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By Liz Alper
Photo courtesy goaztecs.com
August 27, 2019 (San Diego) - With their first home game this Saturday, SDSU football head coach Rocky Long, senior tight end Parker Houston, and senior defensive lineman Myles Cheatum sat down with the media at this week’s press conference, along with SDSU men’s soccer head coach Lev Kirshner, redshirt senior Pablo Pelaez and redshirt senior Mac Clarke.
"It's been a really good start for our season in regard to how the boys came in," Kirshner opened with.
Kirshner says there's a bigger gap mentally between last year's team and this year's team. "I don't know necessarily if the drive is much different other than the age inside the drive, so I think they have a better understanding of what we're looking for."
What are this year's expectations? "Our expectations are to go out and play hard every day. We want to be better than we were yesterday. We want to make sure that we're out-thinking teams, out-working teams, out-competing teams...we're looking to get better and we want to be really hard to play against."
Pelaez mentioned what he observed in the younger players. "Just from the start: talent."
Clarke mentioned how to keep the younger players' emotions in check when playing a crosstown rival in USD, which is to "keep them motivated and focused on the task at hand. Other times, you have to raise their confidence." Kirshner said that he'd like the attitude going into a crosstown rival game to be "more intense."
Kirshner does not think there is an issue playing only local teams for preseason instead of getting their sea legs playing national teams. "No, I mean, we did the trial up to Irvine to give us that kind of day trip...so we got that experience out of our belt and out of our way, so to speak...not a lot of teams use their budgets in preseason to travel...and Irvine gave us a road game, day trip kind of idea. So we like it...I love how the preseason's run out..."
Aztecs' men's soccer takes on USD at 7 p.m. on Friday at the SDSU Sports Deck.
"Well, it's good to see you all here, that means it's game week," Long opened with. "I think our team is tired of practicing and probably ready to play...our opponent is a whole lot better than anybody's probably gonna give them credit for...the biggest trouble is that they're a really good football team and we're gonna have to play well to win."
Asked how long it will take the offense to start clicking: "I don't have any time frame. I hope it's right from the beginning. We've practiced a lot if you count spring practice and fall camp...to be honest with you, I think the quarterbacks are more comfortable in what we're doing now than what they were doing in the past, so I think whenever your quarterback's more comfortable, you expect better things on offense."
On the other side of the ball, Long is dealing with a very young defensive line. "I think that's the biggest concern on our team right now. I think that we're inexperienced. We've made some progress, but we're not near good enough to be a really good defense."
Long says there's not really a difference between normal practices and game week practices. "Practice seems about the same to me every year. As a coach, you see improvement, but you always have concerns going into the first game because you don't know how they're gonna play in live action unless you have a very experienced football team. And we're experienced in some spots, but we're not very experienced in some other spots, so you never know exactly how they're gonna perform...going into the first game, you never know how your team's gonna play and you don't know what the personality of your team is...you never know until the first game is played."
Long says Juwan Washington will be the starting running back and whoever has the "hot hand" will be backup.
Long talked about the transition from practice to game for special teams. "That might be the hardest...in special teams, very little is live and that's because it's the biggest collisions in the game...so you don't do much special teams live...so you don't know how the special teams are gonna be, for sure."
Long took a guess about the Aztecs' identity for this year. "I think that we'll play really, really hard and I think the attitude is really good and I think what they've done in the offseason...they've handled that really, really well, so this team deserves to have success. Whether they will or not, we'll find out...they've got a good attitude. I hope it's rewarded with some wins."
Long spoke on quarterback Ryan Agnew. "I think since we put him in the shotgun...he's a whole lot more comfortable than he was under center and that's because he did it since he's been in little league...I think he's more comfortable, which means he should play better."
Houston said there's no difference in playing an FBS team versus an FCS team. "They're just another college football team...they all want to win their championship, we want to win our championship, it's just a bunch of student athletes doing what they love...it's just another college football team for us."
Cheatum echoed his teammate, saying "we give everyone the same level of respect no matter where they come from."
Houston says the leadership is the difference this year. "The seniors we have this year...they're probably one of the most dedicated groups of seniors I've been with. They're guys that do everything for the team the right way, they lead by example...they make sure that Coach Long's message is portrayed the way it should be. They're fully committed."
According to Houston, the offense is pretty comfortable with each other. "I think we're feeling pretty good, a lot of good chemistry on the starting groups and some of the backups...going in with Ags, we have full confidence in him to be able to do his job...so I think we'll probably be a little shaky just like every team is their first game of the year, but after that, I think we're probably gonna get going."
Cheatum says there's a lot of room for the young defensive line to prove who they are as a team. Houston echoed, saying it gives them an edge and a chip on their shoulder.
SDSU football takes on Weber State Saturday at 6 p.m. at SDCCCU Stadium.
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