Rising to the Occasion : Inspired Play of Fullerton’s Kelly Gogerty Earns Him a Start

When two seasons have begun since a player last started a game, when his team is 0-2 and 21 of his closest friends and family are watching from the stands--well, that’s a time for something to be done.

Or it was, at least, for Kelly Gogerty, one of the Cal State Fullerton defensive linemen.

On Saturday, in a game that Gogerty did not start and in which the Fullerton defense was on the field for less than 20 minutes, Gogerty had two sacks among his five tackles in the Titans’ 31-12 victory over Cal State Long Beach.

He had what Coach Gene Murphy called “his best game as a Titan,” earned the coaches’ award as defensive player of the week, and--by far most important to Gogerty--has been named the starting defensive tackle for Saturday’s game against Utah State in Logan, Utah.

“All of a sudden, he’s just exploded,” said Fullerton assistant coach Dave Tipton, who coaches the defensive linemen.

Tommy Thompson, a transfer from Compton College who earned the starting job last spring, also had a good game.

“Just not as good as Kelly,” Tipton said.

It is not of utmost concern to Tipton who starts--he plays both players every game. But it is more of an issue to Gogerty.

“Maybe it’s not that important,” Gogerty said. “But I haven’t started the last two years, and that makes it important to me.”

In 1985, Gogerty, then an offensive lineman, volunteered to help the team--and his own prospects--by moving to the Titans’ needy defensive line, which was depleted by injuries, particularly by a knee injury to starter Ron McLean.

After just a week of practice with the defense, he started the next game. He started three or four more that season.

In 1986, McLean was back as the starter, so Gogerty was out. Then last spring, Thompson, the community-college transfer, moved ahead of Gogerty to claim the starting position.

This fall, Gogerty reported only to find another community-college transfer, Charlie Scott, also listed ahead of him. If he remained at third string, he wouldn’t even make the trips to away games.

But Gogerty, disappointed with his performance in the spring, had worked hard over the summer. Always strong--he bench presses 440 pounds--he had worked on his speed and quickness, and he also had slimmed down.

“At one time he was kind of fat and out of shape and had a questionable work ethic,” Tipton said.

Gogerty, who is 6-feet 4-inches tall, is down to about 255 this year, from around 270.

“I knew I could play a lot better, and I didn’t feel like I had a good spring at all,” said Gogerty, who played football at Troy High School, across the street from the Fullerton campus. “I just knew that working hard would make me a better football player.”

In practice this week, Gogerty often has been singled out for good play.

“Right now, I’ve never seen him work so hard as he is,” Tipton said. “He was unhappy last week, and he’s turned it around.”

Although Thompson will play anywhere from 30% to 50% of the time against Utah State and Tipton says his plan is to vary the starter, Gogerty has designs on keeping the position.

“Hopefully, I’ll start from here on, if I play as hard as I can,” he said.