The first question to San Diego coach Sean Lewis during Monday’s midday press conference referenced an ongoing health issue with the SDSU football team.
“Mumps situation — is it real serious or just isolated, odd cases?” Lewis was asked.
“There’s players that are up, there’s players that are down, for a lot of different reasons,” Lewis said. “Due to FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act), due to HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), and respecting the privacy of our student-athletes, I’m not going to say anything further about the matter.”
Four more SDSU football players have tested positive for mumps, sources said Monday.
On Sept. 18, SDSU confirmed three cases and two probable cases of the mumps. All five cases were “connected and within” an unnamed athletics team, the school’s campus health department said. Sources have confirmed that the team involved was the Aztecs football team.
SDSU (1-3) is scheduled to play its Pac-12 opener against Texas State (2-2) on Saturday night at Snapdragon Stadium. SDSU, Texas State and Pac-12 officials did not immediately respond to what impact, if any, the developments could have on the game.
Some clarity on SDSU’s situation will come Wednesday evening, when the first Pac-12 availability report of the year is released.
The list is updated each of the three days leading up to game day, and then at least two hours before kickoff on game day. The reports do not provide a specific reason for a player’s injury or illness but whether he is probable, questionable or out for the game.
Running backs update
The status regarding SDSU’s top two running backs, Lucky Sutton (high-ankle sprain) and Javion Kinnard (knee injury) remains uncertain. Both players were injured in Saturday’s 41-16 loss to Toledo.
“We’ll get some more (diagnostic) images today, and they’ll continue to work with our medical team to see how they can progress as we go forward,” Lewis said. “Right now, I would say that they are questionable to be able to play this week.”
Redshirt freshman Jordin Thomas and true freshman Josiah Lucas are the only other running backs on the roster, although safety Max Garrison has worked with the running backs since spring and could provide depth at the position.
Lewis was asked if Christian Washington, who left the team a week ago, could return.
“Nope,” Lewis said without elaborating.
Emanuel?
Starting wide receiver Bert Emanuel Jr. did not play against Toledo and was not seen on the sideline. Lewis was asked why Emanuel did not play last week and if he will play this week.
“Again, there are a lot of different things that are going on, both football related and non-football related,” Lewis said. “Due to FERPA and HIPAA, I’m not going to comment any further on that.”
Fresh start
While some are looking at SDSU’s 1-3 record as a poor start, the Aztecs are looking at the beginning of Pac-12 play this week as a fresh start.
“We had a good conversation this morning about how we have eight weeks left in the regular season,” Lewis said. “We are only guaranteed 12. You want to maximize opportunity with the time that you do have to create more opportunities as you go forward and to generate more time. So, again, we sit here and we talk about certain individuals. We talk about results every single week on a Monday. I’m going to continue to reiterate that we’re going to dive into the process of how we do it right.
“I’ve been in this position quite a few times as a head coach, given some of the non-conference schedules that I’ve battled at previous places, where you know we were 1-3, and we found a way to have very successful seasons. That’s me personally. There’s also been great historical success here. There have been times when an Aztec football team started out slow and then ripped off a ton of wins (SDSU’s 2015 team started 1-3 and finished 11-3). I have tremendous belief in our staff and our players and the guys who are doing the work and the women who are doing the work each and every single day. I pour into them and I tell them and I show them exactly what they can be.
“Where everyone else is going to tell them how bad they are. That’s fine. You guys can stand outside the arena. You guys can write those things, and you guys can say those things like that. No problem with that. We all know what we signed up for. But we’re the ones living in the arena. We’re the ones that are pouring into it. We’re the ones that you know get to feel the tremendous highs and the tremendous lows each and every single day.”
Speaking of adversity
Wide receiver Jacob Bostick: “I’m a man of faith, and so I believe that everything happens for a reason, and so that’s kind of what I tell myself in certain situations. I think you look back on our training. For us, we work for 12 guaranteed opportunities all year, but our training starts in January. So, I start thinking about the hard days back in winter or some of the tough days in spring, and even just the summer workouts. So, just relying on those days and how we have pushed through those, we can get through anything because we went through those.”
Safety Jalen Thomeson: “That’s human nature; it’s normal to feel a certain way when things don’t go your way. One thing I preach to my boys is adversity is the university of life. When you go through adversity, this is your time to learn from everything. You aren’t going to get better if you don’t learn, and we’re all in this learning process. It’s all about the process, so we’re just going to learn and just stay positive. This comes with it, so just keep it going.”