CORONA — The San Diego State football team had what is certain to be its longest drive of the year on Saturday morning, a two-hour, 92-mile excursion up Interstate 15 for a spring scrimmage at Centennial High School.
The last 12 miles, like some trips in the red zone, proved to be the most challenging, with traffic slowed for no apparent reason. The Aztecs were not to be denied, their five buses pulling up just outside the gates of the Centennial football field for the midday workout. An estimated 250 people turned out for the event.
“It was awesome,” SDSU coach Sean Lewis said afterward. “I can’t thank Centennial enough for hosting us. Obviously, they’ve been great to the program over the years. It’s been a great pipeline here out of the IE.”
SDSU’s current roster includes four Centennial graduates: senior safety Eric Butler, sophomore linebacker Owen Chambliss, redshirt freshman cornerback Tayten Beyer and true freshman offensive lineman Ikbahi Kassim.
“It was great to take the show on the road and kind of replicate a road game as best we could,” Lewis said. “It was really cool to see the guys who have treated practice the right way versus the guys who, all of a sudden the lights came on today and there was a noticeable different look in their eyes.
“There was a different bounce or lack of bounce in their step because they were out there all by themselves. That’s a great moment to get to, and I know that will be some fuel to the fire for the guys to individually do a little bit more to be more prepared.”
The scrimmage was more crisp than last year at this stage, when Lewis and his staff were barely three months into introducing a new culture in general and a new offense in particular to the program.
“I think the staff’s done a great job of utilizing the time that we had in the winter,” Lewis said. “I think the continuity of the returning players helped the younger guys and helped the new guys. We are further along right now, even with the two new (transfer) quarterbacks. They’re both cerebral kids, and we just keep kind of piling it on to see where that threshold is and what’s the load that they can carry.”
Some scrimmage observations:
• Senior running back Cam Davis opened the scrimmage with a burst up the middle for a 25-yard touchdown.
SDSU’s other three running backs, junior Lucky Sutton, junior transfer Christian Washington and redshirt freshman Cincere Rhaney, also got their share of carries in a nearly 100-play scrimmage that was balanced between the run and the .
Sutton had a handful of solid carries, highlighted by 21-yard run on the third drive of the day.
“I’m pleased with Lucky Sutton,” Lewis said. “I think Lucky keeps taking really, really good, positive steps. He’s doing a nice job learning how to run behind his pads. He’s got a better feel for the offense. He’s coming along, and it’s great to see.”
Washington, the Helix High School graduate who transferred from Coastal Carolina, and Rhaney were both productive. Their presence in the backfield was something of a surprise, given Washington has been slowed by an injury in the spring and Rhaney is only eight months removed from ACL surgery on his left knee.
The excitement of Rhaney’s return was short-lived. He suffered an injury to his right leg on a tackle late in the scrimmage. Rhaney’s leg was placed in what appeared to be an inflatable cast to immobilize it. He was taken off the field on a cart and transported by ambulance to a nearby hospital.
• Junior transfer quarterbacks Jayden Denegal and Bert Emanuel Jr. traded series in the first half, and each played one series in the second half before turning things over to junior Kyle Crum and true freshman JP Mialovski.
Both transfer quarterbacks showed good pocket presence and displayed some evasiveness to extend plays. They were fairly accurate with their es, with Denegal a little more successful downfield.
Denegal came out with the first team and took little time realizing what he has in sophomore wide receiver Jordan Napier.
Napier caught a sideline from Denegal between a pair of defenders for a 31-yard gain midway through the first half. On the same drive, Napier caught a short over the middle that he could have turned into a first down but for an official’s quick whistle. Later in the first half, Napier made a diving catch for a 7-yard gain.
• The first half ended with senior cornerback Xavier Hamlett intercepting a 10-yard Emanuel over the middle.
• Senior kicker Gabriel Plascencia successfully completed two field goal attempts of 42 and 44 yards. Redshirt freshman kicker Nick Clegg made field goal attempts of 37 and 40 yards but missed a 36-yarder.
• Junior Hunter Green, a Northern Colorado transfer, is the presumed favorite to be the team’s starting punter. Green averaged 45 yards a punt the past two years at Northern Colorado and boomed a 62-yarder earlier this week in practice, but he struggled during the punting portion of Saturday’s workout, with four punts shorter than 40 yards.
Junior Tashi Dorje looked the best, with three punts of more than 50 yards, including a long of 55, and two other punts of 45 yards.
• The first-team offensive line included Christian Jones, Dallas Fincher, Ross Ulugalu-Maseuli, Tyler McMahan and Bayo Kannike from tackle to tackle.
Kannike, a senior transfer from Utah Tech playing right tackle, has been the most notable player to emerge on the line during spring camp.
• Most of the starters are returning on defense, though the Aztecs are still auditioning players along the line. Notable newcomers up front were senior edge Niles King and junior tackle Malachi Finau.
