SD Prep Sports

SD Prep Sports: Football

2005 College Football Preview:

SDSU looks to rebound with assist from a pair of Trojans

By Phillip Brents

Posted Sept. 1, 2005

The Metro Conference may or may not exactly serve as a pipeline to the San Diego State University football team but for the first time in a while at least, a pair of South County standouts — both from Castle Park — will be suiting up in red and black to play this fall for the Aztecs.

This will be Freddy Dunkle’s second active season at SDSU after serving on the scout squad his freshman year. He will be joined this season by DeMarco Sampson, a former CPHS teammate.

Both should see a good deal of action this season.

Dunkle, who earned honors as the South Bay League’s 2002 Offensive Player of the Year, said he welcomed the presence of his former teammate.

“It feels good. There’s a lot of other guys on the team who have players from their high schools on the team. I can talk trash to him now,” Dunkle said with a smile.

Both Dunkle and Sampson received field time in the Aztecs’ Family Day scrimmage Aug. 20 at Qualcomm Stadium. Dunkle (6-1, 210) participated in 10 plays on defense while Samspon, who is listed as a 6-2, 200-pound wide receiver, dressed for offensive duty.

Last season, Dunkle saw limited action, primarily on special teams. This year he is being groomed to see additional duty on defense as a member of the team’s linebacker corps.

Dunkle said the move to the linebacker position was a challenge, but feels the hard work he has put into making new reads will pay off.

“It was hard when I first made the move but I’m fine now,” he said.

Both former Trojans will be out to help the Aztecs attempt to improve on last season’s 4-7 overall record and 2-5 Mountain West Conference finish.

Dunkle said the team goal entering this season is “"just taking it one game at a time.”

“Last year, we tried to look ahead too much. This year our goal is to go one week at a time, one game at a time,” he said.

Sampson, a highly-decorated 2004 prep graduate, said his full role with the team in his first season remains to be determined but said he is enthusiastic about accepting whatever role he will be asked to contribute. In the Aug. 20 intra-squad scrimmage, he had three receptions for 29 yards. He caught a pair of touchdowns in the team’s annual Red-Black spring scrimmage game.

The former Trojan simply expressed satisfaction at finally becoming a member of an NCAA Division I team.

“It took me a lot of time to get here. I can remember in high school when I was a junior and not knowing where I might go or even if I would play college football. It feels good to be here,” he said.

Samspon also said it feels good to have a former high school teammate on the SDSU squad with whom he can talk.

“It helped a lot. I feel confident with him around,” said Sampson of the camaraderie the two share.

Like Dunkle, Samspon said he has accepted the challenges and commitment of major college football. “We do a lot more contact than in high school. We work more on plays,” Sampson said of the differences in making the adjustment from high school to the college ranks.

SDSU kicks off its 2005 season Saturday, Sept. 3, with a 7:05 p.m. game against UCLA in the Sony HDTV Holiday Classic at Qualcomm Stadium. The game will be televised live in high-definition by ESPN2. UCLA enters the clash rated 33rd in the AP national college poll and 36th in the USA Today coaches poll.

The Aztecs’ 2005 schedule is rather challenging with Ohio State, TCU and two-time defending conference champion Utah (No. 4 in last year’s Division I poll) also on SDSU’s slate. Overall, the Aztecs will play six teams that appeared in bowl games last season.

Sampson said he is looking forward to the Sept. 17 game against Ohio State. “They have been recognized as having one of the top programs in the country. Everyone wants to play there,” he said.

Season preview

The 2004 campaign was one that did not match up to the numbers. SDSU out-gained its opponents in total offensive yards but was outscored on the scoreboard.

Many factors contributed to last year’s 4-7 record, including untimely injuries and a lingering starting quarterback duel between Matt Dlugolecki and Kevin O’Connell. Dlugolecki was designated as the starter at the onset of the season while O’Connell, a freshman signal-caller from La Costa Canyon High, got the shot at midseason. O’Connell led the team to its final two wins and has been named as the team’s starting quarterback to kick off this season.

