Young Aztec Rewarded for His Patience;Hillman Draws Comparisons to Marshall Faulk

For a year, Ronnie Hillman could do little but wait. He waited to return to San Diego State, waited for the day he would be allowed to step on the football field. Waited for another chance at another exam that would make him academically eligible. Waited on tables at Applebee's. And now that he's back, he's a young man in a rush. He rushed for 150 yards against New Mexico State, rushed for 228 yards at Missouri, rushed for 191 against Air Force.

San Diego State's 5-foot-10, 175-pound true freshman running back is seventh among major college running backs, averaging 130.8 rushing yards a game, and he's stirring talk in southern California that he is the next Marshall Faulk.

That's flattering, Hillman says, but insists: "I'm just expecting to contribute to my team."

Before he was the next Marshall Faulk, he was called the next Reggie Bush. Growing up in La Habra, Calif., he became a hot college football prospect.

Rocky Long, then head coach at New Mexico, was among those recruiting him.

"He was cool," Hillman says of Long. "I liked him. He was straightforward."

Still, Hillman committed to San Diego State. Then the Aztecs changed coaches and he decommitted. Then he met the new staff (which now included defensive coordinator Rocky Long), and he committed again.

However, his plans were derailed when he didn't qualify academically.

So it was off to live with his mom in Atlanta. It was off to waiting tables at Applebee's.

"It was an experience," he says. "I don't want to do that again."

What he wanted to do was play football.

"It was frustrating," the marketing student says, "but I had to get back. Now I'm here. It seems like it's all in the past. I don't like to go back."

In his first game with the Aztecs, he had a fumble that drew coach Brady Hoke's ire. Faulk told Hillman to keep his head up.

In his second game, Hillman and the Aztecs visited New Mexico State.

"That was a pretty good team," Hillman says of the Aggies. "It was a fight."

Yet, he ra n for fou r touchdowns.

"It wasn't what I did," Hillman says. "It was what my offensive line did for me."

Of Saturday's game against the Lobos, he says: "Their defensive front is pretty good, tough, aggressive. So are their linebackers."

In return, Lobo coach Mike Locksley says Hillman is "a big-play threat. He has that natural ability that great runners have - tremendous vision and the ability to hit the hole."

Hoke preaches patience to his young running back.

"He missed a couple of big opportunities on Saturday (against Air Force)," Hoke says. "But his patience is better. He's got a good burst and his patience is playing to his style of running."

Now Hillman understands about patience. Now he waits for an opening, and he rushes in.