Mental Calisthenics Fill Spring’s Agenda : Luginbill Hopes to Sharpen Focus During San Diego State Workouts

The subject was spring football, and that sick, gnawing feeling in the room wasn’t the thought of 15 practices without any games.

No. The quiet in the room as San Diego State football Coach Al Luginbill talked during a recent team meeting was a leftover sense of melancholy from the Aztecs’ 52-52 tie with Brigham Young last November.

“They know what they had in their hands and they know what they let get away,” Luginbill said. “I’d like to be in that situation again and see what happens.”

Spring football opens this afternoon at SDSU and, despite what the schedule says, Luginbill expects to play several games by the beginning of April.

Mind games.

Unhappy with the way the Aztecs responded at times last fall, Luginbill thinks one of the biggest steps the team needs to take if it is to win a Western Athletic Conference championship is to concentrate more fully. After all, they blew a three-touchdown lead in the BYU game and the tie landed them in second place.

“After evaluating our season, I felt the one thing our football program lacked was that we have not come to the point of playing (effectively) with the lead,” Luginbill said. “Any time we got the lead, we had a comfort zone immediately, and that brought down our level of play.”

So, Luginbill said he will spend plenty of time this spring drilling the players on the fine points of playing football for an entire 60 minutes at a time; not portions thereof.

“We have to really focus in on the parts that could have created a conference championship,” Luginbill said. “I think the mind set of our team is going to be crucial to our success.”

The most significant change in spring football will probably be an experiment to teach running backs Marshall Faulk, a 1991 Associated Press All-American, and Wayne Pittman the H-back position. Luginbill is looking for ways to get both players--whom he called “the two most talented players in our interior skill positions”--onto the field at the same time.

Also, SDSU is installing a two-deep zone defense to add to its overall package.

“We’re going to use it as a change-up to the other things so we have something else people have to practice against,” said Barry Lamb, SDSU defensive coordinator. “We don’t want to give everyone the same look up front. We wanted to put more pressure on offenses.”

Lamb said that by installing the two-deep zone, it will cause offenses to block a different way than they do against SDSU’s normal defensive package. Also, Lamb said, it changes SDSU’s defensive assignments against the run.

“We felt people were taking advantage of us (doing the same things defensively),” Lamb said. “And this also takes some pressure off of our cornerbacks.”

Otherwise, most of the spring should involve plugging holes in the depth chart. And any time that occurs with the Aztecs, the first place to start is with the defense . . . the defense that finished 103rd nationally last season.

“When we went into the Freedom Bowl, I told our staff that we have got to stop voiding coverages where somebody is wide open,” Luginbill said. “That wasn’t prevalent during the previous part of the season.

“We need to develop a third cornerback and another safety. We need to develop depth, especially in the back end. That’s the primary goal for us in the spring.”

Senior Gary Taylor and sophomore Eric Sutton, the starters in the Freedom Bowl, are both back. Luginbill is looking for improved concentration from junior John Louis, who started all 12 regular season games in 1991 before losing his job to Sutton at the end.

And, Luginbill is hoping to be impressed by two redshirt freshmen--Craig Crosby of Mesa, Ariz. and Michael Landry, from Ehret High in Marrero, La.

Depth at free safety should come from senior Robert Griffith, junior Chris Johnson, sophomore Sam Williford and redshirt freshman John McCartney.

Two familiar players will join the mix at linebacker--Shawn Smith, who transferred from Notre Dame and had to sit out last season, and Tracey Mao, who was suspended last season for his part in a brawl following quarterback David Lowery’s fight in which Lowery suffered a broken jaw.

“Tracey is down about 17 or 18 pounds, in the low 230-range, which is really going to help him,” Luginbill said. “You can see a glint in his eye. It really means a lot to him. The situation he was in has given him incentive.”

Offensively, the Aztecs will work hardest on what to do when they have the ball inside the opponents’ 20-yard line.

The biggest question mark offensively is at tight end, where the Aztecs lose Ray Rowe, a second-team all-WAC pick.

“There is talent there, but it is untested,” Luginbill said.

The leading candidates are junior Alex Semenik, who transferred from Scottsdale (Ariz.) Community College but missed last season because of mononucleosis, and Marc Ziegler, a sophomore from Mira Mesa who played sparingly last season.

Behind them is Zack Smith, a freshman from St. Augustine, and then Curt Collins, a redshirt freshman from Bakersfield High School.

The other area at which the Aztecs need to answer some questions is in the offensive line, where they lost center Kevin Macon and guard Jim Jennings.

Louis Zumstein, a sophomore from Chula Vista High, filled in well when injuries cropped up last year but he is still slowed by an ankle injury he suffered. He had arthroscopic surgery and will not be able to go full speed for most of the spring.

“We need to come out with the best five-to-10 players,” Luginbill said. “A lot of those guys will have to double-learn (positions), but they’re capable of doing that.”

Aztec Notes

Eric Peterson, a redshirt freshman defensive lineman from Norwalk, will not be ready for the opening of spring drills because he is still recovering from off-season arthroscopic shoulder surgery. . . . Whether lineman Carlson Leomiti will participate is still up in the air--or, rather, on the scales. Leomiti must make weight before he will be allowed to practice.

