Printer-friendly version
For more sports stories, visit ECM's Sports section.
Story and photos by Liz Alper
Full quotes courtesy Jen Heisel
October 18, 2016 (San Diego) - The Aztecs are playing on Friday night again, so coach Rocky Long, junior fullback Nick Bawden, junior defensive end Dakota Turner and redshirt sophomore quarterback Christian Chapman sat down with the media for a weekly press conference.
The Aztecs take the field on Friday night at Qualcomm to face San Jose State, an opponent that they're all too familiar with. "I know a lot of our coaches have great respect for (SJSU head) Coach (Ron) Caragher," Long said in his opening statement. "I think there are four guys on their staff I’ve coached with in a couple different settings and I have great respect for their coaching ability. They have a talented football team that seemed to hit their stride last week."
A major discussion topic this week was social media and what people who follow Aztecs football have been saying about the team. After Friday night's 17-3 win over Fresno State, some were saying that the Aztecs should have won by a bigger margin. Long was asked about this. "It’s like a lot of things in my life; I don’t have control over what people think about it or what they say about it so I try not to worry about it. I don’t think the players worry about it at all. They’re so into social media and they like all of that stuff but nothing has real importance. It’s just the next thing to think about. I don’t think they worry about any of that stuff."
Last week, Aztecs receivers struggled to get open. Long addressed this. "Last week, they struggled to get open and in man-to-man coverage. The opponent did a great job of covering them man-to-man."
Another major topic was Bawden's transition from quarterback to fullback. Long and Bawden talked about this. “I think it’s not surprising and you love that sort of thing when it happens," Long said. "Most quarterbacks, when you call them into your offense and say, ‘guess what? You’re not going to be our quarterback anymore more so we’ll help you transfer or we’ll move you to another position,’ and he says, ‘well, give me a day or two to think about it’ and he comes back two days later and says, ‘okay, I want to stay. What position am I playing?’ And you say, ‘fullback’ and he says, ‘okay,’ in this day and age, those are fun things to have happen. He probably could’ve gone somewhere else to be a quarterback. I think he likes the school, I think he had a lot of really good friends on the team and he didn’t see any reason to leave. Since that time, he’s gotten bigger, stronger and has changed his [on field] personality dramatically. He is not a quarterback anymore; he is a fullback. Every game, he gets better."
“At first, it brought me down because I had played quarterback since my freshman year of high school and that was my dream," Bawden said. "In life, dreams change and things change and you’ve just got to take advantage of the opportunities you’re given. He gave me a few days to talk it over with my parents and see what the pros and cons were, to visualize what I wanted to do. I loved how the program was on the rise here and I wanted to be a part of it. I love everything the coaches preach around here and I’ve taken that to heart about trying to be a team player for San Diego State football. I was thankful that Coach Long was giving me an opportunity to play another position here. When he told me it was fullback, I was kind of surprised at first because it’s a pretty physical position, coming from quarterback. But I’ve tried to take as much coaching as I can since switching positions and do as much research as I can so I can try to be the best player I can for this team.”
Bawden and Turner also talked about the team social media use. “We have a team rule that we don’t talk about our team or other teams and it kind of keeps our head out of that because it’s really easy to get caught up in that and really easy to lose focus in your preparation for the game that week so we don’t have any guys who are up there talking about anybody else or our team and I think that’s really smart and a great way to do it," Bawden said. "It is a huge distraction and it is a new age thing that is kind of taking the world by storm especially in sports. College kids can be irresponsible with it. We just talk about it on the field with our play.”
"I’ll see some guys from back home on the other team and it’s more, after the game, we’ll talk," Turner said. "before the game, I don’t even like talking to them. I just keep my focus and I’ll talk to them after the game and take pictures and whatnot but before the game, I keep my head clear and keep away from all distractions.”
Turner also talked about the fans that say that the Aztecs don't put enough points on the board. “We don’t really pay attention to what they say about that. We’re just there to win the game. We’re there to play as hard as we can for four quarters and not give up on any plays. If the score isn’t what the fans want, we’re working as hard as we can to put as many points as we can up on the board. We’re just there to get the win and go on to the next week.”
Chapman also praised Bawden for making the switch from quarterback to fullback. “It shows the selflessness of guys we have on this team, that they’d switch positions and still stick to the team. We have a few guys that have done that; (Daniel) Brunskill went from tight end to lineman. It’s just the selflessness these guys have. They want to make the team better. It shows a lot about their character and what they’re willing to do for the team."
Watching film on SJSU, Chapman says they're similar to Fresno State in that they run the same defense. If the Aztecs win on Friday night, they will become bowl eligible. The question was posed to Chapman. “It’s been brought up. We know this is the game to get bowl eligible. It’s a goal in our mind, of course, and it’s something we’re looking forward to. We’re looking forward to getting another win at home and be bowl eligible and get that out of the way and move forward and work our way up to a championship.”
Recent comments