AZTECS NOTEBOOK : Injuries Put Crimp in Semenik’s Quest

Alex Semenik came to San Diego State planning to make the transition from high school basketball player to Division I football player to NFL tight end.

His plans did not include injuries and illnesses. But both have hit him like a blindside tackle.

Semenik, 21, who caught the eye of former Aztec assistant coach Dan Underwood while playing football for the first time at Scottsdale (Ariz.) Community College, is about to start his second year as an Aztec and his fourth semester at SDSU. He has yet to put on a game uniform.

Last year, a bad virus forced him to redshirt. During 1992 spring drills, he was sick again. And the saga doesn’t appear over. Semenik sprained his ankle two weeks ago, and his doctor is hesitant to left him join the rest of the team for today’s first full-pad, full-contact practices.

“They’re trying to save my ankle so it won’t hinder me through the season,” said Semenik, “but it’s kind of frustrating because I’ve worked so hard this summer and I wanted to come in and show what I could do right off the bat.

“I still think I’ll be able to do it; I just have to get this taken care of.”

Semenik’s frustration is exacerbated by the fact that the tight end position is up for grabs with departure of Ray Rowe, who was drafted by the Washington Redskins. Semenik’s pass-receiving consists of only 23 receptions for 408 yards and three touchdowns in 1990. But that was enough to convince the Aztecs to give him a scholarship and consider him one of the favorites to win the position this year.

If he stays healthy.

“Oh, he’s extremely athletic,” said Coach Al Luginbill, who seems captivated by the 6-foot-2, 250-pounder. “He’s an extremely tough kid. His biggest problem is every time we’ve turned around he’s had some little nick. He’s just had bad luck, and it was just constant.”

With a cleanly shaven scalp, wide shoulders and hulking torso, Semenik looks like a cross between Charles Barkley and Mr. Clean. But his latest setback has him hobbling around like a wounded deer.

The Aztecs weren’t planning to redshirt Semenik last year until he contracted mononucleosis. He tried to come back too soon and suffered a relapse. He was finally put on the scout team after the fifth game of the season.

During spring workouts, his second with the Aztecs since enrolling in February 1991, Semenik had a tonsillectomy.

“His tonsils were the size of golf balls,” Luginbill said. “Check with (trainer Brian Barry). They were the biggest things he’d ever seen.”

Then on Aug. 5, ever determined to return this fall in top shape, Semenik sprained his ankle while playing pickup basketball--part of this training regimen. He tried to conceal the injury, but it was detected during his team physical. He again is spending much of his time on the sidelines, sometimes furiously pumping away on an exercise bike.

“I put on 20 pounds since last year,” Semenik said. “I’m a lot stronger. I have a lot more knowledge of the game. I’m just a lot more prepared. If I can just get this injury out of the way . . .”

Basketball injuries are not new to Semenik, who was a 180-pound point guard at Saguaro High in Scottsdale. Semenik said he could run the floor in high school, rebound, drive the lane and bury the three-point shot.

Those same skills came in handy two years after he and a friend walked on at Scottsdale, “the junior college down the street,” which, Semenik said, had a notoriously bad football team. He was the team’s only tight end his sophomore year, and he made the most of his playing time.

He said studying under Rowe last year made a future in the NFL seem possible.

“I learned a lot from him last year,” Semenik said. “Now I get a chance to start for two years. If I keep working hard, hopefully, I can get to that level. I feel confident.”

There will be opportunity. Semenik and Mira Mesa’s Marc Ziegler were the favorites coming out of spring ball. Luginbill said the Aztecs will use a lot of two-tight end sets and sometimes three in goal-line situations.

“I’d like to think his bad luck is going to be over with and he’s really going to be able to help us,” Luginbill said. “We need to get him in pads.”

Tate update: Will Tate, one of three players battling for the H-back position before he underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right knee Monday, said his goal is to return in four weeks, pending his rehabilitation progress. Monday’s procedure repaired a meniscus cartilage, which was torn in the team’s first practice Saturday.

But Tate, a junior from Southwest High, also has damage to his anterior cruciate ligament, the result of an injury suffered in a high school all-star game. Since he was able to play with the injury for three years, Tate said he elected not to have it repaired and, in essence, is gambling in hopes that it holds up.

Said Tate of the damaged ligament, “I’ve had no problems with it. I feel good as of now and I would expect to play.”

Aztec Notes

Coach Al Luginbill, who has questioned the usefulness of practicing without pads, will finally get a chance to see the Aztecs in full gear for the first time today. “This non-contact period in my mind is a waste of time,” he said. “Everything starts over the minute you go in pads. The game’s played with pads. Let the coaches decide when you want to go non contact. It’s crazy. If I had my druthers we’d never do this.” . . . Guard Carlson Leomiti (dehydration) and defensive lineman Roger Blake (stretched hamstring) were pulled out of practice early Tuesday. Both are expected back today.