unused tickets to be donated to Orlando-based charities.

For ticket information: https://oss.ticketmaster.com/aps/sjsuathletics/EN/link/buy/details/15fbbowl

San Jose State (5-7) was one of three schools with losing records to receive a bowl bid because not enough teams reached the six-victory threshold to fill the 80 berths in the postseason lineup.

Nebraska, Minnesota and the Spartans qualified based on their high marks in the NCAA’s Academic Progress Rate that measures how many players are on track to graduate.

Grigsby is most proud of his school’s academic improvement considering that in 2005 San Jose State’s program was in serious jeopardy because of a low APR score.

“The program helped me get where I am right now,” Grigsby said. “This is giving back.”