Stolz Promises Winner, Maybe ‘Return to Glory’

Throughout the San Diego State campus, posters proclaim the Aztecs will have a “Return to Glory” in football.

The posters even have a picture of Coach Denny Stolz leading the team onto the field, which is strange since he has yet to coach an Aztec game, or, for that matter, a practice.

That will change today, when the Aztecs open spring drills.

Stolz, whose picture was superimposed on the poster, now will attempt to impose his optimism into the program itself.

“We’re not in this for a long-term building program,” Stolz said. “We want to try like the devil to be successful immediately. I certainly anticipate a winning season. I’ll know more about whether that means six or seven or eight wins after spring practice. (SDSU was 5-6-1 last season) Until we get a handle on things, I won’t even hazard a guess.”

Stolz said it will be a couple of weeks before Aztec coaches get a grasp of the caliber of their personnel. They have yet to see the team play anywhere but on film.

At the outset, players will retain the spot on the depth chart they occupied last season, Stolz said. However, as spring practice progresses, Stolz said he expects changes.

“This will be the most crucial spring we’ll ever have at San Diego State,” Stolz said. “So many people have to learn so much in such a short amount of time. It’s the hardest part of the whole transition.”

Recruiting was a difficult part of the transition for the coaches. Stolz was hired Dec. 11, but he coached his former team, Bowling Green, Dec. 14 in the California Bowl. He could not begin contacting prospective SDSU players until Dec. 15, the first day junior college players could sign.

“There was no way we were going to have a big JC recruiting year,” Stolz said. “It was a matter of the top JC kids being gone by the time we could have recruited them. We weren’t about to sign people we didn’t think could play for us.”

The Aztecs, who have four returning starters on offense and six back on defense, desperately need help in the offensive line and at linebacker. From the junior college ranks, they recruited offensive linemen Art Aronson (6-1, 255 pounds) and Mike Knutson (6-4, 255) and linebacker Shawn Leckington (6-1, 225).

“We don’t have many linebacker candidates, and that concerns us,” Stolz said. “We’re going to have to evaluate pretty thoroughly and see if we have candidates for linebacker who might be employed at other positions.”

Stolz said Todd Santos again will be the starting quarterback. Santos, a junior, passed for 2,877 yards and 21 touchdowns last season.

According to Stolz, Santos is “very similar” to Brian McClure, Bowling Green’s 1985 quarterback. McClure finished second in NCAA career passing yards with 10,280.

“McClure is bigger, but Todd is a little more mobile,” Stolz said. “I like Todd’s quarterback attitude. By that, I mean learning and understanding offensive and defensive football and having good leadership and judgment. I have no reason to think he doesn’t have all of those qualities.”

However, the Aztecs’ offensive line is of questionable quality. The only returning starter is guard Doug Aronson (6-3, 270), Art’s brother, who was first-team All-Western Athletic Conference and honorable mention All-American last season.

The team’s top wide receivers last season, Webster Slaughter and Vince Warren, are out of eligibility. Returning receiver Kenny Moore caught 30 passes as a backup last year. Robert Awalt, who alternated at tight end in 1985, also returns.

Chris Hardy earned first-team All-WAC honors last season by rushing for 1,150 yards. He was the fifth Aztec to surpass 1,000 yards rushing.

“I’ll be very happy if we get 1,000 yards out of our tailback,” Stolz said of Hardy, who also caught 33 passes for 287 yards and 1 touchdown last season. “He’ll be more involved in the passing game than he was last year. We like to get five receivers out. Whichever one we throw to will depend on what the defense does.”

Defensively, the Aztecs will switch from a 3-4 to 4-3 formation. However, Stolz said it will be similar to last year’s defense in that the 1985 Aztecs used a lot of four-man rushes.

Starters Mike Hooper and Greg Williamson return on the line. Redshirts Duane Pettitt (broken leg) and Levi Esene (dislocated elbow) were listed as starters before being injured.

All four starting defensive backs from 1985 return--Mario Mitchell, Clarence Nunn, Steve Lauter and Ellis Powers.

However, all last season’s starting linebackers were seniors. But that’s only one area where changes must be made.

No one knows which athletes will be in the picture for SDSU come fall. For now, the only thing clear is the presence of Stolz, the new face on the “Return to Glory” posters.