Put Into Spotlight in His Aztec Debut : SDSU Turns to Freshman Morey Paul to Start--for Now--at Middle Linebacker

SAN DIEGO —  Middle linebacker is no place to hide on a football field. What the quarterback is to the offense, the middle linebacker is to the defense. He is the center of attention, the focal point of the action. The player who, when the game is over, will have been in on more plays, made more tackles and fought off more players than any other player on the field.

Middle linebacker is not the position where a coach wants to start a 17-year-old college freshman, especially one who weighs 190 pounds. Yet that is what San Diego State did last Saturday and what the Aztecs probably will do this Saturday against Wyoming--start Morey Paul at middle linebacker.

“We don’t want to start a freshman player,” said Tim McConnell, SDSU defensive coordinator. “You try to avoid that if at all possible. But between the Derek Santifer situation, the injury situation and all the other things that took place through the course of last week, he was our best choice.”

With Santifer having missed a week because of disciplinary action and Chuck Nixon (thigh bruise) and Ken Bernard (sore knee) slowed, the Aztecs turned to Paul. A graduate of Oceanside High School, Paul became the first freshman to start for the Aztecs since Clarence Nunn debuted at cornerback in 1983.

His performance against Oregon--11 tackles, 5 unassisted--was good enough to keep him practicing with the first team Tuesday. And despite the return of Santifer and the gradual improvement in Nixon, Paul likely will make his second start Saturday when the Aztecs play the Cowboys in a Western Athletic Conference game at Laramie.

Quite a surprise for a player who as recently as three weeks ago was asking the coaches if he would be redshirted.

“They told me, ‘No,’ ” Paul said. “They told me with the injuries and the personnel changes, I might get a chance to play. But they didn’t say anything about starting.”

Paul learned he would be starting against Oregon just 15 minutes before the game, when the coaches told him to line up with the first team for pregame drills.

“I was running with the first team all week, but they never told me outright I was going to start,” Paul said. “I was a little surprised. I thought they would at least tell me that morning that I would start.”

McConnell said the coaches decided last Wednesday night they would start Paul. They said nothing official, however, to keep Paul from getting nervous. After all, Paul had been a third-string outside linebacker until last week.

“He did better than I expected from a 17-year-old starting his first ballgame,” McConnell said. “He has a lot of character that you look for in a football player. He is not intimidated by anything, which is an unusual characteristic for a freshman. . . . He is extremely intelligent. He knows where to be. He knows what you want him to do.”

Paul came to the Aztecs from the same Oceanside team that produced Junior Seau, a linebacker now at USC, and Sai Niu, a reserve defensive back who has been playing on special teams at SDSU.

Originally considered a player who might be able to help the Aztecs in the future, Paul, 6-feet 3-inches, immediately impressed the coaches with his strength and stamina. He came in first among the linebackers in a conditioning test.

The coaches began to notice Paul’s ability in preseason scrimmages. He earned his way into the UCLA and Utah games because of his special teams play. It was not until after the 49-7 loss at Air Force Sept. 19 that the coaches began to look at Paul as a potential starter.

“The type of teams we’re playing, we have to be able to run and cover at linebacker, just as we do at cornerback,” Coach Denny Stolz said. The WAC has five of the top nine passing teams in the country.

Paul developed his ability to cover the pass while occasionally playing in the secondary at Oceanside. He developed his speed on the track, where he was the Avocado League 100-meter champion as a junior and 200-meter champion as a senior.

He joins Tommy Booker, running back from Vista High School, and Patrick Rowe, wide receiver from Lincoln High School, as the third member of this season’s freshman recruiting class to make an immediate impact. Stolz has worked to bring these players along slowly, spotting them into games in situation where he knows they will feel comfortable.

“I have no qualms at all about playing freshmen,” Stolz said. “I play the best players. But the best player isn’t necessarily the best physical player. He has to be the best mental player, too. That’s where a freshman has the biggest problem, knowing his assignments under pressure.”

Yet, for the most part, Paul kept his cool against Oregon. He admitted to having a few pregame butterflies, but they quickly went away when he made the game’s first two tackles.

“It surprised me that I made the first two tackles,” Paul said. “But that just gave me that much more confidence for the rest of the game.

“Being my first game, being a freshman and weighing only 190 pounds, I thought they would come right at me. I thought they were going try to jam it right up the middle. But after they ran a couple of times up the middle, and I held my own, that was that. They attacked somewhere else.

“That was what I was thinking about the whole time, that they would come at me, but they never did.”

It was a test Paul still is waiting to pass. But his doubts about his ability are vanishing.

“I was looking forward to (being tested) in the sense that I wanted to see if I could hold my own in there,” Paul said. “Playing Division I football is not the same as practice. I was wondering, too, if I could play Division I football. Now I know what I have to work on, like tackling. If I work on those things, I can be a factor for this team.”

Aztec Notes

Todd Santos returned to practice Tuesday after missing Monday’s workout because of a cold. If Santos continues at his pace of averaging 309 yards passing per game, he will break the NCAA Division I-A record for most passing yards in a career early in the Nov. 14 game against New Mexico, the next to last game on the Aztecs’ schedule. Kevin Sweeney, of Fresno State, holds the record of 10,623 yards. Santos has 8,728 yards and is ninth on the all-time list. . . . Paul Hewitt, starting tailback from Monrovia, is scheduled to return to practice today after missing the past two days because of a death in his family. . . . Clarence Nunn, who missed the Oregon game because of a bruised shoulder nerve, said Tuesday he expects to start at right cornerback against Wyoming. “I feel a lot better,” Nunn said. “I was a little tired. You don’t realize how much conditioning you lose in sitting out a week. But I’ll be ready by Saturday. Last week at this time, I couldn’t raise my arm above my head.”