Glover Retires

The signing of La'Roi Glover ushered in a new era at San Diego State, where the fierce defensive players would come from high schools, not junior colleges or four-year college transfers. Glover is the second athlete of his surname to make news on this Monday as he retired from the Saint Louis Rams following 13 NFL seasons.

Glover recorded 83 and a half sacks in his career, which also included stints with the Dallas Cowboys and New Orleans Saints. His best years were in the Big Easy, where he led the league with 17 sacks in 2000, and had 10 sacks two seasons prior.

At Point Loma High School, Glover was a man among teenage boys, throwing opposing linemen out of the way so he could make a tackle. He was going to be a star wherever he went, so when wherever turned out to be San Diego State, it was something of a surprise. For years, SDSU struggled to keep elite high school players at home. They finally scored some breakthroughs in the 1980s, bringing in Helix QB Jim Plum, Lincoln WR Patrick Rowe and, in 1990, Kearny WR Darnay Scott.

Glover was different. He was a defensive player, and in 1992 the Aztecs under head coach Al Luginbill were desperate for defense. They were just beginning the Marshall Faulk hysteria. One of the reasons why Faulk scored so many touchdowns is the Aztecs needed every single one of them -- sometimes more. Bringing in Glover was a coup.

He was everything he was advertised to be. He started all four seasons, clogging the middle and chasing opposing passers. He still ranks third in SDSU history in career tackles for loss and fourth with 18 and a half sacks. While the defense worsened in terms of yardage allowed, it improved by a touchdown in points allowed per game over the Glover-era.

Glover toiled in anonymity at State, never winning All-American status and gaining first-team All-WAC only once. This for a guy who consistently held up his end. Might be the most overlooked player I can remember. He'd have had far greater acclaim if he'd gone to a Pac-10 school, but instead he chose to stay home and help build up SDSU football.

It nearly worked. Luginbill was an awesome recruiter and brought in a number of other top- flight defenders such as S Robert Griffith and CB Ricky Parker, and successor Ted Tollner's staff showed they could make good use of the bounty with a pair of 8-win seasons once Glover had gone pro.

The era of elite defenders flocking to Montezuma Mesa was short-circuited when the "haves" of college football took it upon themselves to cut off the "have nots" by forming what eventually became the BCS, and elite recruits of all positions no longer considered attending SDSU nor other WAC schools. Under those conditions, there is no way Glover would have stayed home. A little illustration of the travesty the BCS has been for college football.

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What would the odds have been before spring training that here in late-June Kevin Correia would be the Padres best starting pitcher? Yes, of course, if Jake Peavy and Chris Young are on the disabled list as they are. But Correia is doing this legitmately -- he's dealing. Over the past three weeks, he's been by far the Padres best starter. In his last four outings, he's won three times with a 2.02 ERA and has allowed just 12 hits in 26-plus innings. Three of those starts were in the pitcher-friendly confines of Petco, though he won the other with a superb performance in LA.