Preston Ross Bankhead

OBITUARY

Preston Ross Bankhead entered his eternal life on Sunday, August 4, 2024. A Celebration of his Life will be held on Saturday, August 24, 2024, at 11:00 a.m. at Chollas View UMC 904 47th Street, San Diego, CA.

San Diego State running back Kenan Christon’s ankle injury is more severe than originally believed.

Christon will not only miss the Aug. 31 season opener against Texas A&M-Commerce but could be sidelined until midseason.

Christon had surgery this week on the ankle and is expected to be out 6-8 weeks, according to sources.

A six-week recovery would put Christon back on the field in time for SDSU’s fifth game of the season, an Oct. 5 home game against Hawaii.

If he needs eight weeks to recover, Christon would return during the Aztecs’ second bye week and wouldn’t play until the seventh game, at home Oct. 26 against Washington State.

Christon was originally diagnosed with a high ankle sprain after being injured Aug. 10 when a defensive player rolled on his left foot in the first half of SDSU’s intrasquad scrimmage at Snapdragon Stadium. He left the field that day wearing a boot and on crutches.

Two days later, Christon was spotted at practice wearing a boot and using a scooter to keep his ankle elevated. He has not been seen since during the portions of practice open to the media, including Monday’s workout.

Practice is closed the remainder of the week. SDSU coach Sean Lewis will not be available for comment until Monday of next week.

Christon, who starred in football and track and field at Madison High School, was second on the Aztecs in rushing last season with 378 yards.

He is SDSU’s top returning pass catcher after totaling 29 receptions for an additional 201 yards and also returned kicks for the Aztecs.

Injuries to Christon, junior Cam Davis and true freshman Cincere Rhaney means SDSU’s robust running backs room is down to three scholarship players.

Davis has been slowed by a leg injury. Rhaney is out for the season after having surgery for a torn ACL suffered during a summer workout.

The Aztecs remain solid at the position, however, led by graduate transfer Marquez Cooper, senior Jaylon Armstead and sophomore Lucky Sutton.

Cooper is the NCAA’s active career rushing leader after back-to-back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons. Armstead and Sutton combined for more than 600 yards and 10 touchdowns a year ago.

Christon’s absence could open the door for Cooper to get more carries, although SDSU running backs coach Darian Hagan said during training camp two weeks ago that “you roll with the hot hand and sub accordingly.”

“Right now, it’s all by committee,” Hagan said. “Everybody gets a chance to go in there and show what you can do. … As long as you’re consistent. Consistency will outplay competition any day of the week.”

Watch lists

All of the preseason national watch lists have been announced and the Aztecs have nine players mentioned across seven lists.

Cooper appeared on both the Maxwell Award (best overall player) and Doak Walker Award (top running back) lists and Christen was included on the Paul Hornung Award (most versatile player) list.

Wide receiver Mekhi Shaw is a Wuerffel Trophy (community service combined with athletic and academic achievement) nominee.

Long snapper Ryan Wintermeyer is among those considered for the Patrick Mannelly Award (top long snapper).

Cornerback Bryce Phillips and defensive end Marlem Louis both were included on the East-West Shrine Bowl list.

The Polynesian Play of the Year list includes three Aztecs, defensive tackle Tupu Alualu, and offensive linemen Myles Murao and Ross Ulugalu-Maseuli.

Season ticket update

Just more than 9,600 season tickets have been sold with 10 days remaining before the 2024 season opener. That is fewer than 100 more than last week, when the Aztecs reported 9,535 in season ticket sales.

SDSU had surpassed its goal of 9,300 season-ticket sales, but it appears the Aztecs will fall short of matching last season’s total of 10,307.

Game week mode

SDSU moves into game week mode on Sunday, when the countdown begins to the program’s 102nd season opener. The Aztecs will have Mondays off, then follow a morning practice routine during the week, just as they did during training camp. Practice time will move from mid-morning to early morning, concluding by 11 a.m.

When camp opened, Lewis said: “I think it brings a really good continuity and consistency to the kids’ schedules. We’re able to get them up, get them fed, go through the majority of all of our mandatory football activities.

“Then make sure that they’re pointed in the right direction to go be great  citizens and achieve great things on campus.”

Originally Published: August 21, 2024 at 5:22 p.m.

Diesel Taylor hasn’t yet played a minute of official high school football in California.

But clearly the word has already gotten out about Del Norte’s new quarterback, an intriguing senior transfer from Perry (AZ).

Fans have voted Taylor the top quarterback in the CIF-San Diego Section entering the 2024 California high school football season, and they did it with oomph. Taylor received 3,145 votes to collect 91.1-percent of the votes.

MORE – SAN DIEGO SECTION PLAYER RANKINGS: Top breakout candidates | Top quarterbacks | Top running backs | Top receivers | Top defensive linemen | Top linebackers | Top defensive backs |Top special teams players | Top 20 out-of-section games | Top 25 regular season game

Starring for one of Arizona’s better teams in 2023, Taylor threw for 2,296 yards and 29 touchdowns against eight interceptions, completing 58.2-percent (178-306) of his passes, and also ran for 110 yards and two more touchdowns.

And there’s plenty of reason to believe that he’s only scratched the surface. Taylor is 6-5 with serious downfield arm strength, so if he parlays a very good junior season into an amazing senior season, he’ll be impossible for scouts to miss. Especially joining the defending CIF-SDS Division 2 champion.

Another compelling characteristic of Taylor is his knack for producing against top opponents. All four of Perry’s losses last season came against powerhouses well within Arizona’s top 10 teams and arguably within the nation’s top 100 – Basha, Hamilton, Chandler, and Saguaro. Despite losing, Perry managed at least 27 points in three of those four games thanks in large part to strong showings from Taylor, especially a season-high 406-passing yard effort in the Pumas’ 59-34 loss to Hamilton.

Del Norte went 11-3 last season and won its first CIF-SDS title last year, which was its first under head coach Nick Barnett, who played 11 years in the NFL as a linebacker. Despite graduating many of their top players and losing star receiver Ty Olsen to Lincoln via transfer, the Nighthawks may well be ready to build on last season’s success.

They come in ranked 11th in SBLive’s preseason San Diego Section countdown, and pair Taylor with one of the section’s top returning running back tandems in Ryan Remigio and Anthony Mattar. Del Norte’s defense was arguably its strongest suit last year, and while it graduated most of its core on that end as well, we could see another staunch Nighthawks defense with defensive backs Kaden Barnett and Charlie Bowers and defensive lineman Marcus Hernandez back as seniors.

Del Norte opens the season on Friday at Point Loma.