Maxey Tries to Find Niche With Aztecs : Football: Emergence of Faulk turns Maxey into a utility player.

For three years, Larry Maxey has been told that he is special by San Diego State Coach Al Luginbill.

But two games into his senior season, Maxey had hoped that his accomplishments wouldn’t be limited to special teams.

Maxey, SDSU’s player for all positions, was chosen as special teams player of the game after SDSU’s 45-38 victory over Brigham Young on Sept. 10. However, Maxey, who plays H-back and running back, has yet to catch a pass or carry the ball for the No. 23-ranked Aztecs (1-0-1).

“Well, it’s kind of disappointing,” Maxey said. “I would have liked to have gotten off to a better start. The only thing I can do is stay focused. Eventually, I’m going to get called on.”

There are two reasons for the blanks behind Maxey’s name on the SDSU offensive statistics sheet.

One can be explained in two words: Marshall Faulk. Maxey is behind Faulk and Wayne Pittman at running back on the SDSU depth chart and, with Faulk again leading the nation in rushing, with 259 yards per game, Maxey is not a high priority at that position.

Too, also because of Faulk, SDSU’s passing game has been quiet. Ray Peterson, the first-team H-back, has caught only two passes, and the Aztecs are averaging an unusually low 149 yards per game passing.

“Somebody is going to have to force us to throw it more than 25 or 30 times a game,” said Luginbill, whose team has attempted 63 passes in two games.

“All of our receivers are invisible, basically--not just Larry,” receivers coach Curtis Johnson said. “With Marshall running for 220 and 299 (yards), we’re committed to running the ball a lot more.”

It is a different world for Maxey, who caught 22 passes for 314 yards and three touchdowns in 1991 and rushed 115 times for 492 yards and four touchdowns in 1990.

He was SDSU’s starting safety as a redshirt freshman, was mainly a running back as a sophomore and was a starting H-back as a junior. He played both H-back and running back during the past two seasons. Now, he is a second-team H-back and third-team running back.

“During fall camp, I was an in-between guy,” he said. “It’s all a matter of the coaches trying to build depth.”

If it were baseball, Maxey would be a utility player.

“He’s such a team player,” Luginbill said. “Before the year is out, he will be a major contributor to this team’s success. He’s one of those kids you’ll always remember.”

Maxey was picked as special teams player of the game in part because of his play during SDSU’s second kickoff, with the Aztecs ahead, 7-0. Maxey ran downfield, broke the BYU wedge and collared Hema Heimuli alone at the BYU 16.

Maxey also is Andy Trakas’ holder on field goal and conversion attempts and blocks on the punt return team.

He prefers running back over H-back, but Faulk has squashed any chances of playing time there.

“I’m more comfortable at running back but, hell, we’ve got the best running back in the world there,” Maxey said. “I feel that if I stayed at H-back, I’d be pretty good . . . “

But every time he gets comfortable at H-back, he is moved to running back.

“This is not like you’d like your senior year to turn out,” Maxey said. “But I’ve played a lot more football than most people even imagine.”

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Luginbill has banned the Aztecs from patronizing the 7-Eleven at the intersection of College and Linda Paseo avenues after an incident Friday night in which offensive lineman Carlson Leomiti had a gun pulled on him.

Bill Robinson, spokesman for the San Diego Police Dept., said Thursday that one man was arrested at the scene for brandishing the gun.

According to clerk Mike McGrath, Leomiti was leaving after making a purchase about 10 p.m. Friday--the day the Aztecs returned from BYU--but could not back out of his parking space because two young men had parked in the middle of the lot. McGrath said that Leomiti asked them to move and, when they refused, got out of his car.

It was then that one of the men pulled out a gun, McGrath said. San Diego police quickly showed up and made the arrest, according to McGrath.

Leomiti was not hurt, but Luginbill spoke to the team Tuesday and told them that the 7-Eleven was off limits.

“I go to that 7-Eleven every day, and I’ve never had any problem,” SDSU quarterback David Lowery said. “They’re going to lose a lot of business from me.”

Leomiti, who missed practice on Thursday because of the flu, was not available for comment.

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After much publicity for receiving a personal foul after he retaliated to an alleged racial comment made by Cougar quarterback John Walsh in the BYU game, SDSU defensive lineman Ramondo Stallings had an interesting moment this week.

On Wednesday, he met a fellow SDSU student who said she was Walsh’s sister.

“She said that he didn’t say anything (racial),” Stallings said. “I said, ‘I heard what I heard.’

Ralph Zobell, BYU sports information director, could not confirm Thursday night whether Walsh has a sister who attends SDSU. Zobell did say that BYU Coach LaVell Edwards checked with Walsh, Cougar assistants and the officiating crew and all said they didn’t hear a racial comment.

Walsh also denied it in a story in the BYU school newspaper on Thursday.

“I come from a racially mixed high school (California’s Carson High),” Walsh told the Daily Universe. “I know better than to make a remark like that.”

Stallings, meanwhile, is holding firm. Asked if he would do anything differently in the same situation, Stallings replied: “I’d hit him again. I don’t care. I’d hit him again.”

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In addition to Leomiti, center Mike Alexander and receiver Darnay Scott also missed practice with the flu on Tuesday. . . . A quarterback named Greg Lister, who redshirted at the University of Maryland last year, walked onto the SDSU team on Tuesday. But after practicing on Tuesday and Wednesday, Lister, 6 feet 3 and 225 pounds, wasn’t at practice Thursday, leaving the SDSU coaches wondering where he was. Lister, from Holy Spirit High in Mays Landing, N.J., completed 87 of 150 passes as a senior two years ago for 1,436 yards and 10 touchdowns.