Santos Out With Broken Wrist; Plum Takes Over SDSU Offense

When Jim Plum arrived at San Diego State’s practice Tuesday, he asked for a “good” football for warming up. When Todd Santos arrived, he went over and talked to the kickers.

The arrivals signified a changing of the guard at quarterback for SDSU.

Santos will miss two to six weeks with a broken right wrist, it was announced Tuesday. Plum, the backup quarterback since 1983, will start Saturday’s game at Stanford.

If there was any panic among the Aztecs, it wasn’t evident at practice or afterward. The standard reaction seemed to be that SDSU would not miss a beat with Plum at quarterback.

“Jim is a very capable quarterback in his own right,” Coach Denny Stolz said. “You sure don’t have to make excuses for him. He has played well a number of times here. This is no big deal. A lot of teams play with their No. 1 quarterback hurt. You just don’t like to have it happen.”

Santos’ injury occurred midway through the second quarter of Saturday’s 38-34 victory at New Mexico. He jammed his wrist on a defensive lineman’s helmet after throwing a pass. At halftime, Santos had ice put on his wrist. It swelled considerably Sunday, and X-rays Monday afternoon revealed the fracture.

“I was really surprised to find out it was fractured,” Santos said. “If I was able to play the second half, I thought it was only a bad sprain. I was pretty upset when I found out it was fractured. I wanted to play Stanford again.”

Despite the injury, Santos played an outstanding second half at New Mexico. In the second half he completed 14 of 22 passes for 205 yards and 2 touchdowns with 1 interception.

“Obviously, he’s an extremely stoic young man and very competitive,” Trainer Don Kaverman said. “It’s encouraging to us that he was able to compete right after sustaining the injury. I think that speaks to the possibility of him returning before most people would with that type of injury. You and I would take three weeks in a cast followed by three weeks of mobilization. We hope to cut that time in half with Todd.”

After playing Stanford, the Aztecs have an off week. Santos may be able to play Oct. 18 at Texas El Paso, Kaverman said.

Santos is expected to be in a cast for another week and will have therapy on the wrist. He will then be on a “day-to-day” basis, according to Kaverman.

“We obviously don’t think the fracture will heal in three weeks,” Kaverman said. “We’re not concerned about making the injury worse. If it’s fractured, it’s fractured. If any other player besides a quarterback or wide receiver had this, we’d probably put it in a cast with the required half-inch of padding and let him go. With a quarterback having to throw the ball, obviously it’s a different story.”

With Plum at quarterback, it figures to be a different story for SDSU’s style of attack.

Santos is more of a pure dropback passer. Plum can scramble.

Teammates said the change in quarterbacks should make little difference.

Tight end Robert Awalt: “Everyone has confidence in Jim because he is a great athlete. My only concern is that Jim has not spent a lot of time with this offense. Last year, he knew the offense as well as the head coach.”

Running back Chris Hardy: “Todd sits in the pocket more than Jim will. Jim will run before he gets sacked. That’ll be good. It’ll keep us from having third and long.”

Offensive guard John Minor: “It’s not like we’ll have a real big dropoff. The main thing is that this will give Stanford more trouble. They don’t know what to expect because they don’t have any film on Jim.”

Receiver Kenny Moore: “Jim’s a capable quarterback, plus he’s a leader. Todd was doing so well that we couldn’t pull him. If Jim was playing anywhere else, he’d probably be a starter.”

Plum, a fifth-year senior from Helix High School, has completed 112 of 227 passes for 1,349 yards, 7 touchdowns and 12 interceptions at SDSU.

He nearly brought the Aztecs back from deficits twice. In 1984 against Oklahoma State, he completed 11 of 18 passes for 150 yards in the final 20 minutes of a 19-16 loss. In 1985 against Utah, he completed 15 of 25 passes for 240 yards and a touchdown in the final three quarters of a 39-37 loss.

Plum’s only action this year was in the final seven minutes of a 45-14 loss to UCLA. He completed 4 of 8 passes for 18 yards with 1 interception.

“My first reaction was ‘Thank you Lord, I got my chance,’ ” Plum said. “That’s not in any way to lessen the value of Todd. I did feel bad, but this is part of the game of football. This is my fifth year, and I’ve played fairly well a couple of games to get us close.”

Stolz would not comment on whether he would change the offensive strategy.

“He has done well whenever we have asked him to do something,” Stolz said of Plum. “I expect him to play well this week. I’d be surprised if he didn’t play well.”

Stanford Coach Jack Elway was surprised to hear that Santos was injured.

“You’re kidding me,” Elway said. “I’m sorry that has happened. I told my football team that (Santos) would’ve been the best quarterback we’ve been confronted with to this point. Do you want to tell me more about Jim Plum? I hope he’s not going to come on and be a future All-American.”

Plum was a Parade Magazine All-American at Helix. However, that was five years ago.

Aztec Notes SDSU’s backup quarterback is now Jack Skoog, a freshman from Ionia, Mich. Skoog was the all-state Class B quarterback last year in Michigan, where there are Classes A, B and C. Last year at Ionia High School, Skoog completed 143 of 250 passes for 1,602 yards and 12 touchdowns.

SDSU coaches are still shaking their heads over New Mexico quarterback Billy Rucker, who passed for a career-high 490 yards against the Aztecs. “I think the kid probably had the best night he’ll have,” said defensive coordinator Tim McConnell. “Their receivers made some catches we didn’t think they were capable of. They were like a caged animal. They played desperate, took chances and stung us. If we had to do it over, I wouldn’t tell you we would defend them the same way. That was the first time we have seen that (run-and-shoot) offense. Our coaches learned from it.” . . . McConnell on the Stanford offense: “They won’t create as many problems scheme-wise as New Mexico. The problem they present is personnel, just like UCLA did. They are a big, physical Pac-10 team.” . . . Stanford has won three straight games, its best start since going 4-0 in 1982. . . . Wide receiver Jeff James, Stanford’s leading receiver after two games, is listed as probable for SDSU after missing last week’s game against Oregon State with a strained left heel. SDSU offensive tackle Greg Williamson (sprained knee), and defensive tackle Craig Skaggs (sprained knee) are both questionable this week. . . . The Aztecs won their first-ever game against Stanford last year, 41-22, at San Diego. SDSU has a 5-6 career record against Pac-10 teams. . . . The Aztecs recorded 35 first downs against New Mexico, one shy of tying the school record set against New Mexico State in 1969.