D.J. pumped to carry Aztecs’ hopes

If The Play was not preserved on YouTube, it merely would be the stuff of local youth football legend.

As it stands, you could watch the highlights of hundreds of kids in their formative football years and probably see nothing like it. And if you see it just once, you’ll probably watch it again and again.

“To this day, I still have people come up and tell me that it’s one of the all-time youth football plays,” said Phil Lomax.

That would be people still raving about it 11 years later. Lomax had the good fortune to be a coach for the Mira Mesa Chargers of American Youth Football at the time that little D.J. Pumphrey, now San Diego State’s star running back, pulled off The Play on a Saturday afternoon.

The Mighty Mite Chargers were locked in a tight, high-scoring game against Valencia Park. They had the ball and were driving when the pass of the Chargers quarterback came up well short of his intended target, Pumphrey.

A defender snagged an interception and began to race downfield. Pumphrey, starting about 4 yards behind, jetted after the kid. Seventeen yards later he caught him. In a couple more steps he reached in and ripped the ball away.

Then, as if he’d taken a handoff, D.J. motored down the opposite way, outrunning all defenders in a 67-yard sprint for the most unlikely reversal-of-fortune TD.

It was the comically savvy play of someone with a precocious football IQ and the desire of, well, no other 8-year-old.

“That’s the ultimate example of what he’s capable of doing,” said Trey Lomax, a teammate of Pumphrey’s on the Chargers and now as a redshirt freshman safety at SDSU. “At any time, any moment, he can make a play like that.”

Aztecs coaches came to recognize that early in camp last fall. There was something extraordinary about the way Pumphrey could seemingly be moving sideways, nearly stopped one moment and then bursting forward the next.

“He has the kind of elusiveness and speed that he can take a play that might be a very minimal gain and turn it into a big gain,” Aztecs head coach Rocky Long said.

When starter Adam Muema was slowed in late September by injuries, SDSU gave the ball to the true freshman Pumphrey, who ran like few first-year players in SDSU history.

Despite starting only one game, Pumphrey accumulated 752 yards and eight touchdowns running while getting 234 yards and two TDs receiving. His 6.02 yards-per-carry average was second all-time to only one Aztecs freshman – NFL Hall of Famer Marshall Faulk.

With Muema leaving a year early, there are enormous expectations for the 19-year-old Pumphrey. He will be the featured back this year, though because of his smaller size (5-feet-9, 174 pounds) he’s not expected to carry the ball more than about 20 times per game.

He can do a lot of damage at that number. His season high for carries last season was 19 against New Mexico State, and Pumphrey ran for 167 yards and three touchdowns.

“We’re going to have a 1,000-yard runner if Pumphrey stays healthy,” Aztecs offensive coordinator Bob Toledo said. “He’s got to be our horse. He’s going to carry and catch the ball.”

Those who watched and coached Pumphrey through his childhood have no worries about him carrying whatever load is required. He loves football so much, they say, he’d be on the field for every play if he could.

In fact, in his junior year at Canyon Springs High in Las Vegas, Pumphrey played tailback and safety and worked on all of the special teams units. He had to, because he also was the place-kicker and punter.

“I’ve played with and coached some talented people in my life, and D.J. is one of the most amazing kids I’ve had a chance to see,” said Canyon Springs head coach Hunkie Cooper.

Cooper played at UNLV under current Aztecs running backs coach Jeff Horton and went on to be an Arena League star. To Horton, Cooper lauded Pumphrey’s work ethic, film study, good nature and toughness.

Once Horton saw Pumphrey, he held his breath, hoping that bigger-name schools would shy away from him because of his size. That’s exactly what happened.

“A player is a player, and you could tell he was a player,” Horton said. “He understands football. He picks up things quick. He works his tail off. He knows one speed, and he goes and goes.”

In the months since the Aztecs’ season ended with a win in their fourth straight bowl appearance, Pumphrey has toiled to make himself better. He worked out ferociously, put on muscle and studied film. Two seniors, quarterback Quinn Kaehler and receiver Ezell Ruffin, were often by his side.

“I’ve always looked up to a lot of older guys,” Pumphrey said. “I’ve watched them work hard and get to where they are. And I just did the same thing. I want to be the best.”

There is a worldliness to Pumphrey that comes with making some hard choices and sacrifices.

He grew up with his father, Donnell Pumphrey Sr., watching intently, but not living with the family. His mother, Regina Padua, grew up in San Diego, but as a single mom with three kids, she opted to move to Las Vegas for better work opportunities.

D.J. lived at times in San Diego with his uncle, Gino Padua, while he played youth football, but decided to move to his mother's apartment in North Las Vegas for high school so she could watch him play.

“I believe that any negative thing that did cross his way, it was football that saved him,” Gino Padua said. “Nobody can touch him on the football field, and that’s where he belongs.”

In November two years ago, it was Senior Night at Canyon Springs High. At about the time Pumphrey was walking to the center of the field to be recognized, he was becoming a dad at the age of 17. His daughter Maliya was born that night.

“There were tears in his eyes,” Cooper recalled. “Tears of joy, I think. I told him, ‘Now you’ve got something to live for.’ He’s committed his life now. Athletically and socially, he’s got to make great choices.”

Pumphrey and the girl’s mother aren’t together, but he sees Maliya on school breaks, and she’s there at SDSU home games with D.J.’s family.

“I enjoy being with her, giving her hugs and kisses,” Pumphrey said, breaking into a wide smile. “I like to watch her run because she’s speedy. Hopefully, she’s a track star.”

Of course, there are responsibilities and pressures that many of Pumphrey’s Aztecs teammates cannot yet fathom.

“It’s matured me way fast,” Pumphrey said. “It’s a big responsibility. It makes me want to get after it that much more.”

Get after it. As The Play proved years ago, Pumphrey’s got that in his repertoire.