Oct. 18, 2007
SAN DIEGO - People say leaders are made, not born. It is hard to argue that notion until you meet Aztec quarterback Kevin O'Connell.
A senior, O'Connell enters his fourth year as SDSU's starting quarterback and third season as team captain. His 945 rushing yards are the most all-time by an Aztec quarterback. In addition, the Carlsbad, Calif., native is ranked second in rushing touchdowns by a quarterback (nine), fourth in completions (457), tied for fourth in quarterback starts (23), fifth in attempts (794) and eighth in passing yards (5,079).
What makes these numbers even more impressive is that O'Connell missed six full games in 2006 and most of the UTEP game on Aug. 31 with a right thumb injury.
The injury, however, hasn't discouraged O'Connell two games into his final season and he has high hopes for the team in 2007.
"Most of my goals deal with making the team better," O'Connell said. "I just want to be as consistent as possible. I want to move the ball and put as many points on the board as we possibly can. If that means throwing the ball fifty times or running the ball fifty times, that doesn't matter to me. I just want to win."
Voted team captain by his teammates after his freshman year, O'Connell has learned a lot in terms of leadership over his three seasons. One of the things he noticed as he has gotten older his how the younger guys look up to him on and off the field.
"There is a big difference in leading by example and being a leader in everything you do," O'Connell said. "Anyone can lead by being successful on the field and doing things the right way. It's motivating guys and bringing some young players along that will make the most difference. That is what I learned last season. I've learned a lot of that from Coach Long."
O'Connell is quick to say that he isn't the only leader on the team, that the five other captains - Chaz Schilens, Mike Kravetz, Nick Osborn, Ray Bass and Russell Allen - have all done a good job of motivating the team as well.
"I think we have done a good job about talking about our history and how close we have come to winning some of those close games," O'Connell said. "I know how my senior class came in thinking we were going to change everything, turn the world around. But college football is a tough game.
"It's not easy to come in with talent and go out on the field and beat people. You have to do it as team, there's got to be chemistry, there has got to be cohesiveness between coaching staff and the players. We tell the young guys that all the time."
O'Connell has always been a fan of the sport, even before moving to football crazy Southern California at the age of nine, the year he started playing.
"I have always been a magnet for football," O'Connell said. "My parents tell me that I would just sit in front of the television and watch it when I was two or three. I would just sit there all day Saturday watching games. It really didn't matter who was playing."
O'Connell's father, Bill, played his college ball at Villanova, and playing at the college level had always been a goal of his. From day one O'Connell was a quarterback, the guy with the ball in his hands.
"I'd play around the house by myself, flipping the ball up in the air and running around," O'Connell said. "I always found the weirdest way to make plays in the hallway."
A La Costa Canyon High School football and basketball standout, O'Connell has enjoyed playing so close to home as an Aztec.
"It's been great," O'Connell said. "My parents have seen every single game I have played and I don't know if that would have happened anywhere else."
More than anything, O'Connell wants to see the Aztecs win.
"I've gotten to know a lot of guys who were older than me the last three of four years and I've watched them leave disappointed," O'Connell said. "I just want to give guys who play in the NFL or who have stopped playing something to proud of. I want them to look back and be proud of their college."
When asked if he sees himself playing at the next level, O'Connell is quick to answer that anything is possible.
"I am going to try to play until nobody lets me anymore," O'Connell said. "But after that I would like to get into coaching and teaching."
After getting his degree in December, it's safe to say that the leadership skills he has learned in his five years at San Diego State will help him be successful at no matter what career path he chooses - whether he becomes a coach, a teacher of a professional football player.