Tollner high on 2000 class, especially onoffense
BySteve MullinsStaff Writer
The San Diego State football team took another step toward thefuture Wednesday when it announced the signing of 19 players who planto enroll for the fall semester. Among the talented group are allthree running backs from the San Diego All-County team.
Although he is excited about this year’s recruits, SDSU head coachTed Tollner is realistic with his expectations of the class.
“Signing day is like draft day (in the NFL),” Tollner said. “Butyou have a lot more names and a lot more potential help. One of themost exciting things about this class is the number of guys who weredominant on both sides of the ball.”
Of the 17 high school recruits, only three have yet to qualifyacademically. However, Tollner said he has confidence all three willbe eligible soon.
So where does Tollner think this local class ranks among those ofthe prior six years?
“If you take the junior college people, I think it’s the bestwe’ve had,” Tollner said. “But it’s never enough. You get greedy.”
Loaded on offense
Although he isn’t very tall, Tollner said quarterback Jon Stonerpossesses the most important attribute for a signal-caller — theability to win.
In his three years as a starter at Cactus High School (Glendale,Ariz.), Stoner’s teams combined to go 33-4-1 and won three WestValley Conference championships.
As a senior, Stoner completed nearly 68 percent of his passes,threw for 3,146 yards and tossed 36 touchdowns against just seveninterceptions.
How good are the running backs?
Last season the 6-foot, 220 pound Justin Green became thesection’s all-time leading rusher after amassing 5,404 yards over hiscareer. In addition, his 57 career touchdowns ranks him secondall-time.
Jason Van set the section single-game rushing record with 382yards on 16 carries and four touchdowns. For his career, the5-foot-11, 190 pounder finished his prep career with 4,418 yards andbecame only the second running back in section history to post two2,000 yard seasons.
Fale Poumele is a 6-foot-1, 220 pound bruiser from Oceanside HighSchool. Not only did he rush for 1,143 yards and 22 touchdowns, buthe did so with a separated left shoulder. According to Tollner, theshoulder moved out of place at least a couple of times in eachcontest.
