Aug. 19, 2006
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State senior safety Reggie Grigsby (Oceanside, Calif.), junior running back Lynell Hamilton (Stockton, Calif.), senior linebacker Joe Martin (Palmdale, Calif.) and junior quarterback Kevin O'Connell (Carlsbad, Calif.) have been named captains for the Aztec football team for the 2006 season. The four players were elected by their teammates and were introduced by SDSU head coach Chuck Long before the annual Family Day scrimmage at Qualcomm Stadium on Saturday.
Grigsby is the team's top returning tackler and played and started all 12 games at safety a year ago. The El Camino High School grad has played in 33 career contests and has tallied 116 tackles and two interceptions in his stay at SDSU. Grigsby ranked seventh in the Mountain West Conference in tackles per game (7.5) and was an honorable mention all-league pick in 2005.
Hamilton has been the team's leading rusher in each of his competitive seasons on Montezuma Mesa. As a freshman in 2003, he earned MWC Freshman of the Year honors and was a first team freshman All-American after running for 1,087 yards in just 10 games before injury cut short his record-setting campaign. After redshirting in 2004, Hamilton logged four games with 100 or more yards rushing, including in each of his final three outings. He is five yards from entering the SDSU career top 10 for rushing and was the MWC's only student-athlete to be named to the 2006 Maxwell Award watch list (collegiate player of the year).
Originally a walk-on, Martin is a returning starter at linebacker, where he played all three spots in 2005. The 6-2 senior earned conference honorable mention honors a year ago after finishing sixth in the league in tackles per game (8.8). He was third on the team in total tackles with a career high 81, and recorded double-figures in tackles three times in 2005.
O'Connell enters his third year as a team captain on the offensive side of the ball. O'Connell has been SDSU's starting quarterback in each of the last 17 games, including all 12 last season. He is first in school history in rushing yards by a quarterback (749) and tied for second in career rushing TDs by a QB (6). In 2004, he was the first freshman to start a game at quarterback for the Aztecs since 1997, and against Brigham Young, became the first SDSU player to rush for 100 yards and pass for 200 yards in the same contest.
In addition to the four season captains, Long also said that a player would be picked to represent the special teams prior to each game. Junior placekicker Garrett Palmer (Rialto, Calif.) earned the distinction for the team's opener with UTEP on Aug. 31.