Sports at Lunch, Chuck Long
- 02-01-2006
- By Tom Shanahan, San Diego Hall of Champions
Chuck Long arrived at the San Diego Hall of Champions Wednesday for Sports at Lunch dressed with new red-and-black tie and armed with 18 newly signed recruits in his first San Diego State recruiting class.
“This is a class I’ll always remember,” he said before adding with a chuckle, “hopefully.”
Long, the former Oklahoma offensive coordinator and NFL quarterback hired on Dec. 17, said the emphasis on his first recruiting class was linemen to improve an area where the Aztecs have been thin on size and outmanned in physical talent in recent years.
“Our immediate needs were offensive and defensive linemen,” Long said. “We signed 10 total in that group and that’s a big number for us. That was our focus because we had some depth problems there.”
One of the biggest names, and recruits, the Aztecs signed was Hawaii’s Whitley Fehoko, a 6-foot-1, 295-pound offensive lineman from Honolulu Farrington. Fehoko turned down schools such as Nebraska and LSU.
The Aztecs also signed four San Diego high school players and two more from San Diego high schools by way of Grossmont College.
The high school recruits were Poway running back Brandon Sullivan (5-10, 204), Rancho Bernardo defensive end Ryan Chohaney (6-4, 240), Eastlake linebacker Marcus Yarbrough (6-0, 245) and Crawford safety Raymond Patterson. Sullivan, Chohaney and Yarbrough were all first-team All-CIF picks, while Patterson was a preseason All-CIF pick before struggling with injuries his senior year.
The Grossmont College recruits are defensive end Brian Stanbra (6-5, 237) and offensive lineman Dan Hathaway (6-7, 295).
Long said in addition to recruiting throughout California, he would target Hawaii.
“We feel we can get some big linemen out of Hawaii,” Long said. “We feel that’s a natural for us because it’s the closest trip to the mainland.”
Another area is Texas, where Long has extensive ties from his Oklahoma recruiting days. Long landed his first Texan by signing defensive end Eric Ikonne. He added SDSU's games against TCU, now in its first year as a Mountain West Conference school, will help land future Texas recruits.
“We play TCU, so we’ll be visible there,” he said.
Another signing that Long discussed was an offensive line coach. It’s the only position he has left to fill on his staff, but he said offensive coordinator Del Miller’s background as an offensive line coach helped the Aztecs recruit linemen without an offensive line coach on staff yet.
“My goal is to sign an offensive line coach by a week from Friday,” Long said. “If it takes longer, we’ll do it. We want to make sure we get the right hire. It’s an important hire.”
Long said he has been spending time meeting the players in his office one on one that he has inherited from former head coach Tom Craft.
“I believe Coach Craft left this a better place than when he came,” Long said. “He laid a good foundation for me and my staff to take it to another level.”
Long told the Sports at Lunch audience a recruiting story about having lunch with recruits and assistant coaches at a restaurant on the beach. With a coaching staff largely hired from the Midwest, the sights and sounds were a new experience.
They were all stunned by the sight of beachgoer who was on roller blades racing past them.
What did they see? You should have been at Sports at Lunch.
Name, position, height, weight, school or hometown
Davon Brown, RB, 5-8, 158, Carson
Jimmie Carmack, DT, 6-4, 280, Palos Verdes
Ryan Chohaney, DE, 6-4, 240, Rancho Bernardo High
Martrell Fantroy, DB, 6-0, 193, Las Vegas
Whitley Fehoko, OL, 6-1, 300, Aiea, Hawaii
Dan Hathaway, OL, 6-7, 295, Grossmont College
Eric Ikonne, DE, Carrollton, Tx
Ernie Lawson, DE, 6-4, 245, Vallejo
Jacob Manuel, DE, 6-2, 257, Oxnard
Peter Manuma, OL, 6-5, 285, Long Beach
Raymond Patterson, athlete, 6-1, 185, Crawford High
Andrew Preston, LB, 6-0, 205, Littleton, Colo.
Kelsey Sokoloski, QB, 6-3, 180, Englewood, Colo.
Brian Stanbra, DE, 6-5, 237, Grossmont College/University High
Brandon Sullivan, RB, 5-10, 204, Poway High
Rico Thomas, athlete, 5-10, 161, Oakland
B.J. Williams, DE, 6-3, 215, Centennial, Colo.
Marcus Yarbrough, LB, 6-0, 245, Eastlake High
