AZTEC UPDATE : NOTEBOOK : SDSU Freshman Faulk Is a Magic Kind of Personality

Aztec running back Marshall Faulk, who will remain hospitalized until at least tonight with two broken ribs and a collapsed lung, already has been compared to Barry Sanders and Emmitt Smith this season. But Dan Underwood, SDSU running backs coach, has a different athlete in mind: Magic Johnson.

Underwood was an assistant coach at Michigan State from 1973 to 1979 and saw nearly every home game Magic played during his two years at the school.

“Those kind of guys come around once in a lifetime,” Underwood said. “Magic was one of those guys who you never knew what he would do next, and Marshall is one of those kind of guys, too.”

Underwood recalled that Johnson was willing to help the Spartan football team recruit at MSU.

“Many times, I’d take a recruit into the locker room to have him meet Magic,” Underwood said. “He was a special guy.

“I remember when he held a press conference (to announce his decision to turn pro early), every one of the football coaches went. We didn’t know what he was going to do--and his decision was going to have such an impact on our program.”

The way Faulk was going this season, he was turning his coaches into fans as well.

“You get excited as a coach just to watch him run,” Underwood said. “My wife noticed that I was as excited as anybody else.”

Receiver Patrick Rowe’s NCAA record of nine consecutive games of at least 100 yards receiving is in jeopardy. Pacific’s Aaron Turner can tie it during the Tigers’ game Saturday at San Jose State.

“It’s not frustrating at all; I wish him the best,” Rowe said of possibly being wiped out of the record book. “It’s not easy to get 100 yards receiving nine consecutive times. It says a lot about his offense and his receiver skills.”