Quarterbacks Get Lost When Titans Shift Gears : College football: May, Payne likely to leave; Fullerton looks to junior colleges for replacement to run option offense.

A few days after his best game of the season, in which he led Cal State Fullerton to a last-second victory over Cal State Long Beach, Titan quarterback Chad May received some startling news.

Fullerton offensive coordinator Jim Chaney told May this week that the Titans will scrap their one-back offense in favor of a more run-oriented, triple option or veer next season and would be recruiting a junior college quarterback to run such an offense.

May, a redshirt freshman, has been shaky throughout a 2-9 season but at times has shown potential. He looked his best Saturday, completing 16 of 26 passes for 213 yards and two touchdowns, and guiding Fullerton 86 yards for the winning touchdown with 38 seconds remaining in a 37-36 victory over Long Beach.

But an option quarterback he is not. And a Titan quarterback he might not be much longer.

“I’m most likely out of there,” said May. “I don’t want to leave, but they’ve made the decision and I’ve got to live with it. It might be better for me, it might not.”

Backup quarterback Terry Payne, who started the first two games of the season before losing the job to May, is also expected to transfer but did not want to comment. No matter what the offense, Payne, a sophomore, didn’t figure prominently in Fullerton’s plans.

May said he would not make a final decision before consulting Coach Gene Murphy some time next week, but he’s leaning toward leaving. He also said coaches have promised to help him relocate for the spring semester.

“It’s a big blow telling me that after the best game of my career,” May said. “But they could have waited until spring, and that would have made it real hard to find another school. They said they’d give me my release and help me out.”

Murphy used the option when he was coaching at North Dakota and during the early 1980s at Fullerton, when he had mobile quarterbacks such as Alex Espinoza and Damon Allen. Neither May nor Payne is a running threat, and Murphy wants a more versatile quarterback and a less predictable offense.

“The decision is a matter of us doing what we have to do to win,” Murphy said. “It’s unfortunate because they’re both great kids. I think Chad has a future, but I don’t know if we can wait that long. I want success. I’m tired of losing games.”

After 1-11 and 2-9 seasons, Murphy believes 1992 will be critical to the future of the program. Recruiting is difficult enough after two losing seasons; it becomes even tougher after three.

The Titans are also moving into a new on-campus stadium, and unless they win and draw well at the gate, they might have to downgrade the program to Division I-AA or I-AAA.

“There’s a sense of urgency to win,” Murphy said. “We have to be successful next year, and I think this is the way to do it.”