COLLEGE FOOTBALL REPORT : WEEKDAY UPDATE : SAN DIEGO STATE : Four Aztecs Named to All-WAC Squad

Quarterback Dan McGwire, receivers Patrick Rowe and Dennis Arey and offensive tackle Nick Subis on Tuesday were named to the 1990 all-Western Athletic Conference football team, selected by conference coaches and athletic directors.

The four players were the most Aztecs selected since 1986, when SDSU also had four players picked.

Four offensive backs named to the first team, including two quarterbacks--McGwire and Brigham Young’s Ty Detmer.

“When you produce like we produced, you’re going to have all-conference players,” Coach Al Luginbill said. “Our goal is an equal amount on both sides (offense and defense) every year. You get four and five defensive players picked and you will be playing for the WAC championship.”

The Aztecs had no defensive players on the first two teams. Offensive tackle Tony Nichols and kicker Andy Trakas were selected to the second team, and defensive end Pio Sagapolutele and running back Larry Maxey received honorable mention.

Trakas has been hidden in the background this year, overshadowed by McGwire, Rowe and whatever other flavor of the week the Aztec offense has had to offer.

He had the spotlight Tuesday afternoon as he spoke to the Coaches’ Connection, a group of Aztec boosters who meet for lunch each week when the Aztecs are home. He had a couple of good lines Tuesday:

--On the stereotype of kickers being loners: “I was going to investigate kickers being loners. I went to a kicking camp, and 85 to 90% of the kickers were really weird. There are some bizarre, weird guys.”

--On whether soccer or football is his first love: “Soccer is my first love. Football is my greatest challenge, that’s why I love it. But soccer . . . I could take the garbage out with my feet.”

Trakas has 83 points this season, first in the WAC and eighth in the nation. He leads the WAC in field goals per game (1.44) and has made eight in a row.

He also has become the Aztec’s career kick scoring leader this season. He has 169 points, fifth on the Aztec all-time list.

Former Aztec quarterback Todd Santos, who still holds the all-time NCAA record for passing yardage, has signed with the World League of American Football. The league is signing players, who later will be drafted by WLAF teams. The season is scheduled to begin this spring. . . . Receivers Rowe, Arey and Jimmy Raye were scheduled to do a television interview after practice Tuesday, but first, Arey and Raye were ambushed--a group of linebackers dragged each of them through the mud after practice. Arey and Raye, laughing and covered with mud, still went on. Rowe stayed clean. His trick? “I hid,” he said. . . . Luginbill on SDSU’s defense: “We’re going to be younger next year than we are this year. We’re going to be better, too.”