San Diego State Spring Roster

No. Name Pos Ht Wt Cl Hometown 36 Joe Abdullah RB 6-0 200 Fr. Stockton 54 Mike Alexander OL 6-3 200 Jr. Carson 60 Fred Aliipule DL 6-3 240 Fr. San Diego 75 Brandon Bejarano OL 6-5 285 So. Pico Rivera 35 Art Berry RB 5-10 205 Sr. El Cajon 59 Roger Blake DL 6-4 225 Fr. San Diego 57 Tyson Bruder LB 6-0 212 Fr. Chandler, Ariz. 56 Mike Burns LB 6-2 230 Fr. Yorba Linda 78 David Cole OL 6-5 270 So. San Luis Obispo 84 Curt Collins TE 6-4 205 Fr. Bakersfield 38 Craig Crosby DB 5-11 170 Fr. Mesa, Ariz. 29 Thad Culpepper DB 5-9 165 Fr. Pasadena 48 Jamal Duff DL 6-7 235 So. Tustin 79 Burton Ewert OL 6-7 250 So. Modesto 28 Marshall Faulk RB 5-10 185 So. New Orleans 67 Chris Finch OL 6-6 270 Fr. Riverside 53 Thomas Fletcher LS 6-4 215 So. San Marcos 91 George Glaze DL 6-4 240 Jr. San Fernando 93 Sebastian Glaze DL 255 255 Jr. Northridge 52 Darcel Glover LB 6-2 230 Fr. San Diego 68 Shane Griffis OL 6-7 250 So. Exeter 34 Robert Griffith DB 5-11 200 Sr. San Diego 12 Tim Gutierrez QB 6-1 215 So. Oxnard 66 Joe Heinz OL 6-3 290 Sr. Chula Vista 3 Kipp Jeffries RB 5-8 185 Jr. Etiwanda 15 Chris Johnson SS 6-0 195 Jr. San Diego 5 Willie Johnson DB 6-2 215 Jr. San Diego 19 Brian Kalk QB 6-2 210 Fr. Hesperia 76 David Kim DL 6-1 235 Jr. Woodland Hills -- Mark King RB 5-10 200 Sr. San Diego 74 Mark Koenig OL 6-5 255 Jr. La Mirada 18 Michael Landry DB 5-10 170 Fr. Marrero, La. 71 Carlson Leomiti OL 6-3 360 Jr. Carson 9 Darrell Lewis SS 6-0 210 Jr. San Diego 2 John Louis DB 6-1 175 Jr. Point Loma 11 David Lowery QB 6-0 200 Jr. Mission Viejo 31 Marlon Manassa RB 5-10 175 Fr. San Diego 58 Tracey Mao LB 6-2 230 Sr. Lynwood 47 Steve Matuszewicz DL 6-5 240 Sr. La Puente 27 Larry Maxey WR 5-10 170 Sr. San Diego 13 DeAndre Maxwell WR 6-2 195 Fr. Fresno 7 John McCartney DB 6-0 190 Fr. San Diego 69 Aaron Mertens OL 6-5 240 Fr. San Diego 55 Tyrone Morrison DL 6-3 255 Jr. San Diego 73 Tony Nichols OL 6-5 290 Sr. Sonora 80 Jake Nyberg WR 6-0 190 Jr. Escondido 10 Scott Oatsvall P 6-3 195 Sr. Oceanside 51 Zach Patterson LB 6-3 210 Fr. Lompoc 97 Eric Peterson DL 6-2 230 Fr. Norwalk 17 Ray Peterson WR 5-8 165 Fr. New Orleans 39 Damon Pieri FS 6-0 185 Sr. Glendale, Ariz. 94 Curt Pieson DL 6-3 230 Jr. Riverside 44 Wayne Pittman RB 5-11 195 So. San Diego 40 Chad Provensal LB 5-11 205 So. Bakersfield 50 Mark Roberts LB 6-1 215 So. Bakersfield 72 Chris Rodahoffer OL 6-5 265 Jr. Lodi -- Jason Rose P 6-2 210 So. Phoenix 26 Jason Savorn P 6-1 200 Jr. Rancho Cordova 6 Darnay Scott WR 6-3 185 So. San Diego 87 Alex Semenik TE 6-2 240 Jr. Scottsdale, Ariz. 88 Curtis Shearer WR 5-10 175 So. San Jose 99 Shawn Smith LB 6-2 225 Jr. Minotola, N.J. 98 Turaj Smith DL 6-3 240 Jr. San Francisco 89 Zack Smith TE 6-4 210 Fr. Escondido 82 Jeff Speech WR 6-0 170 So. San Francisco 90 Ramondo Stallings DL 6-7 280 Jr. Ansonia, Conn. 42 Terrill Steen LB 6-2 215 Jr. Inglewood 24 Eric Sutton DB 5-10 170 So. Inglewood 83 Will Tate WR 5-10 165 Jr. San Diego 23 Gary Taylor DB 5-10 180 Sr. Highland 95 Doug Tom DL 6-4 215 Fr. Mililani, Ha. 14 Andy Trakas K 5-8 185 Sr. San Diego 61 Robert Tuatagaloa OL 6-0 270 So. San Diego 65 Duke Uperesa OL 6-4 270 Fr. Descanso 81 Keith Williams WR 5-11 175 Jr. Lodi 70 John Williamson LS 6-6 295 Sr. San Diego 4 Sam Williford DB 6-1 205 So. Pasadena 85 Marc Ziegler TE 6-3 225 So. San Diego 77 Louie Zumstein OL 6-4 275 So. San Diego