SAN DIEGO -- Four San Diego State football players will play in senior bowls in the coming weeks, including Ronley Lakalaka and Anthony Luke this Sunday in the SPIRAL Tropical Bowl. 2018 all-Mountain West selections John Baron II and Ryan Pope will also represent the Aztecs at the East-West Shrine Bowl on Saturday, Jan. 19.
Lakalaka and Luke get things started for the SDSU seniors Sunday at the fourth annual SPIRAL Tropical Bowl at Daytona Beach Municipal Stadium in Daytona Beach, Fla. Lakalaka and Luke will each represent the American Team, coached by Todd Littlejohn. The game against the National Team kicks off at 10 a.m. ET (7 a.m. PT) and will be streamed online at FloFootball.com (direct link is here: http://bit.ly/2DmItxj).
Last season, Lakalaka totaled 50 tackles, including 5 ½ tackles for loss, a sack, an interception, four pass breakups and nine quarterback hurries, while starting all 13 games at linebacker. The co-winner of the team's Most Inspirational Award and one of four to be honored with the Dr. R. Hardy/C.E. Peterson Memorial Trophy (team captain award), Lakalaka finished his career with 216 tackles, 14.0 TFL, five sacks, three interceptions and five pass breakups.
Luke, meanwhile, made the most of his two-year career as a defensive end with San Diego State after transferring from American River College, posting 55 tackles (30 solo), 9 ½ tackles for loss, 1 ½ sacks, an interception and a pass breakup. In 2018, Luke started all 13 games, setting career bests in tackles (43), solo stops (24), assisted tackles (19), tackles for loss (8), sacks (1) and PBUs (1).
On Saturday, Jan. 19, Baron and Pope will each play for the West team in the 94th East-West Shrine Game under coach Adam Zimmer of the Minnesota Vikings. The game will take place at Tropicana Field at St. Petersburg, Fla., with kickoff set for 3 p.m. ET (noon PT). The game will be broadcast live on NFL Network.
A semifinalist for the Lou Groza Award for the second time of his career, Baron recently finished one of the best kicking seasons in program history. The left-footed kicker was 17-for-22 on field goal attempts (.773), including 5-for-5 on 50-yard attempts, and 27-for-27 on PATs, joining UCLA's Kai Forbath (2007) as the only players since at least 1996 to make five 50-yarders in a season without a miss. Among the SDSU single-season leaders, Baron ranked first in 50-yard field goals (5), in a tie for first in PAT percentage (1.000) and a tie for fifth in field goals (17). Baron, who had a 50-yard field goal in three consecutive games from Sept. 8-22, which was tied for the third-longest streak since 1996, was named the Mountain West Special Teams Player of the Week five times in 12 chances, tied for the most in a season in league history. He garnered second-team all-MW honors for his efforts, and picked up three awards at SDSU's postseason banquet, including the Special Teams Player of the Year, the Most Inspirational Player (with Lakalaka) and a recipient of the Dr. R. Hardy/C.E. Peterson Memorial Trophy.
Pope, meanwhile, was the only Aztec to start all 13 games on a battered offensive line in 2018. Pope started the first 10 at right tackle, before moving to left tackle the final three games of the campaign. Pope joined Baron on the all-Mountain West second team, marking the first time he made the postseason all-conference team.
The quartet helped SDSU finish 7-6 for its ninth straight winning season. San Diego State had a six-game winning streak earlier in the season, making it one of five programs (also Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State and Oklahoma) to record at least a six-game winning streak in three straight years. The Aztecs are one of only 14 schools to play in a bowl game in nine straight seasons (2010-18) and one of only two schools from a Group of 5 conference.