Aztecs to stay on XX station for 2006-07 It hasn't always been the smoothest of unions, but the relationship between San Diego State and XX Sports Radio will continue for at least one more year. Jeff Schemmel, SDSU director of athletics, said yesterday an agreement has been reached for the all-sports station – heard on 1090-AM and 105.7-FM – to continue as the home of SDSU sports for the 2006-07 school year. As part of the new deal, the Aztecs will be on XX except when one of their football games conflicts with a Padres game. In previous years, the Aztecs also were bumped to a smaller station if XX was carrying a Mighty Ducks hockey broadcast. Ted Leitner will return as the voice of Aztecs football and basketball, a job he has held since December 2004, Schemmel said. John Kentera is expected to continue as the analyst on football broadcasts. The Aztecs have been on 1090 since the fall of 2003, just a few months after the station came on the air. But as the original three-year contract neared its end earlier this year, Schemmel complained about basketball games being bumped to Cash 1700 AM, which is harder to pick up in many areas. He made it clear the Aztecs would look for another station if a resolution could not be reached. John Lynch, president of the company that owns all three stations, said at the time, “There's not a station in El Cajon that will want to carry them if they don't start winning.” A short time later, however, Schemmel and Lynch met and said discussions on a new deal would continue. Lynch promised SDSU games wouldn't be bumped except for the Padres, and by the beginning of March it became apparent the Aztecs weren't going anywhere. “We talked unofficially with quite a few people (at other stations) and I was very pleased by the interest,” Schemmel said. “But we felt continuing our partnership with 1090 was important for us.” As part of the deal, Schemmel said the Aztecs would have an undetermined number of baseball and women's basketball games carried on 1700-AM.
Former San Diego State football letterwinner Derrick Lewis was named the Arena Football League's Mid-Season Rookie of the Year by the Arena Football League Writers Association (AFLWA). Lewis, an offensive specialist, has guided the Austin Wranglers to a 6-2 first-half record.
Through the first half of the season Lewis leads the Wranglers in receiving yards (707) and catches (60), and was second on the team in touchdown receptions (8).
The Austin Wranglers were named the mid-season's most surprising team by the AFLWA after having a 6-10 record last season.
Lewis, an Aztec from 1999-2001, had his best season as a junior. During that year, Lewis started all 11 games for the scarlet and black catching 31 passes for 782 yards and three touchdowns. His 25.2 yards per catch that season ranked him in the top 100 nationally. For his career, he caught 85 passes for 1,731 yards and seven touchdowns.
The New Orleans Saints signed Lewis as an undrafted rookie free agent in 2002. He spent time on the practice squad and was signed to the active roster later that season. He continued to play for the Saints in 2003 seeing limited action.
Following his stint in the NFL, he played for the Frankfurt Galaxy of NFL Europe in 2004 where he caught 35 passes for 537 yards and five touchdowns.
A native of New Orleans, he earned three letters during his time at SDSU.
He is a walk-on. A walk-on entertaining thoughts of a career as a music teacher. A walk-on who might well have been run off were it not for moxie, guile and a marketing acumen befitting a Madison Avenue wizard.
If San Diego State football player Josh Ulibarri was going to fail, it would not be without a fight – or at least a sales pitch.
“The walk-on is the epitome of college football because they're the guys that are doing it for nothing, giving it everything they've got,” Ulibarri said. “You contribute wherever and however you can. The only thing that matters is getting a chance to play.”
And so it was that Ulibarri, a lineman who had been shuttled from offense to defense and back again last season, scheduled a meeting with new coach Chuck Long shortly after Long was tabbed to succeed Tom Craft in December.
Word had it that Long, a former offensive coordinator at Oklahoma, was likely to employ a two-back set at SDSU, thus creating the need for a fullback.
And, in turn, creating the very opening for which Josh Ulibarri was looking.
“He came to us the first week or so after we were hired and told us he'd like to try playing fullback,” Long said. “Maybe he felt like he wasn't big enough to play on the offensive line, and he'd played a little fullback in high school.
“He's driven. You really have to admire kids like that. When we met, he told me that he would go through the wall to play on this team.”
Of fullbacks, the Aztecs are fresh out. The only player to have seen action at the position last year, Fale Poumele, was a senior. Ulibarri, who will enter his sophomore season this fall, recognized Poumele's impending departure and went to work.
