Image Scrimmage : Long Beach 49ers Have Improved Team and Attitude

After two lean seasons, the Cal State Long Beach football team, which begins its 1989 schedule against Cal State Northridge at noon Saturday at Veterans Stadium, is hoping to regain respectability.

“We’ve got good-looking athletes now,” Athletic Director Corey Johnson said while watching a recent practice. “Before, we had guys who didn’t look good in uniforms.”

It has taken until now for the 49ers to recover from the crisis of late 1986 when the university almost dropped football because of money problems. The effect that had on recruiting was reflected in the overall records of 4-7 in 1987 and 3-9 last season.

“It’s been rough,” said Larry Reisbig, 48, who is starting his third season as 49er coach. “I knew three years ago it was going to take a struggle.”

But fund-raising efforts by the 49er Athletic Foundation have put football back on stable financial ground, Johnson said. The foundation has raised about $800,000 in the last two years, which has increased football scholarships to 70, 20 more than in 1987.

The team appears to finally have decent depth, and Reisbig said that for the first time since he has been coach he is being contacted by players who want to transfer to Long Beach. “Everything is positive now,” he said. “We’re competitive, we’re going to scare a lot of people.”

But despite the new atmosphere and 11 returning starters, the 49ers have been picked by Big West Conferences coaches to finish sixth in the eight-team league. They tied for fifth last year with a 3-4 record.

But because the Big West, with the exception of Fresno State, is composed of some of the weakest teams in Division I-A, even a little improvement could make most of the teams contenders for second place behind Fresno.

In the 1980s the 49ers have had three outstanding quarterbacks--Todd Dillon, Doug Gaynor and Jeff Graham. This season they will have untested senior Paul Oates, who as Graham’s backup played in just seven games the last three years, throwing 29 passes.

Oates, 24, is a left-hander from Granada Hills and a former minor league baseball player.

“Paul Oates is going to make us exciting,” Reisbig said. “He has a quick, strong arm and is a good leader.”

Oates, whose passes are sometimes too hard for his receivers to handle, has waited patiently for this chance. He is confident but says, “The first few games I should have some jitters.”

He will work behind an offensive line that could be one of the team’s strengths. It includes 6-foot-5, 290-pound Dave McKinnon and 6-5, 300-pound Cornelius Harrell, both seniors. McKinnon was second-team all-Big West last season and Harrell won honorable mention.

The top receiver is Derek Washington, who caught 48 passes for 752 yards last year. His 105 career receptions rank seventh in 49er history. Another target for Oates will be Kelly Ryan, who averaged 12 yards on 23 catches last season.

But Mark Seay, who caught 31 passes for 480 yards last year as a sophomore, may not be with the team. Seay, who lost a kidney when he was shot during a children’s party last Halloween, was declared medically ineligible in July. He has sued CSULB in an effort to resume his career, but Sept. 11 is the earliest that there could be a decision in the case.

Andre Southerland, the leading rusher last year, is not expected to play because of nerve damage in his shoulder. His replacement at tailback will likely by Freddie Leslie Jr., a transfer from Los Angeles Southwest Community College. Jeff Fassett, a hard runner from San Jacinto Junior College, has been impressive in practice.

The fullbacks will be Jim Bittner, who played in eight games last year, and Herman Nash, who was Pasadena City College’s most valuable player in 1988.

Even with Graham, who threw for 2,720 yards, the 49ers averaged only 16.8 points a game in 1988.

And they gave up 32 a game, mainly, said defensive coordinator Ken Visser, because of a line that was the weakest at the school in 10 years.

Visser has changed the defensive alignment from a 3-4 to a 4-3 in hopes of getting a better pass rush. To strengthen the line, he moved 6-4, 240-pound linebacker Pepper Jenkins, an aggressive pass rusher, to end. Jenkins joins two veterans, 6-3, 250-pound Lemuel Hawkins and 6-3, 245-pound Richard Hensley. A promising newcomer is Raul Garcia, a transfer from Cerritos College. However, there is a big problem: The status of Dan Duffy, who made 65 tackles last year and was second-team all-Big West, is uncertain. He is seeking reinstatement after being disqualified academically last spring.

If the defense is to regain the prestige it had several years ago, the linemen must come through, Visser said.

At inside linebacker, the 49ers have Mark Ziegenhagen, who had 63 tackles last year and Gene Lemmers, who had 28. Outside linebackers will be Pat Workun, a redshirt last year, and Greg Hollins, a transfer from San Diego City College.

The defensive backfield includes veterans Marc Tourville, Keith Washington, Stan Davis and Leon Patterson. Contending for Tourville’s free safety job is Jay Carballo, the shortstop on the 49er baseball team.

The punter will be Fred Morales, a newcomer from DeAnza Junior College in Cupertino. Reisbig said that junior Rick Schwendinger will be the place-kicker in Saturday’s opener. Leo Rowland, a transfer from Diablo Valley Junior College, had been recruited for that job but he injured his back.

Reisbig is happy he won’t have to play Oregon and UCLA back-to-back this season. Last year the 49ers lost to Oregon, 49-0, and to UCLA, 56-3, on successive weeks. Long Beach will play at Oregon Oct. 28, but UCLA isn’t on the schedule.

Only four of the 49ers’ 12 games will be played at home, one more than last year when the average attendance at Veterans Stadium was only 5,209. An improved team will not necessarily mean improved home attendance, which, has been poor throughout the ‘80s. And the outlook for this season, despite the high hopes, does not look much improved--a university official said about 325 season tickets have been sold.