As with any son worth his salt, Jeff Webb's first order of business each day is to call his mother.
His second is to remind Lein Webb that with his hands – the ones that have produced more catches than any receiver in the Mountain West Conference this season – he is shaping her future.
JIM BAIRD / Union-Tribune
SDSU receiver Jeff Webb eludes a defender during the Aztecs' rout of BYU. Webb is on pace to finish the 2005 season with 91 catches.
|
"I've always said that the first (NFL) check I get is going to my mother," said Webb, a senior wide receiver at San Diego State. "I want to get her out of Pontiac (Mich.) and let her be able to live wherever she wants. She's always been such a big inspiration in my life. She's the one that has shown me the way, and I want to be able to pay her back."
That day may not be far away.
In a conference teeming with talented receivers, Webb has jumped to the fore. In consecutive weeks, the three-year starter has finished with more than 100 yards while moving into fourth place on the school's career receptions list.
In last week's 31-10 win over BYU, the 6-foot-2, 200-pound Webb caught a career-high 13 passes for 129 yards.
That performance came on the heels of an eight-catch, 133-yard outing against San Jose State in which he caught a 33-yard touchdown pass and eclipsed the 100-yard mark with more than two minutes left in the first half.
"Jeff is a great receiver in a league where there are probably half a dozen great receivers," said Aztecs coach Tom Craft. "We're not going to be a team that says, 'Hey, we need to get him the ball 10 or 15 times a game,' because we've had other players step up who have been able to prevent the defense from taking (Webb) out of the game.
"It's important that we move him around. We'll create half a dozen touches for him, but the rest of it has to come as the game unfolds. We're not going to just try and force it to him."
In the past two weeks, the Aztecs haven't had to. Neither San Jose State nor BYU possessed players remotely capable of matching up with Webb, who averaged 16.6 yards per catch against the Spartans and nearly 10 against the Cougars.
Webb, who heads into Saturday's game at UNLV averaging a conference-best 7.6 catches and 88.4 yards per game, has caught a pass in 26 consecutive games and at least three in 21 straight. His total numbers this season: 38 catches for 442 yards and two touchdowns.
"He's been dominating," said SDSU quarterback Kevin O'Connell. "A lot of people don't realize it, but teams are game-planning to try to keep him contained. And if they do that, we're going to throw it to Chaz (Schilens) or Rob (Ortiz) and things will open up and Jeff will get his catches.
"But (Webb) has just been dominant. He's playing the way everyone envisioned he would. People are trying to do things defensively to frustrate him a little bit, and I know as we go along in the conference that there are going to be some (defensive) coordinators who are going to try to do that even more. But we've got some things up our sleeve, too. We'll be just fine."
A native of Pontiac, Mich., Webb moved to California in the eighth grade to live with his father, Jeffrey Smith, a police officer in Palm Springs.
The younger Webb was a standout at La Quinta High, earning All-CIF Southern Section honors with 74 catches for 1,405 yards and 12 touchdowns as a senior.
Simultaneously, he also was revered for his basketball skills, competing on AAU and travel teams before his father suggested he concentrate on football and academics during his senior year.
A shooting guard, Webb still plays pickup games against the likes of SDSU's Brandon Heath and Marcus Slaughter, and routinely reminds people to let men's basketball coach Steve Fisher know he's available for duty.
"I'm from Michigan (where Fisher won a national title), so he knows that I can play," Webb said with a laugh. "I'll go out there and shoot a couple of jumpers anytime for Coach Fish. I tell Brandon (Heath) every day that I can beat him one-on-one. Any time he wants to go, I'll be ready for him."
In the interim, Webb will stick to what he does best. Ranked eighth on SDSU's career receiving yards list with 2,223, he is the 11th player in school history to reach the 2,000-yard mark. He is also the seventh player to record more than 150 receptions while exceeding 2,000 yards. He has eight career games of 100 yards or more.
"I'm very comfortable right now," he said. "When I'm out there, the game just seems to slow down when I'm running routes and reading coverages.
"But I'm not thinking about (statistics). I've talked to too many people who were here before me who did the same thing and never got to a bowl game. Coach Craft tells us not to get caught up in looking at the future or thinking about bowl games, but if you're a senior that's hard to do. All you can do is look forward to winning every game."
And perhaps, one day, providing mom with everything she ever wanted.
Allen honored
A day after being named the Mountain West Defensive Player of the Week, SDSU redshirt freshman linebacker Russell Allen (Vista High) called the honor a team effort.
Allen posted a career-high 10 tackles against BYU while helping limit the conference's top-ranked offense to just 10 points and 305 total yards. The Cougars had been averaging 32.7 points and 461 yards.
"Obviously, they're not going to give the award to an individual if the entire team doesn't play well, and I think we did that," Allen said. "I feel very honored to be recognized."
Extra points
Sophomore offensive right tackle Mike Kravetz (ankle) is trying to win his job back after missing the last four games. Craft said he was very impressed with the play of sophomore Will Robinson, who against BYU made his first start of the season in place of Kravetz . . . Craft said he anticipates the return this week of tight end Lance Louis, who missed the BYU game after suffering a sprained ankle.
Mick McGrane: (619) 293-1850; mick.mcgrane@uniontrib.com
