The Times, Faces Changing at SDSU : Aztecs: Reasons vary for departure of 23 scholarship football players during Al Luginbill’s first year as coach.

SAN DIEGO —  The photograph Brad Edwards keeps tacked to his bedroom wall is too new to have turned yellow, but the image it represents has faded for all involved.

Not long ago, the photo stood for a time when friends are found, when college football teammates formed life-long bonds.

Now it is a reminder of the price of success at San Diego State.

Edwards is no longer a member of the team; neither are the others in the picture--Darren Cooley, Scott Kilgore and Scott Cartwright.

Edwards, Cooley and Kilgore are among the 23 scholarship players (Cartwright was a walk-on) who have left or been removed from the program since Al Luginbill replaced Denny Stolz as coach last Nov. 21.

“I look at that picture from that first summer camp when we all were freshman (in 1988) and realize all four of us are gone,” Edwards said recently. “I look back on it, and I just don’t know what happened.”

The reasons for the departures vary. Some players, such as offensive lineman Ian Dunn and linebacker Haywood Mathis, were dismissed for academic reasons. A few, such as free safety Lyndon Earley and linebacker Tom Riley, were removed because Luginbill said they were disciplinary problems. One, freshman defensive lineman Tom Siufanua, left to be with his ailing mother. Others, such as Edwards, a freshman offensive lineman who in spring practice broke his foot for the second time in nine months, left because of medical concerns. But many simply walked away because they said were tired of football; they no longer wanted to adhere to the rigorous physical and time requirements Luginbill demands of his players.

“It came to the point where football wasn’t fun anymore,” said Kilgore, a red-shirt freshman linebacker who quit at the start of preseason camp in August. “The whole attitude of the new staff was this was Division I football, and Division I football can’t be fun and games. But you can have fun and still work hard.”

The most recent loss came last week when running back Darrin Wagner, the team’s leading rusher and scorer at the time, was suspended for the season for missing practice. Luginbill has said he would consider reinstating Wagner next season. But he says he has not heard from Wagner since several days before the suspension.

Wagner’s departure comes at a time when the Aztecs have returned to winning for the first time in three seasons. They enter their game at No. 7 Miami Saturday as the first Aztec team since 1977 to win five games in a row. Their 6-3-1 record, with two games remaining, assures them of a winning season for the first time since their 1986 Western Athletic Conference championship.

Those who stayed are seeing their hard work rewarded. But a third of the returning scholarship players from last season’s 3-8 team, attracted to SDSU after the success of 1986, no longer are around to enjoy it.

“I’m sure there were some guys who were saying, ‘I told you so’ after our slow start,” defensive end Todd Coomes said. “I’m sure they’re thinking different now.”

Luginbill said he expected some attrition of holdover players as a result of the change in coaches. He said he does not consider the number of players lost to be unusually high.

“You are always going to have attrition,” Luginbill said. “You just never know where it will come from.”

Most of it came from the players Stolz brought into the program. Of the 23 who are no longer with the team, 20 were recruited during Stolz’s three-year tenure as coach. One was a holdover from Stolz’s predecessor, Doug Scovil. Only two were signed by Luginbill.

“They had a choice,” Luginbill said. “Nobody was treated any differently. Hard work at times is not fun, but there are certain things you have to do to be successful. One of them is you better be in physical shape to play the game of football the way it should be played.”

The attrition began soon after Luginbill took over and imposed a set of team rules that included closer attention to classroom responsibilities and a structured off-season training program. The off-season included weight training, conditioning drills and other exercises. Luginbill said the program was more demanding than the one that existed under Stolz. But he said it was a necessity and he was willing to accept the loss of some players.

“If I had to start over, so be it, because if we don’t have the type of football player, the type of young man, who cares about being the best he can be, then I don’t think we can win football games,” Luginbill said. “I know the investment it takes in order to be successful. (The demands were) a change for San Diego State. But that would not have been a change at USC or Arizona or Arizona State. That is normal procedure, but it was a drastic change here.”

The losses leave Luginbill with 76 scholarship players. That number includes red-shirts, players who are out with injuries and junior running back Tommy Booker, who is sitting out this season for personal reasons and might not return. That is 19 below the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. limit of 95 for a Division I-A program. It will be some time before the Aztecs are at full strength.

With 18 seniors among that group of 76 scholarship players, the Aztecs can expect to have 58 returning players next season. Because NCAA rules limit a school to 25 new scholarship recruits each year, the Aztecs likely will have 83 scholarship players next season. The recruiting restriction means the Aztecs will not be able to sign enough players to reach the 95-player limit before the 1991 season. That puts the Aztecs in a possible competitive disadvantage in the Western Athletic Conference, where most teams are close to or at the 95-player limit.

A full roster gives teams more flexibility, allowing them to red-shirt more of their incoming classes.

“It makes it easier to have 95, but we have got 80 some (sic) out there, and we have had good practices,” Luginbill said. “I would like to have 95 because we are competing against people that have 95, but we won’t get there for three years.”

In some ways, that is not bad news for a financially strapped SDSU athletic department. The loss of players has meant a savings in scholarship money. The department savings for unused scholarships for the 1989-90 school year could reach $100,000, department officials have said, with football providing a reasonable share of that.

Luginbill said financial considerations have had nothing to do with the attrition. Still, he says he does not regret the loss of most of the departed players. Only four--Earley, Wagner, and quarterbacks Scott Barrick and Brad Platt--had ever started. Most of the others were deep reserves.

Luginbill said he was at a loss to explain the departure of only three--Cooley, a red-shirt freshman defensive tackle, Kilgore and Wagner.

