By Mick McGrane, GoAztecs.com Senior Writer
(@MickOnTheMesa)
Jeff Horton is forever sizing them up, looking for the next candidate.
He's particularly interested in linebackers, guys who covet contact, guys who crave collisions, guys who otherwise may seldom see the field.
Guys who never knew they were born to play offense.
"I'm always talking to some of our (reserve) linebackers and telling them, 'Hey, we're always looking for a fullback,' " said Horton, SDSU's associate head coach and offensive coordinator who also oversees the team's running backs. "None of them want to hear it, but you try to plant the seed early."
In an age where fullbacks are, in Horton's words, "like the white rhino, almost extinct," the Aztecs continue to cling to clobbering defenders with a lead blocker, a player as invisible as he is invaluable.
Horton claims he hasn't let a fullback in his offense carry the ball in more than two years, or ever since former Aztec and current Detroit Lions fullback Nick Bawden fumbled against South Alabama in the fourth game of the 2016 season.
And still there are volunteers. The latest, junior Isaac Lessard, came to SDSU in 2015 as a linebacker out of Jesuit High in Sacramento. As a senior, he led his team with 58 total tackles, including four tackles for loss. He recorded two sacks, had a pair of interceptions and recorded a fumble.
But this is where it gets strange. During the three years prior, Lessard, like Bawden, was a quarterback. He was an all-conference and all-area selection who accounted for 24 touchdowns (16 passing, eight rushing) at Yuba City High as a junior before transferring to Jesuit.
If there's another college football program in America that has transformed two high school quarterbacks into full-blown fullbacks — one of them, Bawden, an NFL draft pick — Horton hasn't seen it. Fact is, he seldom sees a fullback anywhere when combing the country for commits.
"You can't find them in high school, that's for sure," Horton said. "You either get a castoff linebacker who's maybe a little too slow, or a wayward child who's just looking for a spot and doesn't mind shortening his height. We always laugh about (former Aztec fullbacks) Chad Young and Dakota Gordon coming in at about 6-1 and leaving at about 5-8 after leading the way on all those blocks.
"But they're hard to find, because there's not a lot of glory in (playing fullback). You're probably not going to get the ball unless you catch it. Ninety percent of the time you're going to lead the way in the run game. Not a lot of people raise their hand for that position."
Lessard did. Or at least he did after meeting with Horton and defensive coordinator/linebackers coach Zach Arnett prior to fall camp in 2015. Unlikely to crack a linebacking corps that then included current New England Patriots linebacker Calvin Munson, as well as standouts Jake Fely and Ryan Dunn, Lessard moved to fullback, learning the ropes behind Gordon and Bawden.
It was less than a seamless transition.
"I had no technique," said Lessard, now 240 pounds in his 6-3 frame who assumed the starting role at the outset of the 2018 season. "I didn't know how to read the holes, because I have to be able to read the holes, too, to help lead the running back. I remember the first few days of practice and Coach Horton asking me things like, 'OK, where are you supposed to be on 13?' I'd say, 'Go to the right.' That's all I knew. I'd just run full speed and hit the first guy I'd see.
"But it's hard, because when you first get here you have an idea in your head of wanting to become a star at your position. Then you get moved to fullback, where there's not a lot of love. But I've always been a team guy who's all about winning. I don't really care how it gets done or what position I'm at, it's whatever helps the team. There are five (offensive linemen) up front who are just like me, who also don't get a lot of love. We also have a program where receivers are asked to block a lot. We're all sacrificing and taking hits for the team."
Some of them severe enough to force you to the sideline for the first time since your Pop Warner days. Prior to suffering a neck injury against Eastern Michigan in Week 4, Lessard had never missed a game at any level. He missed four games before returning to the field at New Mexico last week, participating in 15 snaps and again hunting linebackers and safeties in an attempt to spring tailback Juwan Washington. The latter also was injured against Eastern Michigan when he suffered a broken clavicle. Including the team's bye week, the pair missed a total of six weeks.
"I remember sitting on the couch watching our game against Boise State and thinking, 'This is so weird, I should be there right now,' " Lessard said. "Not that I wished Juwan had gotten injured, but it helped having him with me, knowing that that he and I could help each other through the rehab process.
"But when I was watching on TV, either I wasn't saying a word or I was going crazy. When Jordan (freshman running back Byrd) scored that touchdown against Boise (a 72-yard run), I was going crazy, because we'd just put that play in that week. I was like, "Yes! It worked!' But during the stressful moments of the game, I was just itching to be out there to help our team win."
Including the Eastern Michigan game, his team won four in a row and four of five without him. In Lessard's absence, the Aztecs turned to backup senior Chad Woolsey, a former walk-on tailback who in 2017 was listed as weighing 205. In Horton's fullback lab, Woolsey came into the 2018 season at 225.
Said Horton: "Talk about unselfish. We asked Chad if he could put on 25 pounds and play fullback for us, because we were going to need him this year. Whether it was getting an extra cheeseburger or whatever, he put on the weight. He never asked why or how come. That's how unselfish he was, because there's no glory. You get beat up every game. We've kind of been kidding with Isaac and Chad (Woolsey) that they're now members of the fullback club. They're sore, every part of their body aches and they won't be well until January.
"But our offense runs through those guys. Obviously, there are also the five offensive linemen, but the fullback is usually the guy right in front of the tailback. As we say, you've got to swab the holes and move people out. You've got guys trying to blow you up, coming down low on you and trying to stack up the hole. You've got to try not to let that happen and bury them. We also ask a lot of them in pass protection.
"Hopefully, we can throw them a biscuit every once in awhile by getting them the ball on a pass or something, because all of these guys have been great young men who sign up for some really tough duty. They see fun in it, but I don't think a lot of other people do."
Particularly linebackers unfortunate enough to find themselves butting heads with former quarterbacks.
"It seems so weird, because the positions are virtually the complete opposite," Lessard said. "When you're playing quarterback (during practice), it's always like, "Go easy. Don't touch the quarterback.' Now it's the complete opposite. You've got to come downhill and hit somebody every play."
Not that one need remind Kyahva Tezino, the Aztecs' rising star at middle linebacker.
"We always bump heads during spring ball and fall camp," Tezino said of Lessard. "He and Dakota Gordon are guys who always left me with a headache."
And a reason to be happy they wear the same uniform.
"I think the thing I learned most from (Bawden) is just the mindset of being a fullback," said Lessard, who has touched the ball exactly once this season, that coming on an 11-yard reception against Arizona State. "He was obviously a quarterback, too, so he kind of had to teach himself how to prepare the right way every day, to get yourself mentally right to endure that physical battle. You almost have to trick yourself into loving the position.
"But he taught me exactly how to approach the game, to come out every day and be that physical presence that brings energy to the offense. Football hurts. Nobody ever says it feels good to play football. It's really just convincing yourself that you're going to get the better of the guy across from you, whether that be a linebacker, a safety, whoever it is. You're in a 60-minute battle and you want to be the guy that comes out on top."
Much like Jeff Horton in his quest for the next fullback.
McGrane: Aztecs Find Another Diamond in Rough in Lessard
