New Offensive Coordinator Sees Potential For SDSU Players To Be ‘Explosive' Next Season

By Editor, Times of San Diego

February 6, 2023

San Diego State football’s offensive coordinator has offered some insight into his take on his new role, while the team added another new player and hired a defensive line coach.

Lindley, who returned to the Aztecs when the offense was struggling in the fall, rose to become offensive coordinator upon Jeff Horton’s retirement.

“It’s a dream come true for me,” said the one-time SDSU quarterback. “I always wanted to come home, be back with the home team.”

Lindley, a four-year starter at San Diego State from 2008-11, set program passing records across several categories, including yards (12,690), touchdowns (90) and completions (961).

He calls himself a “transparent coach” and is firmly in the corner of Jalen Mayden, an inexperienced quarterback (at least at the college level) who nonetheless steadied a shaky Aztec offense in 2022. He deserves the chance to keep the job, Lindley said.

“Does that mean this is smooth sailing all the way into fall, week one for Moose?” he said of Mayden. “Absolutely not. He knows that. He knows he needs to work at it.”

He sees a lot of talent on the squad, guys who if given the chance “can be explosive.”

“At this point, it’s about us putting the guys in the right spots and giving them the ball,” he said.

Head coach Brady Hoke added Filimoeatu to his staff of assistants to coach the defensive line. The former Broyles Award nominee for the best assistant coach in college football, has seven years of collegiate experience, including five in the Mountain West. Last year at UNLV, Filimoeatu guided two of his charges, Adam Plant Jr. and Eliel Ehimare, to all-MW honors.

As a player, he was a two-year starting linebacker at Utah State. Filimoeatu graduated from Utah State in 2012 with an interdisciplinary studies degree with an emphasis in sociology and physical education.

Filimoeatu spent the 2014 season in the NFL with the Oakland Raiders, where he had eight tackles in eight games.

Kenneth Jiles Jr., out of Springfield, Ohio, has signed a Grant-in-Aid to join the program. Along with 18 others brought on during the early signing period and three recent FBS transfers, the Aztec signing class is now at 22.

Jiles Jr. comes to SDSU after spending one season at Hocking College in Nelsonville, Ohio, where he played in nine games in 2022, logging 17 tackles (12 solo), including three sacks and four tackles for loss. At Springfield High School in Ohio, he helped lead the program to a 13-2 record as a senior in 2021.

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