He had discussed the possibility of filling the void with the previous coaching staff but realized that the first order of business would be to reinvent himself. Over the course of two months, beginning in mid-December, Ulibarri, who was listed at 6 feet 2 inches, 280 pounds last fall, dropped 35 pounds.
For the time being, he also has parted company with the French horn after playing with SDSU's concert band during his second semester as a freshman.
“When (Craft) got fired, I just stuck with my plan,” Ulibarri said. “When Coach Long came in, I went to him and told him that if he needed a fullback, if he needed someone to step in there and block, that I would do it. I just asked him to show me what to do, tell me how hard to work and I'd do it.
“I played fullback in high school (at Hemet West Valley) a little bit, but mostly I played pulling guard because we ran the Wing-T. As an offensive lineman, I was a pretty small guy, but I felt like I had some speed. When I heard that the new coaches were interested in running (a two-back set), I knew we were going to need a fullback, so I went to them and told them I would do it. And for the next two months, I just busted my butt.”
Though he was still sporting a lineman's No. 61 through the first three days of workouts, Ulibarri is expected to see his first action at fullback today when the Aztecs stage their initial scrimmage of spring drills.
“It's a lot of learning and it's really early on, but hopefully the coaches will keep working with me and I'll get to where I need to be,” he said. “Any time you can contribute, that's what you want to do. I'll do anything I can to get on the field. Wherever I can fit in, whatever I can do to help out, that's what I want to do.”
Extra points
The Aztecs will hold the first of three spring scrimmages today at 1:30 on campus. The scrimmage is closed to the public. . . . Long said the scrimmage will consist of a series of first-and-10 plays, as well as some special-teams drills. He did not specify how many plays the team will run or how the quarterback duties will be shared. “This is more of situation where we want to know what our players can do in pads and what they're picking up,” he said.
Goodbye, Air Craft. Hello, Ground Chuck. San Diego State's initial football scrimmage under new coach Chuck Long had a running feel to it as the streamlined 68-play exercise on Saturday featured nearly 20 more rushing plays than passing plays. The Aztecs threw only 25 passes while running every play out of a first-and-10 situation.
Rancho Buena Vista High alumnus Brandon Bornes rushed for 57 yards on nine carries, and fellow junior Lynell Hamilton had 56 yards on 15 carries. Overall, the Aztecs had 160 yards on 43 rushes.
Bornes even played some fullback, a position rarely needed under former coach Tom Craft, who primarily utilized a one-back offense.
"We want to tailor our offense to our personnel," Long said. "We have good running backs, and we want to feature those guys, as you saw today. I thought those guys stood out. The running backs did a nice job."
Because the majority of plays were run from the offense's own side of the field and returned to the spot afterward, there was only one touchdown. That came on a play from the defense's 34-yard line when junior quarterback Kevin O'Connell hit redshirt freshman Tobias Shanks down the right sideline.
The three quarterbacks combined to complete 19-of-25 passes for 224 yards. O'Connell was 6-of-7 for 88 yards, redshirt freshman Kevin Craft was 5-of-8 for 95 yards and sophomore Darren Mougey was 8-of-10 for 41 yards. Mougey threw an interception on a deflected pass that was corralled by redshirt freshman linebacker Luke Laolagi.
"We did a lot of good things, and it gives us a lot to work on this next week before our next scrimmage," O'Connell said. "We're going to be positive we did well and, of course, we're going to correct the negatives.
"They wanted to see us play in the open field and first-and-10 is the best way to do it. Obviously, you'd like to see some drives going every once in a while, but there's going to be a time and place for that stuff down the line."
Defensively, senior linebacker Joe Martin led the way with nine tackles, and senior cornerback Donny Baker added six. The defense was credited with three sacks, and senior cornerback Terrell Maze had a fumble recovery.
"We're learning new schemes, but I think the defense is coming along," senior defensive tackle Jonathan Bailes said. "Right now, you want players to get the grasp of the defense. The coaches watch film, they know who can play and they know pretty much where we stand, but they want to know who's going to grasp the defense, how fast we're getting it and how fast we're gelling together in this new system."
Senior safety Brett Sturm forced a fumble on a play in which he delivered a hit on sophomore tight end Eric Miclot, who had to be carted off with an injury to his left knee.
Long said Miclot, a Vista High graduate, underwent an MRI exam to determine the severity of the injury but acknowledged it didn't look good.
Junior guard Brandyn Dombrowski also injured his left knee during the scrimmage, but his ailment isn't considered serious.
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