AZTEC NOTEBOOK : SDSU Preparing to Play Rotation Game At Cornerback

As part of San Diego State’s continued effort to piece together a secondary that can hold a four-touchdown lead--for the Aztecs, the battle cry is “Remember Brigham Young”--senior Damon Pieri seems to move around these days more than a presidential candidate.

In practice, he constantly switches from cornerback to free safety. But before you conclude that the Aztecs are preparing for another season in which their secondary may as well not bother taking the field, know this: There is a method to this rotation.

The Aztecs believe that in the Western Athletic Conference, it is nearly impossible to play with two cornerbacks because of all of the passing. By game’s end, Aztec coaches say, a cornerback’s tongue is hanging down to his shoestrings.

“You need a three-man rotation (at cornerback), minimum, to get you through a ballgame,” said Ron Mims, Aztec secondary coach. “You’d like to have four guys you could rotate and get quality time and not risk anybody being totally fatigued.”

So, SDSU is working Pieri, last year’s free safety, at cornerback and has inserted junior Darrell Lewis, who transferred from Ohio State two years ago, at free safety.

Joining Pieri in the cornerback rotation are senior Gary Taylor, second in the WAC in 1991 with 13 passes broken up despite missing two games with a groin injury, and sophomore Eric Sutton, who started three games a year ago.

Battling for the fourth job in the cornerback rotation are junior John Louis, who lost his starting job to Sutton in the Freedom Bowl, and freshmen Leonard Jones and Michael Driver.

Another freshman, Freddie Edwards, is close to gaining playing time at free safety.

When Pieri moves to free safety, Lewis moves to strong safety, replacing Chris Johnson.

“It’s pretty easy,” Pieri said. “I played both positions before, no problem.

“At free safety, you’ve got to know more because you make a lot more checks, call out a lot more blitzes. It’s more physical. But cornerback is a bigger challenge because of man-to-man coverage.”

The way things shape up, Pieri probably will start games at cornerback and move to free safety every other series. Then, every fourth or fifth series, he will get a rest.

With USC, BYU and UCLA on the schedule first, the Aztecs probably will learn how effective their new system is right away.

Coach Al Luginbill wants to see one thing in this morning’s scrimmage:

“Eliminating bad plays and reducing mistakes to an absolute minimum,” he said. “All the things we’ve been talking about for nine months.

“(Mistakes) affect field position, your ability to score and your ability to keep others from scoring. If (this morning) we look sloppy, if we can’t line up correctly, if we have penalties and turnovers, then obviously, we’ve got a lot of work to do.

“If we don’t, we’ll keep stressing these things.”

There are several position battles SDSU coaches will watch:

--Cornerback. Pieri, Taylor and Sutton all will play, but Luginbill said: “What I’m really looking for is two other cornerbacks to step forward behind those three.”

Most likely candidates: Louis, redshirt freshman Michael Landry or freshmen Jones or Driver.

--Tight end, involving sophomore Marc Ziegler, redshirt freshmen Zack Smith and Curt Collins and freshman Adrian Ioja.

Junior Alex Semenik also is involved, but a sprained ankle will prevent him from playing this morning.

--Strong tackle, involving redshirt freshman Chris Finch, sophomore Louis Zumstein and junior Chris Rodahoffer.

--Outside linebacker, involving sophomore Chad Provensal and junior Terrill Steen (the leaders), senior Tracey Mao and junior Shawn Smith.

--Punter, involving junior Jason Savorn and senior walk-on Scott Oatsvall. Oatsvall is the leader.

Although trainer Brian Barry has cleared running back Marshall Faulk (sprained ankle) for the scrimmage, Luginbill said he will not decide until this morning whether Faulk will participate.

Unlike a year ago, the Aztecs have had no significant hamstring injuries.

After receivers Keith Williams, Patrick Rowe and Will Tate and defensive back Gary Taylor all suffered hamstring injuries in 1991 fall camp, Barry said, SDSU is doing several things differently.

Barry and assistant Russ Romano are holding 8:30 p.m. stretching classes for those players who were determined to be “inflexible” during their physicals.

Barry said most wide receivers and defensive backs also attend these sessions.

Also, SDSU has altered conditioning to include more sprinting and started a post-practice stretch period for some players. And, Barry credited the players for sticking to their off-season workout regimens.

“Their legs were a lot fresher coming in,” he said.

SDSU is promoting “Aztec Day” today: There will be a light scrimmage from 10:30-11:30 a.m., and players will be available for pictures and autographs from 11:15 a.m.-12:15 p.m.

Pop Culture 101: Two years ago, Luginbill complained that a bad defense was too much like a fast-food chain’s slogan. He called it SDSU’s “Have It Your Way” defense.

This fall, SDSU’s slogans have been lifted from a soft drink company. The Aztecs are wearing T-shirts that read: “Mental Toughness/Gotta Have It.”