CAL STATE FULLERTON NOTEBOOK : Fullback Byrnes Assumes New Role

Handing Tim Byrnes a playbook this season was like handing him a pink slip.

Byrnes put in his time at fullback for four years, redshirting his freshman year and dutifully playing his part the next three. He had an 84-yard game once during his junior season, but everything was building toward this, his senior season.

Instead, Byrnes was out of a job. Cal State Fullerton was going to a one-back offense, and there was no question who the one back would be--Mike Pringle.

In the Titans’ opener, Byrnes carried the ball twice. Seven games into the season, he has four carries for a net yardage of zero.

It is not the stuff of a running back’s idle imaginings, nor was it the way Coach Gene Murphy wanted Byrnes to spend his final days as a Titan.

“You look at your depth chart and you see who your winners are,” Murphy said. “You’ve got to get him on the field.”

But what is there to do with a 5-foot-11, 215-pound fullback who has been rendered obsolete by a new offense?

Murphy has made him a tight end-- a 5-foot-11 tight end. Not exactly in the tradition of Jim Thornton, the 6-foot-3 former Titan who plays for the Chicago Bears, nor even in that of 6-foot-6 Bill Brennan, Fullerton’s other tight end this season.

Not, frankly, in the tradition of many tight ends outside of high schools and small colleges.

“I’m probably the shortest tight end in college football,” Byrnes said.

To the pleasure of both Byrnes and Murphy, it has worked.

“It’s not the particular position I’d like to play, but as long as I’m playing, that’s what matters,” Byrnes said. “At first, I was looking forward to carrying the ball, looking forward to getting the yards. Then reality set in. . . . After the first game I figured, hey, I can’t just stand here all year, especially after three years of playing.”

Brennan, the starter in the first game of the season, suffered a hip pointer in that game and was unavailable for the next.

Byrnes got the call.

“You don’t put a kid who played linebacker and fullback (in high school) at tight end,” Murphy said.

But that’s what he did.

Now the Titans have a tight end combination that can give defenses fits.

With Byrnes, they have a tight end who can run with the ball once he catches it, a tight end who can go in motion and become the lead blocker for Pringle.

With Brennan, they have a lanky fellow who says his favorite sport was always basketball anyway, and who when covered simply signals quarterback Dan Speltz to throw the ball high.

Speltz lobs it, and Brennan makes defensive backs look as if they are little kids who want something off a high shelf--even when they jump, the ball is just beyond their reach and just within Brennan’s.

On Saturday against Pacific, Speltz went to Brennan, who finished with four catches for 74 yards.

Brennan has lost some playing time to Byrnes, but he isn’t complaining.

“I’m glad he’s doing well,” Brennan said. “If we’re getting the job done, we’re doing all right.”

Pringle’s career-high 242-yard rushing, five-touchdown performance against Pacific not only earned him Big West Conference offensive player of the week honors, but also got him named national offensive player of the week by The Sporting News.

Pringle had 290 all-purpose yards and remains first in the nation in all-purpose running at 231.7 yards a game. San Jose State’s Sheldon Canley, who is second, trails by 19 yards. Pringle is eighth in the NCAA in rushing (124 yards a game) and third in scoring (12 points a game).

With 867 rushing yards this season, he needs only 133 to become the fourth Titan to rush for 1,000 yards in a season. Obie Graves gained 1,789 yards in 1978; Rick Calhoun 1,398 in ‘86, and Dwayne Sims 1,071 in ’73.

Murphy was still irritated with the starters on Monday for allowing Pacific to make a close game out of what was once a 28-point Fullerton lead.

Fullerton finished with a 35-26 victory only after recovering an onside kick and running out the final 1:40.

“The unfortunate thing is we have other football players who practice hard all year and don’t get to play because other players do stupid, dumb things,” Murphy said.

Fullerton (3-3-1 overall, 2-1 in the Big West) plays undefeated Fresno State in Fresno Saturday, taking on a team with a 13-game winning streak, second-longest to Notre Dame’s 18 among Division I teams.

Titan Notes

Both basketball teams have begun practice, with both preparing for regular-season openers Nov. 24 at Titan Gym. The men play Lamar and the women Weber State. . . . The soccer team (8-5-1) plays host to UC Santa Barbara on Friday in its final home match of the season.