CAMP PENDLETON – If the Marines had played as well down through history as San Diego State's football team has in recent years, at the very least we'd all be speaking broken English. So Chuck Long has taken his Aztecs to boot camp, where they get to meet Marines, eat with Marines and, he hopes, win like Marines.
CHARLIE NEUMAN / Union-Tribune
San Diego State coach Chuck Long is hoping time spent with the Marines at Camp Pendleton teaches the Aztecs a thing or two about winning and working as a team.
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He has taken the lyrics “From the Halls of Montezuma” literally.
Long is looking for more than a few pretty good men. And where else to find some than in historic Pendleton, where State's third-year football coach has brought his charges for the first two days of fall drills? It's not Camp La Jolla, for sure, but sleeping in Quonset huts with tarantulas running around doesn't necessarily translate to winning.
Whether getting away will help generate the same response Sid Gillman received from his Chargers when in 1963 he took his squad to camp at aptly named Rough Acres – the Bolts went on to win the AFL title – is hard to gauge in August.
To see a champion out of here this early requires a telescope designed by an Optimist Club astronomer. The Aztecs are picked to finish seventh in the nine-team Mountain West Conference, and in that they've won seven total games the past two seasons, haven't had a winning record or gone to a bowl since 1998, to expect more from prognosticators at this point would be folly.
The Aztecs probably will open with Ryan Lindley, a redshirt freshman, at quarterback. Three redshirt freshmen eventually could start on the offensive line. Nine starters do return on defense, but that group last year finished next-to-last nationally against the run.
So, it's highly doubtful the prognosticators would have had State any higher than seventh in the MWC if they had known the Aztecs were going to be hanging with Marines for a few days.
Preseason rankings mean nothing, but until this school starts winning some games and playing well into December, that's what it's going to get. It's not about respect. Respect must be earned. Long's team currently is practicing at a place where respect came with winning.
“Welcome to Aztec boot camp,” Long was saying after yesterday's first practice, which he described as productive. “The Marines are teaching us about leadership and team-building. Camp can be really long. This gives us variety, a different scene. At the same time, the partners (Marines) we're with are the best in the world at what they do.
“That's the tone I want to set. These are guys who are their age, and they've been to war.”
Incredibly, the Aztecs have a man – and I mean a man – on their team who has been to war. Linebacker Shane Morris, all 6 feet, 250 pounds of him, is 28 years old and a Navy veteran. Last time I checked, the Marines were part of the Department of the Navy, so Morris is loving this camp. Must bring back fond memories.
“This,” says Morris, the oldest of 10 brothers and sisters, “is all good. This is a great time.”
Morris hasn't put on pads since December 1996, his final season at Corona Centennial High. He joined the Navy at 19 and served four years, working on jets as an electrician. He shipped on the carrier Abraham Lincoln, which took him to the Persian Gulf and Iraq.
“I had seen a lot of places and even been to a war,” he says. “I wanted to be the first in my family to go to college. I used my GI Bill and went to Riverside City College for three years. I had a 3.9 (GPA) there and got accepted to San Diego State's business school. I'm not married and have no kids. I just wanted to get my degree and graduate next year.
“But a friend told me I must have some eligibility left. Because I went to Riverside for three years and didn't play, I still have two years remaining. If I had played just one semester there, I wouldn't have any eligibility left. I talked to the coaches and walked on. I've always stayed in shape.”
I don't know if I've ever seen a happier college football player than Shane Morris. Obviously, sleeping in a Quonset hut is nothing for him.
“It's exciting,” he says. “It's a thrill. It's like the camaraderie you have in the military and family. The camaraderie here is unbelievable. I find it amazing. There are no cliques. We're a big family. Everybody's getting along.”
Long made use of Morris' Navy background before the team bused up to Pendleton.
“I had Shane stand up and teach the players how to salute,” Long says.
His fellow players obviously have taken to Morris, who is 10 years older than some of the youngsters on this team.
“The guys have asked me a lot of questions about life,” Morris says. “I've been called everything from 'Pops,' 'Gramps' and 'Dad.' Coach has nicknamed me 'The General.' ”
No generals in the Navy. But these Aztecs are among Marines for a few days, so Long can be excused.
Now we'll have to see if these two days with The Corps mean anything when the Aztecs go to Notre Dame.
Nick Canepa: (619) 293-1397; nick.canepa@uniontrib.com
