KIDS to WATCH : ANDY LINNEN

Andy Linnen’s size 11s chew up the turf as he runs a pass route on the football field at Edison High School.

Chuck Linnen, Andy’s father, works out the kinks and heaves a football deep . . . well, 20 yards or so. The old arm ain’t what it used to be.

Andy, 5 feet 7 and 130 pounds, settles under the pass, gracefully slowing those oversized-looking cleats. As the ball completes its approach, he extends his arms and catches it in his hands, then brings it to his chest, just as coaches like to teach.

“Look at those hands,” Chuck says. “And those feet. The doctors figure he’ll grow to 6-2.”

Andy is not just a big, young player. He is one of the best Jim Thurston, president of the Huntington Beach Pop Warner league, has seen in his seven years with the program. And Thurston has seen a lot of good ones, many of whom have gone on to make Edison (79-32-5 in the past 10 seasons) one of the county’s top programs.

It seems projections of greatness have started at an early age for Linnen, an eighth-grader at Sowers Middle School.

It figures. Chuck, a champion surfer as a kid in the 1960s, took Andy along when he was barely old enough to walk. They went to Trestles in San Clemente and the south side of the Huntington Beach Pier and the north shore of Oahu.

When Andy wanted to play baseball, basketball, football and soccer, Chuck said OK, even though he was leery about the contact in football.

Andy has played linebacker, strong safety, wide receiver and kicker for his Pop Warner team, the Cobras. Most games, he gains more than 100 yards receiving and leads the team in tackles and scoring. He has kicked a 40-yard field goal in practice and a 35-yarder in a game.

“I like (football’s) aggressiveness,” says Linnen, who will be a freshman at Edison next fall. “You’re always in the action.”