Springtime Showed Both Promise, Problems for SDSU Football

Evaluating the success of spring football practice is an elusive exercise. With no games, limited contact and only a handful of scrimmages to use as guides, calling five weeks of spring practice a success is guesswork at best.

Maybe the best way to measure the progress of any spring practice period is that when it is over, the coach can say the workouts answered more questions than they raised.

By that standard, Denny Stolz can call San Diego State’s recently concluded practice sessions a moderate success.

Stolz came in wondering about rebuilding the Aztec defense and establishing a quarterback to succeed Todd Santos. He walked away from the final spring scrimmage Friday confident that the defense is headed for improvement and convinced that his inexperienced quarterbacks are showing signs of mastering his offense.

Although Stolz must wait until practice resumes in early August to get a truer reading of his team (the season opens Sept. 3 against UCLA in the Rose Bowl), for now he can take comfort in knowing that he accomplished much of what he said he intended to do this spring.

He installed a new defensive package, with an emphasis on a 3-4 front replacing the 4-3 of last season, and got his first long look at quarterbacks Brad Platt and Scott Barrick.

“The defense is on schedule, no question about that,” Stolz said. “We’ve got an active group, which has worked hard to learn what we wanted. They picked up on what we were trying to teach them very quickly. From the first week, you could see the improvement.”

In that area, the Aztecs have plenty of room to improve. They were ranked near the bottom of almost every NCAA Division I defensive category last season, finishing 95th in total defense (434.3 yards per game) and 98th in scoring defense (35.7 points per game).

That performance led to an almost total shakeup of the defensive coaching staff. Tim McConnell, the defensive coordinator, resigned to accept a job as offensive coordinator at Illinois State rather than accept a move to wide receiver coach. Stolz replaced McConnell with Ed Schmidt, former offensive line coach, and several other coaches changed assignments.

Stolz credited Schmidt, who served as defensive line coach for two seasons under Stolz at Bowling Green, as one of the main reasons for what he sees as tangible improvement in the spirit of the defense.

“Ed has brought real enthusiasm to that group,” Stolz said. “We want a fresh start.”

Much of Stolz’s optimism about the defense comes from the switch of Lee Brannon, a part-time tight end/defensive end last season, to full-time inside linebacker. Brannon, a 6-foot 4-inch, 235-pound senior, is being counted on to provide the physical inside force the Aztecs lacked last fall.

“That might be the best move we’ve made,” Stolz said. “Lee Brannon has been the best surprise of the spring.”

In the past, Brannon has expressed a preference for playing offense, but he has no complaints about his new role. He also sees tangible improvement over the defense he played a part in last fall.

“We’re much more motivated,” Brannon said. “We all want to play better. None of us want what happened last year to happen again.”

But avoiding such a repeat will take more than enthusiasm and spirited play. The Aztecs remain thin at defensive line, and, the addition of Brannon aside, they have only three returning linebackers with much game experience.

Stolz recruited heavily in that area and is hoping several recruits might emerge, as Morey Paul did last season, making a smooth transition from Oceanside High School to starting outside linebacker. As for the defensive line, Stolz still is searching for someone to plug the new position of nose tackle.

Steve Blyth, a Rancho Santiago College transfer whom Stolz had hoped to convert from an offensive lineman, was injured most of the spring. Help at that position could come in the fall from Pio Sagapolutele, who sat out his freshman season for academic reasons, and Darren Cooley, a 6-3, 260-pound incoming freshman from Oklahoma City.

Although the defense showed both signs of improvement and reason for some continuing concern, the offense performed about as Stolz said he expected.

“The quarterback situation is the same now as it was when we started the spring,” Stolz said. “Brad Platt has a slight edge on Scott Barrick, but in no way has this been settled.

“Anytime you have a new quarterback, it takes awhile to get the timing down. You want your quarterback to think like you do. You want him to be like a coach on the field. I was spoiled with Todd. It will take our new guys some time to get comfortable.”

Neither Platt, a junior transfer from Southwestern College, nor Barrick, a redshirt freshman from Fallbrook High, has taken a snap in a major-college game. The real measure of their abilities will not come until the season begins. In the meantime, Stolz will make his evaluation from scrimmage performances.

“But there is nothing like a game,” Stolz said. “I won’t have a true starting quarterback until he has proved himself in a game.”

For Stolz and his Aztecs, that day remains 4 1/2 months away.