Titans Lack Depth, Experience as Camp Opens

Cal State Fullerton’s football team went 11-1 on the field (12-0 off it, thanks to a forfeit by Nevada Las Vegas) last season. The most vivid memory of the Titans’ best year ever was quarterback Damon Allen escaping a fierce pass rush, scrambling for big gains, shedding tackles and shredding defensive game plans in the process.

Allen, virtually unstoppable last year, is now the starting quarterback for the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League and the Titans will be led by Kevin Jan or Whit Brown, neither of whom have started a game on the NCAA Division 1 level.

Coach Gene Murphy admits that “our concern offensively is supposed to be at quarterback,” but he insists he’s confident both players can get the job done. In any case, Murphy has other--maybe even bigger--problems to ponder as the Titans officially open fall camp today and begin defense of their 1984 Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. championship.

Take the linebacker position, for starters. That’s the trouble, who will be the starters?

Murphy will be choosing from a collection of nine players. Two are incoming freshmen, three are redshirt freshmen and only two are returning lettermen--veteran backup Russ Maybury, whose previous claim to fame was designing the team’s helmet logos, and junior Bob Oeh, who made two tackles last season.

Bryan Higgs, one of only two JC transfers Murphy recruited for this season, is already penciled in to start at one linebacker spot.

Murphy doesn’t have any quick answers for the Titans’ lack of depth and experience at a position where both seem essential prerequisites for a winning team.

“Maybe some of these freshmen will show us something the next couple of weeks,” he said, shrugging.

There are other problems, of course. The Titans have no true fullbacks, they lack depth on the defensive line, and the secondary--with the exception of senior cornerback Mark Collins--is also inexperienced.

But if things start to look too bleak, Murphy can always look to a strong offensive line and his receiver corps, easily the conference’s best. Seniors Wade Lockett, Allen Pitts, James Pruitt and Corn Redick give Fullerton an awesome combination of quickness, speed and good hands.

Of course, then one begins to wonder who’s going to get the ball to them and you’re right back where you started.

“A couple of years ago, we said that no one could ever replace (All-PCAA nose tackle) Joe Aguilar and we were probably right,” Murphy said. “But Jimmy Baioa sure as hell played well enough for us to win.

“No one will ever replace Damon Allen, either. The question is whether someone can play quarterback well enough for us to win again.”

Murphy hopes to find some clues in the three weeks before Fullerton opens the season Sept. 7 at the University of Montana.

“Our job now is to evaluate and try to find out which of these guys can help us right away,” Murphy said, “and then identify who can provide us some depth and who might help us down the road.”

Titan Notes The Titans have voted David Rothenberg, the 9-year-old burn victim, as an honorary team captain. Coach Gene Murphy has ordered a jersey for Rothenberg, who recently moved to Fullerton with his mother. Rothenberg was on campus Friday, helping pass out uniforms. “If all our guys were as tough as that little son of buck, I could tell you who was gonna win the conference championship right now,” Murphy said. . . . Thirty-nine Fullerton players were enrolled in summer school in order to insure their eligibility. Last year, a number of key Titans were not declared eligible until the week of the opening game. Murphy is afraid the same thing will happen again this season. . . . Since Fullerton did not go to the California Bowl last year (the Titans were not declared official conference champions by the PCAA Compliance Committee until after Las Vegas had played in the bowl), they did not get championship rings. Athletic Director Ed Carroll got the team commemorative watches instead and they will be distributed at a ceremony Aug. 24. The Titans will hold a public scrimmage at 3 p.m. and the watches will be presented at a barbeque to follow. . . . The Fullerton game at San Jose State, originally scheduled for Oct. 5, has been moved to Thursday night, Oct. 3, and will be nationally televised on ESPN.