Breaking back
PULLMAN – For Kevin O’Connell, it was a simple quarterback draw. But when it ended, his right thumb felt funny.
San Diego State’s then-junior quarterback wasn’t about to let that stop him. After all, it was the 2006 season opener against UTEP. Qualcomm Stadium was rocking, 34,723 witnessing head coach Chuck Long’s debut.
O’Connell was rocking as well. He was showing his new coach that, despite his 6-foot-6, 235-pound frame, he could run Long’s spread offense. He had hit his first 12 passes, he had run for 25 yards, the sun was shining, the crowd was cheering – but his right thumb felt funny.
His next pass floated out incomplete. The next was intercepted. As he came to the sideline, he knew something was wrong. It was.
His thumb was broken.
“I was told I was out for the season,” O’Connell said in a telephone interview recently.
But O’Connell, who came to San Diego State in 2003 from just up Interstate 5 in Carlsbad, Calif., wasn’t about to live with that prognosis. He had redshirted his freshman year and mainly watched while the Aztecs, under head coach Tom Craft, lost four of their first six games his sophomore season.
A strong performance off the bench in that sixth game – putting up 11 fourth-quarter points in a 21-17 loss to Colorado State – ensured he wouldn’t be on the bench any more. He started the final five games in 2004 – SDSU was 2-3 – and all 12 in 2005.
His 2005 numbers were impressive. He completed 62 percent of his passes. He threw for 2,663 yards and 19 touchdowns. He accounted for more than 3,000 yards in total offense and had a quarterback rating of 132.1.
The Aztecs went 5-7, 4-4 in the Mountain West Conference. Craft was fired.
His replacement, Long, came to San Diego with an impressive resume: a star quarterback at Iowa, where he led the Hawkeyes to the Rose Bowl; a long pro career; an assistant coach at his alma mater for four years; six seasons at Oklahoma, including four as offensive coordinator.
Now he was the head coach in San Diego, and O’Donnell was eager to impress him.
But his thumb was broken.
Six games later he was back playing. The first two weeks he saw limited action. Then, against Texas Christian, he was back as the starter. He filled that role in the final three games, leading the Aztecs to a season-ending win over Colorado State.
“I was about 80, 85 percent,” O’Connell said. “I was wearing a glove – I’m not a glove guy, but to have to wear it and have the thumb taped up underneath, that wasn’t good. But I wanted to help the team.
“I’m looking forward to being able to play at 100 percent again.”
That will happen Saturday in Qwest Field against Washington State, the Aztecs’ season opener. O’Connell will enter the game 10th on the SDSU career passing yards list, behind such players as former Seahawk Dan McGwire and former Cleveland Brown star Brian Sipe. He’s also seventh in completions, sixth in quarterback starts and first in quarterback rushing, with 904 career yards.
“He was off to a good start in game one last year, 12 for 12 throwing the football, and he gets hurt and is out most of the year,” Long said. “Obviously the development slowed, but I always feel like, from year one to year two as a starting quarterback in your system, that’s when you see a lot of improvement. And we have already.
“Not only has he improved on the field, with the X’s and O’s and how he’s throwing the ball, he’s sharpened his mechanics up and become a good leader for our football team.”
With O’Donnell at the trigger, Long expects the Aztecs to have a productive offensive year.
He doesn’t expect a lot of surprises from Washington State.
He’s seen the Cougars’ defense before, in the 2003 Rose Bowl, when the Sooners scored 34 points against WSU in Mike Price’s last and Bill Doba’s first as head coach.
“Coach Doba has been an excellent defensive coach his entire career,” Long said, “and their principles are the same. Watching the Wisconsin game, they played a lot of eight-man front. They wanted to stop the Wisconsin run game and you could tell that. I’m not quite sure if they’re going to do that same thing to us, it might be a little bit different plan with us.
“When you are a solid football coach and believe in a system, you stay with it.”
O’Connell sees it the same way.
“We’ve got a challenge ahead of us,” he said, mentioning he watched the Cougars’ 42-21 season-opening loss to Wisconsin on television. “They looked like a pretty darn good football team. They are very athletic, very fast. Their front four looks big and physical, which could cause us problems.
“Also, they’ll be making adjustments to things they didn’t do well last week, so we’ll probably see some things they haven’t done before.”
Notes
The abbreviated Terry Mixon era at Washington State came to an end Wednesday. The highly touted safety from Grossmont Community College north of San Diego asked for and will be granted his release after participating in just five practices since fall camp opened a month ago. “He asked for his release because he wants to transfer,” WSU coach Bill Doba said. “I think he was frustrated.” Mixon, who was a junior college All-American, had surgery on a broken foot over the summer and came into camp needing to improve his conditioning. But he pulled a hamstring in the first week and didn’t return to practice until Tuesday. With his release, if Mixon transfers to a school on a quarter system, he would be eligible this season. … Starting cornerback Chima Nwachukwu returned to practice and participated in most drills. … Martin Stadium’s new bathrooms are nearing completion. … There will be an Apple Cup-related press conference today at 12:30 p.m. at UW.