Derek Santifer’s Future as an Aztec Is Unclear

Has starting inside linebacker Derek Santifer left the San Diego State football team or hasn’t he? Nobody is sure. Not even Santifer.

Santifer, a junior transfer from Long Beach City College, disappeared from the team after the Aztecs returned from a 49-7 loss to Air Force Saturday. After Santifer missed practice Monday and Tuesday, Coach Denny Stolz announced that Santifer had left the team.

“He flat-out quit,” Stolz said. “That’s all I know.”

But Santifer said late Tuesday that he would meet with Stolz this morning to discuss his future.

Santifer said the meeting was set up after he spoke by telephone Tuesday night with defensive coordinator Tim McConnell. Santifer said McConnell told him he could return to the team but that he would have to seek a redshirt. Santifer injured his knee against Air Force and could be eligible for a hardship medical redshirt that would allow him to preserve his two years of athletic eligibility.

“I can’t see myself redshirting and coming back to play here,” Santifer said. “I don’t think I want to do that.”

Santifer said he had not quit the team but had taken unexcused time off to consider his standing with the Aztecs.

“I haven’t quit,” he said. “I haven’t been playing well. I’ve let the team down. I needed some time to think things over. Maybe this isn’t the best way, but sometimes you have to think about yourself.

“The team is important, but the team is made up of individual human beings, and right now I need some time to myself.”

Santifer said he hoped a compromise could be reached with Stolz.

“In junior college, someone missing a practice was commonplace,” Santifer said. “I didn’t realize this would be such a big thing. I don’t understand.

“I haven’t been X-ed out. I’m still with the program until he (Stolz) tells me differently.”

McConnell, who also coaches the linebackers, said he has tried to call Santifer several times but has received no answer.

“I haven’t been always answering the phone,” Santifer said. “You know how it is, you don’t know if the person calling you is someone you really want to talk to.”

Free safety Lyndon Earley said Santifer called him Monday night to tell him he was leaving the team.

“The loss just got to him,” Earley said. “I asked him if people were criticizing him. He said, ‘No.’ He just kept saying, ‘49-7. 49-7,’ over and over again. He said, ‘I don’t know, I wake up in the morning and my bones are just cracking.’ ”

Santifer said his knee has been stiff and sore in the morning.

Santifer, 6-2, 230 pounds, enrolled at Long Beach after attending Banning High School in Los Angeles. He transfered to SDSU in the spring and won the starting inside linebacker job.

“He wasn’t playing well in training camp,” McConnell said. “He knew it and I knew it. He’s gotten better every game. He has a lot of physical ability.”

Stolz said that Kenny Bernard, a 6-2, 220-pound junior from Patrick Henry High School, would start in place of Santifer.

Santifer’s apparent departure comes at a time when the defense is struggling. The Aztecs are allowing an average of 536.3 yards per game, next to last among the 104 teams in NCAA Division I-A.

Aztec Notes The Aztecs have been hit with several key injuries in the secondary. Three starters were held out of practice Tuesday--strong safety Harold Hicks (quadriceps contusion), cornerback Mario Mitchell (knee sprain) and cornerback Clarence Nunn (injured shoulder nerve). The status of all three is considered day-to-day, said trainer Don Kaverman. But Kaverman said all three must make significant progress before they can play Saturday at Oregon. Offensive tackle Dave DesRochers (leg contusion) is probable.