“The ones that wanted to quit didn’t want to play the game,” Luginbill said. “It was a cut-and-dried decision.”

But for all he asked of them, almost all the players interviewed said they are not bitter about their experience under Luginbill. They blame their departure on a difference in football philosophy. The change from Stolz was more of an adjustment than most said they wanted to make, especially for those players who were not getting into the games.

“Football required a lot more time and effort than it had in the past,” said Vince Pellerito, a reserve offensive lineman who quit in mid-September. “It was a lot of work, and I wasn’t getting much out of it. There is no incentive when you don’t play.”

For all but two players, leaving the football team did not mean leaving college. Almost half of those who continued their college educations stayed at SDSU, where Pellerito is one of 10 former players enrolled.

Pellerito also is one of a handful of former players still on scholarship. NCAA rules require that a player who voluntarily leaves a team in midterm must remain on scholarship until the conclusion of that semester. The rule is designed to protect the athletes from coaches who might pressure them to leave a team so that they could give their scholarship to someone else.

Luginbill said he understands the rationale behind the rule but opposes it in application. He said it rewards the unworthy. He said when a player quits, his scholarship should be revoked immediately.

“When you quit, you should be subject to normal rules like other students,” Luginbill said. “There is a tremendous protective device (for those who quit), and I’m not in favor of it. It is totally wrong, but if that is the environment we’re in, so be it.”

But for those who no longer have their athletic scholarship, their departure has meant they have had to fund their own education. Some, such as Platt, have taken part-time jobs. Platt, the starting quarterback for most of last season until he was replaced by Barrick, has worked in an athletic shoe store since he quit the team in August.

“At the time, I wasn’t happy playing ball anymore,” said Platt, who was beaten out of the starting job by junior Dan McGwire. “I couldn’t see myself sitting around and not playing.”

Platt, like most of those who have remained at SDSU, said he does not intend to play college football again. That differs from the majority of those who have left SDSU. Many of those have continued their athletic careers. Seven are in football programs at community colleges. Only one former player, quarterback Jack Skoog, has transferred to another four-year school, and he did so to pitch on the Michigan State baseball team.

Those playing football at the community-college level said the experience has renewed their interest in the game. They said playing, even if it is at a lower level, is more enjoyable than sitting the bench at SDSU.

“I’m having a good time,” said Doug Blanchard, an offensive lineman at Orange Coast College. “I knew I’d be bummed out if I didn’t play football again. If I stayed at San Diego State, I’d probably be on the scrub club (scout team) on offense. I didn’t work hard in the summer to do that.”

Luginbill said he does not understand such remarks. He said that if some of the players who quit had been more patient they might be playing now. He cited the case of running back Daryl Crawford, a senior who quit the team three weeks ago having never played in a game. Since then the Aztecs have lost Wagner, leaving them with only three active running backs on scholarship.

“Who knows,” Luginbill said. “If Daryl Crawford stuck around, maybe he would have had a chance to carry the ball.”

But Crawford, like the nearly two dozen others that left before him, was not willing to wait and work under Luginbill’s exacting ways.

Luginbill said he is willing to accept the loss of Crawford and other players because he believes a stronger program will emerge in the end. He cites the Aztecs’ success this season as proof that the team is making progress and says he is not bothered by the loss of so many players because he said everyone who left was provided a chance to succeed.

“There is not one young man that left this program that wasn’t been given the opportunity to produce,” Luginbill said, “and production is the bottom line.”

Aztec Notes

San Diego State offensive tackle Tony Nichols, who missed last week’s game against Wyoming with a sprained ankle, is probable. Reserve inside linebacker Eric Thompson (sinus infection) is questionable. . . . Running back Curtis Butts missed practice Wednesday to visit a family member hospitalized after an auto accident and is expected to return to practice today, Coach Al Luginbill said.

23 MEN OUT

Name (Yr., Pos.) Reason Left--Where Now Scott Barrick (So., QB): Personal--Playing at Palomar CC Doug Blanchard (Jr., OL): Personal--Playing at Orange Coast CC Darren Cooley (Fr., DL): Personal--Attending Coffeyville (Kan.) JC Daryl Crawford (Sr., RB): Personal--Attending SDSU Ian Dunn (So., OL): Academic--Playing at Southwestern CC Lyndon Earley (Sr., FS): Disciplinary--Attending SDSU Brad Edwards (Fr., OL): Medical--Attending SDSU Steve Gilmour (Jr., OL): Personal--Attending SDSU Scott Kilgore (Fr., LB): Personal--Attending SDSU Haywood Mathis (Fr., LB): Academic--Playing at Grossmont CC Anthony Mitchell (So., OL): Personal--Attending MiraCosta CC Vince Pellerito (So., OL): Personal--Attending SDSU Brad Platt (Sr., QB): Personal--Attending SDSU Tom Riley (So., LB): Disciplinary--Playing at Cerritos CC Brian Sells (Fr., OL): Personal--Playing at Butte CC Tom Siufanua (Fr., DL): Personal--Selling insurance Jack Skoog (Jr., QB): Personal--Playing baseball at Michigan State Tyrone Smith (Jr., OL): Academic--Attending SDSU George Tuioti (So., LB): Medical--Attending Rancho Santiago CC Paul Victoria (Fr., LB): Academic--Playing at Merced CC Todd Vradenburg (Jr., OL): Medical--Attending SDSU Darrin Wagner (Fr., RB): Disciplinary--Attending SDSU Eric Williams (Fr., DB): Personal--Living at home