San Diego State wide receiver DeMarco Sampson is getting a second chance – again.
Sampson, whose career has been beset by a seemingly endless string of academic issues and injuries, has been cleared to play after missing all but a week of fall camp due to academics.
Arguably the team's most explosive player, Sampson worked with the scout team last night as the Aztecs continued preparations for their season opener Saturday against Cal Poly.
“For these guys to be out here without me hurt a lot,” Sampson said. “They were out here fighting for me the whole time and I really wasn't fighting for them. I did feel like I let them down.”
Sampson, a 6-foot-2, 210-pound junior, has largely been an enigma since arriving from Castle Park as a decorated high school player in 2004. After failing to qualify as an incoming freshman, Sampson played in all 12 games in 2005, catching six passes for 60 yards and a touchdown. He has not been heard from since, having been sidelined with a foot injury that forced him to miss the 2006 and '07 seasons.
Sampson declared himself ready to begin anew during spring drills in April, but instead found himself trying to recover academically when SDSU opened fall camp Aug. 5.
“It's hard to say,” coach Chuck Long said when asked how soon Sampson might figure into the offense. “It's how quickly he can pick things up in our offense. . . . He's going to have to work to catch up.”
In doing so, he'll have to work his way past a group of receivers that spent the entire summer and a nearly a month of camp attempting to get on the same wavelength with redshirt freshman quarterback Ryan Lindley.
Tickets to military
SDSU is donating 5,000 tickets to local active military and their families. The university has distributed tickets to three local military agencies, including the San Diego Armed Services YMCA, the Camp Pendleton Armed Services YMCA and the MCCS Department at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar.
Extra points
Long said an announcement on the team's starting kicker will be made today. . . . Senior defensive tackle
Siaosi Fafita, who has been sidelined with a knee problem, will not play against Cal Poly.
Mick McGrane: (619) 293-1850; mick.mcgrane@uniontrib.com