Also heading the list of returners are sophomore running back Brandon Bornes (Rancho Buena Vista), senior running back Michael Franklin (New Orleans), senior receivers Jeff Webb (La Quinta) and Robert Ortiz (Horizon) and sophomore kicker Garrett Palmer (Rialto).

Bornes led the team last year with 578 net rushing yards, followed by Franklin with 463 yards and O’Connell with 347 yards. Bornes topped SDSU with 899 all-purpose yards (rushing, receiving, punt and kick return yardage) followed by Webb (884), Franklin (807) and Robert Ortiz (724).

Webb led receivers with 71 catches for 863 yards and six touchdowns while Ortiz made 52 catches for 728 yards and six scores. Ortiz (33 career games) and Webb (31 career games) rank as the team’s most tenured players.

Franklin led rushers with 99 yards, scoring once, in the team’s Aug. 20 intrasquad scrimmage while Bornes (10 rushes, 44 yards) scored twice.

In the passing department, Dlugolecki (Santa Margarita Catholic) completed 60.6 percent of his passes for 1,349 yards with six touchdowns and eight interceptions. O’Connell completed 48.7 percent of his passes for 1,328 yards, nine touchdowns and nine interceptions. O’Connell led the Aztecs in average total offense per game (186.1 yards) ahead of Dlugolecki (184.6 yards).

However, O’Connell impressed with his 11-of-22 performance for 111 yards and one touchdown at the Qualcomm Stadium scrimmage to help cement the starting position this year.

As for the quarterback situation this year, SDSU has depth with four signal-callers. Freshman Darren Mougey (Scottsdale, Ariz.) is now listed second on the team’s depth chart ahead of Dlugolecki, giving the team what head coach Tom Craft called a “really healthy situation at quarterback.”

“I think we have that position as strong as it could be right now with those three that are available to us. Even Kevin Craft (a freshman out of Valley Center High) has performed very well for us in a limited capacity. We like our quarterbacks a lot,”Tom Craft said.

O’Connell said he was “excited” to get the starting nod against UCLA. “This is what I hoped for and worked for all summer,” he said, adding, “We know whatever happens that we have depth.”

Palmer led the team in scoring last season with 62 points, including 12 field goals. Ortiz was second with 38 points on six touchdowns while Webb and Bornes tied for third with 36 points apiece on six touchdown receptions.

Sophomore running back Lynell Hamilton (Stockton) returns after suffering a season-ending injury last year. He had 55 yards on 17 carries in the team’s Aug. 20 scrimmage.

Heading the defensive returners, junior defensive back Donnie Baker (Miami, Fla.) recorded two interceptions last year while sophomore defensive end Antwan Applewhite (Torrance) had one fumble recovery for touchdown.

Senior defensive back Marcus Demps (Palmdale) had 35 tackles (30 unassisted) last season. He has 29 career games to his credit, one less than 6-0, 230-pound senior linebacker Freddy Keiaho (Ventura).

Junior safety Reggie Grigsby (El Camino) stood out in the Family Day scrimmage with five tackles and one interception. Brett Sturm also had one pickoff. Senior defensive end Kurt Kahui (Wailuku, Hawaii) contributed two quarterback sacks in the Aug. 20 tune-up showcase while sophomore linebacker Brett Martin (Corona) had a team-high seven tackles, including six solo stops.

The SDSU head coach said his team still has “got some work to do” before opening the season. “We know what kind of football team we are going to have to be this year. We are going to have to control the ball,” Tom Craft said.

2005 Schedule

The Aztecs, who are opening their 83rd season overall, will play 12 regular season games this season. SDSU’s home schedule includes six dates: UCLA (Sept. 3), San Jose State (Sept. 24), BYU (Oct. 1), New Mexico (Oct. 22), TCU (Oct. 29) and Wyoming (Nov. 19).

The Aztecs’ road schedule includes games at Air Force (Sept. 10), Ohio State (Sept. 17), UNLV (Oct. 8), Utah (Oct. 15), Colorado State (Nov. 12) and Hawaii (Dec. 3).

On an ominous note, UCLA leads the series 19-0-1, though several games in the series have been closely contested despite the final score. SDSU is 9-3 in its last 12 season openers.