SDSU’s Faulk Is Getting an Education : Aztec Back Learning About Price of Fame

The telephone rings in the morning, in the afternoon and at night in the Marshall Faulk household.

He returns from classes and the red light on his answering machine is blinking. He returns from practice to more blinking.

Despite maintaining all season that he will not turn pro--a claim he strongly reiterated this week--agents will not leave him alone. Things have become so bad that he will soon change his telephone number--again.

“I can’t even count them all,” Faulk said. “Sometimes I don’t even listen to all of my messages.”

The red light blinks in the San Diego State coaches’ offices, too. And at the home of Curtis Johnson, SDSU receivers’ coach and a father/brother figure to Faulk. Like an army of ants, the agents swarm.

“I think they’re weighing him down,” Johnson said. “Hell, they’re calling me late at night. They call and leave messages on my machine. They’ve called a bunch of coaches about Marshall.

“I’m sick of it. Any agent who wants to talk to Marshall Faulk midway through his sophomore year, I would tell them don’t even mess with him. That’s not right. He’s just 19.”

Although Faulk has never indicated that he will turn pro, he had a telephone conversation three weeks ago with Johnson and Wayne Reese, Faulk’s high school coach, in which they discussed Faulk’s future for about an hour.

“For me, it was more of a thing where I was going to stay, anyway,” Faulk said. “That’s my decision.”

The publicity that has swept through the nation spurred the conversation. A few television commentators have said that Faulk will apply for the NFL draft, and, once statements like that are made on national television, it is hard to quell the storm.

“It was to the point that so many agents were calling me, and people like (ESPN broadcasters) Lee Corso and Mel Kiper were saying that he is coming out, that I wanted to know what he was thinking,” Johnson said. “I talked to some of the guys here, and there was no indication (that Faulk would leave SDSU after this season).”

So Johnson, Reese and Faulk huddled, but there was no serious NFL talk.

“He was like, ‘You guys don’t have to do this--I’m not going,’ ” Johnson said. “He wants to be a great college player, and that takes the test of time.”

Despite the fact that Faulk is only four games into his sophomore season, he said he doesn’t think he will change his mind regarding his attitude toward the NFL after this season ends.

“I doubt it,” he said. “No special reason why.”

Those close to him say that, simply, Faulk is having too much fun right now to leave. He likes his teammates, he enjoys his coaches and he has a particularly close relationship with Johnson. And, from all indications, he is doing well in his classes.

“It’s real cool,” Faulk said of his relationship with his teammates. “We get along real good.”

He took out a $1.8-million disability insurance policy with the NCAA in September--those expected to be chosen in the first two rounds of the NFL draft are eligible--but said at the time that he wasn’t planning to enter the NFL after this season.

When the 1992 campaign started, Faulk, for the most part, ignored NFL talk. But as his numbers have increased and his name turns up more and more on television, he has become much more vocal on the subject.

He continues to lead the nation in rushing at 209 yards per game, in scoring at 13.5 points per game and in all-purpose running at 222.3 yards per game. He has rushed for 837 yards in only four games.

He figured that if he was adamant about staying in school, agents would leave him alone.

“I feel like the people who call me after they hear about me on ABC or ESPN, they’re not out for my best interest,” Faulk said. “Because they (hound) me.”

Trouble is, since he has stressed that he is not interested in the NFL, even more agents have called.

“I guess they figure that since I said no, everybody would stop calling and they would be the one to get through,” Faulk said.

College players are forbidden to sign with an agent, anyway. The NCAA immediately strips a player of his eligibility if he is discovered to have done so. That’s one reason why Faulk said that, when the time does come to choose an agent, the guys who are bothering him now will not even be considered.

“We can’t stop them from calling,” SDSU Coach Al Luginbill said. “The only person who can stop the agents from calling is Marshall Faulk. You tell them, ‘Please, I am not interested now. When I am interested, I will contact you.’

“If they don’t respect that, is that the type of person you want to represent you?”

Also, for now, NFL rules state that a player must have been out of high school for a minimum of three years before he is eligible to be included in the draft. Most people, though, figure that Faulk or anyone else would be able to challenge that rule successfully.

Meanwhile, the agents telephone. Johnson received a call from a guy in Texas this week. He said he is averaging at least one call a day.

And, secondary coach Ron Mims got a call from another guy in Texas. They guy told Mims he has some “great recruits, if you want them.” Of course, the Aztecs would get the recruits if the guy was allowed to represent Faulk.

It’s the seamy side of college football.

“Off-the-wall stuff,” Johnson said. “It’s ridiculous.”