Martin’s Days Are Numbered in Senior Season at Weber State

Weber State quarterback Bryan Martin is the NCAA Division I-AA leader in offense, averaging 414 yards a game.

In a 40-30 victory last week over Eastern Washington, the 6-foot-3, 205-pound senior from Granada Hills High passed for 502 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for 14 more yards.

Is Martin satisfied with his statistics?

“I don’t even know what my stats are,” he said. “I don’t care about my stats right now. I just want to concentrate on winning and having fun.”

In leading Weber State to a 3-2 start, Martin has completed 121 of 192 passes for 1,883 yards and 14 touchdowns with six interceptions.

He ranks seventh in the nation in passing efficiency and, at his current pace, will finish second behind Jamie Martin (no relation) on the Weber State list for career passing yardage, total yardage, touchdown passes and pass attempts in two seasons at Weber State.

Big and strong, Martin seemed to fit the Division I-A prototype at Granada Hills. College recruiters got a glimpse of a bright future when he threw for 20 touchdowns and nearly 2,000 yards in 1991, his senior season.

But nobody offered him a scholarship until Weber State came calling, long after so many other suitors vanished.

“I had letters and calls every day, but I didn’t get an offer,” he said. “It was a real surprise.”

Coach Terry Donahue almost persuaded Martin to walk on at UCLA. Martin sometime wonders if he would be playing for the Bruins today, but he also wonders if he might have been a reserve at Weber State had Brad Otton not transferred to USC after the 1993 season.

Otton alternates at quarterback for the fifth-ranked Trojans and rates second to teammate Kyle Wachholtz in the Pacific 10 Conference in passing efficiency.

“It’s kind of funny how it all works out,” Martin said.

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When Sylmar High graduate Tobaise Brookins headed to Washington on a scholarship in 1992, he did so with high ambitions and a perfect health record.

Well, he still has high ambitions.

Illness plagued Brookins for most of his sophomore season in 1994, in which he didn’t play, and it has kept him from practicing this season.

Trying to balance football with academics, a job and a variety of extracurricular activities, Brookins contracted mononucleosis in the summer of 1994.

The ailment went undiagnosed. Brookins thought he had a persistent cold, so he forged ahead with his busy schedule, allowing for only five hours of sleep each night.

That led to a bout with meningitis during the winter and spring of this year.

Brookins, who spent a week in the hospital, two weeks in bed and several months recovering, has overcome the meningitis. But he recently failed a team physical because of high blood pressure and respiratory problems.

“I’m still a little sick,” he said. “But I’m back in the weight room lifting, and I’m buffed. But I’m very frustrated. I’m just waiting for a chance to get back out there.”

Brookins, a junior, rushed for 1,625 yards and 25 touchdowns his senior season at Sylmar, but was converted to cornerback at Washington.

While he was trying to move up the Husky depth chart, he also tutored 30 hours a week, became a leader in the Black Student Union and directed a Bible study group.

Brookins expects to graduate in the spring with a degree in sociology and plans to start a master’s program in education in the fall of 1996. If he can’t play football, Brookins said, he will consider a graduate-assistant coaching position with the Huskies.

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New Mexico senior quarterback Scott Peterson (Thousand Oaks) came off the bench to complete nine of 26 passes for 153 yards and scored on a 10-yard run in a 27-24 loss to Air Force last week. . . .

Junior receiver Richard Dice (Alemany) had seven receptions for 98 yards, including touchdown catches of 40 and 13 yards, in Arizona’s 20-15 victory over California. . . .

Senior receiver Iheanyi Uwaezuoke (Harvard-Westlake), in his second game back from a thumb injury, had five catches for 93 yards for Cal. . . .

Sophomore Tailback Jabbar Craigwell (Notre Dame) has rushed for 157 yards in 43 carries for Yale and leads the Bulldogs in touchdowns (three) and points (18). He also has four kick returns for 93 yards.