San Diego State offensive lineman Joe Borjon was all set to be the team\u2019s starting left tackle two years ago when he suffered a season-ending knee injury in the first half of the season\u2019s first game.<\/p>\n
Chrtistian Jones replaced Borjon at left tackle and stayed there last season, with Borjon starting at right tackle when he returned to the lineup. Jones has graduated and Borjon is finally back where he began.<\/p>\n
Expectations were tempered a year ago with Borjon returning from such a serious injury. This year is different for the 6-foot-8, 340-pound senior from La Puente.<\/p>\n
Borjon has everyone looking up to him, literally and figuratively, this season as he moves closer to realizing the potential the Aztecs saw when they plucked Borjon from the transfer portal out of Arizona. Among those he is mentoring in the offensive line room is younger brother Brian, a 6-6, 285-pound true freshman from Bishop Amat High School.<\/p>\n
Big brother Joe was recently included on the Senior Bowl Top 300 list, which includes players \u201cviewed among the nation\u2019s premier NFL Draft prospects.\u201d The list includes only draft-eligible players.<\/p>\n
The Union-Tribune talked to Borjon as SDSU prepares for its Sept. 5 opener against Portland State:<\/p>\n
Where have you grown the most as a player since this time last year?<\/p>\n
A: I would say leadership-wise. Last year I was coming off an injury and I wasn\u2019t the most vocal. Trying to be a leader off the field is kind of hard when you\u2019re not doing the running and doing the practice that everybody else is doing. You can\u2019t really get on them about expectations when you\u2019re not doing it.<\/p>\n
How does this year\u2019s offensive line realize last year\u2019s success after losing three starters?<\/p>\n
A:\u00a0Through team bonding and getting to know one another. We were very close last year with all those guys. Being able to work hard and put each foot ahead each day. We had a great O-line. Copying that is going to be really hard, but I think we can do it.<\/p>\n
Coach Sean Lewis talks about a blue-collar mentality. What does that actually look like on the field?<\/p>\n
A:\u00a0Nasty. A bunch of people in the dirt and running the ball. That\u2019s what we did last year. We ran the ball hard and it opens up the passing, and we\u2019ve got great receivers this year to open up the run game.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s something you take on as a leader this year that wasn\u2019t your responsibility last year?<\/p>\n
A:\u00a0Showing up each day. Showing out. On runs, being out front (of the other linemen). Showing guys what the standard is and how high of a level we\u2019ve got to get to and where we want to be. Kalan (Ellis) and I, being the only returning starters, we have to show what the standard is because all these new guys coming in don\u2019t know what it is. Coach Lewis said there are (60) new guys in this year and they don\u2019t know the culture until we show them.<\/p>\n
What is a talent you have that people would be surprised to know?<\/p>\n
A: Baseball. I pitched and played third base. I had a mid-80s fastball. I love baseball. If you ever see me out on the town, it\u2019s most likely going to be at a Padres game, just because I love the game. (Padres first baseman) Ty France is the guy I like to watch. He\u2019s an Aztec, and he\u2019s from my hometown.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"San Diego State offensive lineman Joe Borjon was all set to be the team\u2019s starting left tackle two…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":445514,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[1327,181,74,76,75,305,127],"class_list":["post-445513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-college-sports","tag-latest-headlines","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-sdsu-aztecs","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=445513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445513\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/445514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=445513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=445513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=445513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}