AREA COLLEGE NOTEBOOK

Running back Alan Taylor suffered a broken left ankle Saturday during an intrasquad scrimmage at Cal State Northridge and is out for the season.

Taylor, a sophomore and projected starter at tailback, left the locker room on crutches Saturday. X-rays revealed the break Monday. He is expected to undergo surgery.

Taylor rushed for 133 yards last season, most among returning running backs for the Matadors.

Northridge opens the season Saturday against Air Force at Colorado Springs.

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With the obvious exception of Cal State Northridge, no Big Sky Conference team has as many football players from Southern California than Montana State.

Among 10 players with ties to the region, most notable is quarterback Farhaad Azimi, who passed for a school-record 2,280 yards last season at Moorpark College. Azimi, from Rio Mesa High, will start for the Bobcats in their season opener Sept. 9 against Humboldt State.

“There’s no question he’s got the job,” first-year Coach Mike Kramer said. “He was handed the reins the minute I started talking to him. He knows what I want in a quarterback. We’ll have escapability in the pocket.”

Azimi might flourish under the tutelage of Aaron Flowers, a former Northridge assistant and the Matadors’ career passing leader, who signed on as quarterbacks coach under Kramer.

Kramer, after six years at Eastern Washington that included a Big Sky title in 1997, returned to Montana State, where he was an assistant on the Bobcats’ 1984 I-AA national championship team. He inherits a team that was 3-8 last season and lost its final six games.

Linebacker Dave Smith from Grant High and Valley College, and linebacker Bo Espinoza from Rio Mesa also are on the Montana State roster.

With Northridge slated to leave the Big Sky for the Big West Conference next season, Kramer said his staff will step up recruiting efforts in Southern California.

Said Kramer: “We are going to recruit in the L.A. area like it’s Billings, Mont.”

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Montana, predicted to win its fifth Big Sky title in six years, is ranked No. 2 in I-AA, despite the departure of Coach Mick Dennehy, who left after four years to become coach of Utah State.

Joe Glenn, who coached Northern Colorado to 11 winning seasons and two Division II national titles, replaces Dennehy.