Jeff Horton oversees running backs at San Diego State which, from the looks of it, is surely one of the most enviable coaching positions in all of Mountain West Conference football.
In the last 10 seasons the Aztecs have produced nine 1,000-yard — or better — running backs, a prime reason San Diego State has gone to 10 consecutive bowl games and is bidding for an 11th as it plays Hawaii Saturday.
For a couple of decades now, every time one — Marshall Faulk, Ronnie Hillman, Donnel Pumphrey, Rashaad Penny etc. — graduates or moves on to the pros, another one seems to step off the assembly line at Montezuma Mesa and into the record book.
“Thank God,” Horton says, “because when I run out of running backs they might run me out.”
Small chance of that happening anytime soon as the Aztecs have just plugged in senior transfer Greg Bell, who is eighth in the nation in rushing at 125.7 yards per game and the first in Aztec history to record 100-yard performances in each of his first three games.
Together with Chance Bell — no relation to Greg but nicknamed “The Bell Brothers” anyway — the Aztecs (2-1) are seventh in the nation in rushing, averaging 265 yards per game.
That is enough to make UH coach Todd Graham, whose defense has given up an average of 226.7 yards per game to rank 107th among 130 teams in rushing defense, take notice.
“They’ve got a very, very strong running attack. A great backfield, great personnel in the backfield,” Graham marveled. “(Greg) Bell is a special tailback. He reminds me a lot of the young man from Wyoming (Xazavian Valladay, who ran for 163 yards and two touchdowns against the Rainbow Warriors), except I think he (Bell) is a little better.”
Graham acknowledges, “Coaches always say that, whoever they’re playing, but I really.. .I can’t imagine that we play anybody better in this league. I’ve not seen anybody better on film than Bell.”
Until this season, in fact, nobody had seen much of the 6-foot, 200-pound Bell on film in two years. He was recruited by the Aztecs out of high school in Chula Vista, Calif., but had to go to junior college to get his grades up. While at Arizona Western Community College he opened so many eyes while running for 2,404 yards and 18 touchdowns in two years that Nebraska grabbed him.
Bell started four games for the Cornhuskers before deciding to transfer back home due to what were described as family issues. He sat out the NCAA-required transfer year but nearly suffered a career-ending injury when an exercise band struck him in the right eye and detaching a retina.
Despite the layoff, Brady Hoke said, “One thing about Greg that you could see early,…you could tell that he had a really good knack for feeling things running the football and he was patient. Even though there was no contact (coming off the eye injury), his ability to put his foot in the ground and accelerate is something. Not a whole lot of backs who can give you that.”
Horton says Bell is just beginning to find himself. “He is getting better each week but it has been fun to watch him develop,” Horton said. “He is getting his skills back and works hard. He’s been a great addition.”
At San Diego State, where the walls of the running back room are lined with a photo gallery of stars of the past, Horton said, “there might be room for one or two more.”
Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.
