COLLEGE FOOTBALL ’87 : COACHES, PLAYERS, TEAMS AND TRENDS TO WATCH THIS SEASON : SDSU’s Hewitt Hopes Debut Will Be Rosy

PASADENA — San Diego State junior Paul Hewitt can’t quite see the Rose Bowl from where he grew up. But he knows the way.

Hewitt was raised in Monrovia, just east of Pasadena. He spent part of his youth fantasizing about the historic stadium and his future place in its football lore.

“To start at tailback in the Rose Bowl,” he said, “that has been my dream.”

Tonight that dream will come true. Hewitt is set to make his major-college debut when the Aztecs play UCLA at 6:30 at the Rose Bowl in the season opener for both teams.

Like all dreams come true, this a story made of wishes, hopes and circumstance.

Hewitt was not supposed to start. He didn’t arrive at SDSU until Aug. 9. He was a transfer from Citrus College in Glendora by way of a semester at New Mexico State. He did not know the Aztec system. He did not know the players. He did not know that fate would erase all those doubts.

When redshirt sophomore Ron Slack injured his right hamstring in practice last week, Hewitt found himself with the first team. At the time, San Diego State Coach Denny Stolz took a wait-and-see approach to the situation, saying that Hewitt would enter the last week of preseason practice as the No. 1 tailback.

“Paul will be our starter. He earned the job in the scrimmage (last Saturday),” Stolz said.

And tonight, the waiting will be over. Before the usual gathering of family and friends who come out to watch such happenings, Hewitt will have his day.

“I’m just going to do the best I can,” he said. “I didn’t expect this.”

Hewitt was a late arrival at SDSU. He needed to complete summer-school requirements before he could enroll. For a while, there was some doubt he would make it.

When he did report, it was with the other late transfers and freshmen. Included in that group was Tommy Booker, the Parade All-American running back from Vista High School. With all the attention around Booker, Hewitt was easily overlooked, especially since he is listed as standing 5-feet 10-inches tall and weighing 195 pounds.

“Actually, I’m only 5-8,” he said.

Height is not Hewitt’s only deception.

“You see him run, and you think he’s not that fast,” Slack said. “But he is quick. He gets to the hole and makes the cut. He fools you.”

That is just what Hewitt hopes he can do against the Bruins.

“You can’t underestimate Paul,” said Wayne Moses, the SDSU running backs coach. “A lot of guys are great pure runners; they have the speed and all the natural attributes. But they’re no good if they don’t know how to use it.

“Paul knows how to use his skills. He runs behind his blocking well. He carries the ball well. He catches the ball extremely well.”

The latter might be the most important element in the SDSU scheme. Stolz is a pass-oriented coach, and he likes nothing better than to throw to his running backs. Two of the three leading receivers on the Aztecs’ 1986 Western Athletic Conference championship team were fullback Corey Gilmore and tailback Chris Hardy. They combined for 84 catches for 612 yards.

Gilmore and Hardy are gone, leaving Hewitt to lead a revamped group of running backs.

Troy Reed, a senior who has only four carries in his college career, will start at fullback. Backing up Reed will be two San Diego area freshmen--Kevin Macon from Patrick Henry High School and Jim Jennings from San Marcos High. Working behind Hewitt will be Booker and Slack.

Stolz has said all six will likely play against UCLA.

“We’re going to use a lot of people at those positions,” he said. “Running back remains our most unsettled position.”

Hewitt is hoping to answer a lot of questions with his performance tonight. But it will not be an easy assignment. The Bruins are ranked third in the preseason poll by the Associated Press and fourth by United Press International. They start seven three-year lettermen on defense, including linebacker Ken Norton and two-time All-Pacific 10 nose guard Terry Tumery.

Hewitt faces not only the task of playing against UCLA, but also the pressures of his first college start in a stadium that he has considered the place to play football.

“We know he’ll be a little nervous,” Moses said. “Our biggest concern is that he settles down and plays the way he has shown us in practice. He still is inexperienced. We know it is important for him to get off to a good start. If he does that, he’ll be fine.”

So far, Hewitt has always succeeded. As a senior at Monrovia High School, he rushed for 1,705 yards on 200 carries, an average of 8.5 yards per carry. He went on to Citrus College, where last season, as a sophomore, he ran for 1,356 yards.

All of this is quite familiar to Slack, the tailback Hewitt is replacing as a starter. Slack played against Hewitt in high school. He, too, grew up in the shadow of the Rose Bowl.

Slack was born in Pasadena and is a graduate of Muir High School, where he starred as a running back/linebacker and sprinter. He came to SDSU as a walk-on in 1985, sat out the season, and last year carried only 11 times for 25 yards. But he emerged as the projected starting tailback after an impressive spring.

This game was supposed to be his dream come true.

“I’ve been thinking about this game all summer,” he said. “Almost every day I thought about starting in the Rose Bowl. That’s what I looked forward to.”

Instead, he will start his season on the bench. His hamstring has improved throughout the week and he does expect to play.

“I’ll contribute any way I can,” he said. “Just to be able to play at the Rose Bowl will be something special.”