AZTECS NOTEBOOK : Can Williams Dart into Lineup? : Football: Flanker with exceptional speed and moves has had trouble catching the ball.

By all accounts, Keith Williams is finally becoming the explosive flanker San Diego State has been seeking.

Ever since the Aztecs recruited the 5-foot-11, 175-pound junior out of Tokay High near Stockton in 1989, they have envisioned him in a spotlight role on Saturday nights.

After all, there is always room for another swift receiver in SDSU’s 478-yard-per-game offense. Williams has great moves to go along with his speed (10.7 seconds in the 100 meters).

The Aztecs would like to hand the flanker job to Williams. Trouble is, too often he has dropped such offerings--like a tight spiral from David Lowery--leaving Coach Al Luginbill a little reluctant.

“He’s got all the things you look for, and up until this afternoon’s practice,” Luginbill said with a sigh, “he had consistently caught the ball well.”

The last two practice sessions, ironically, have been a microcosm of Williams’ three years here. Playing with the No. 1 offense Saturday, Williams caught three passes for 46 yards and had an electrifying 67-yard punt return for a touchdown in an intrasquad scrimmage. He appeared to be picking up where he left off, after catching a 47-yard TD pass against Brigham Young in the only game he played last year.

But Monday he let two easy passes slip through his hands.

“He’s shown so much improvement that I’m not going to let one practice overshadow what he’s done for two weeks,” Luginbill said. “We just have to see what he does tomorrow.”

A bad hamstring injury forced Williams to miss most of 1991, the year Luginbill expected him to emerge. Not only does Williams have great speed (he finished third in the 100 in the 1990 WAC Championships) and moves, he got special attention as a freshman from Monty Gilbreath, the former SDSU receiver and return man.

Williams also gets personal tutoring from former Aztec and Cleveland Browns receiver Webster Slaughter, who dated his cousin and has become a friend. But Williams’ hands have betrayed him at times.

“I’ve had some hard times here, and I still have room to improve,” Williams said. “Like today. My practice was going pretty good, then I dropped two crucial balls at the end in a scrimmage situation.”

“I get on him a lot, because he’s had the tools since he was a freshman but he would drop passes or he would fumble,” said safety Robert Griffith, a fifth-year senior. “He was always in position to make a great play. Now I think he’s doing it; he’s the player everybody expects him to be.

“The guy can go. Darnay Scott is a burner, Marshall Faulk is a burner. Keith is a burner. He made me miss him on a screen pass in the scrimmage. He turned it into a 10-yard gain.”

Williams spent the summer working on a delivery truck by day and catching passes from Lowery by night. He has improved enough to win the praise of receivers coach Curtis Johnson, who shrugged off Monday’s mistakes. But Williams says he’s taking nothing for granted, not even a touchdown reception against BYU.

“I never think about that catch,” he said. “I don’t even remember what quarter it was, because, hopefully, I’ll be catching a lot more than that.”

Luginbill saw something he liked in viewing Saturday’s scrimmage on film: a defense less prone to giving up the big play.

Luginbill said with Jamal Duff, Ramondo Stallings and La’Roi Glover in the rotation, the defensive line kept pressure on the quarterback--which could take pressure off the secondary.

“We’re starting to get more and more push out of that group,” said Luginbill, who believes Duff, Stallings and Glover all could be dominating players. “Time will tell. We don’t know if Jamal and La’Roi can line up every snap. Ramondo has not proved that he can line up every snap.

“If we can get up the field, get in the quarterback’s face, I think that’s crucial for us.”