With the announcement on Sept. 25 that the Mountain West Conference had rescinded its indefinite suspension of the 2020 college football season and would return to the playing field on Oct. 24, fans of San Diego State University had to be feeling a pigskin rush.
There will be fall football after all to cheer for.
The Alpine community has a direct link to the SDSU football program in former quarterback Ryan Lindley.
Lindley racked up 5,777 passing yards with 49 touchdowns his junior and senior years at El Capitan High School before embarking on a four-year playing career with the Aztecs that saw him log 12,690 yards with 90 touchdowns in 49 games and two bowl game appearances.
As a senior at El Capitan during the 2006 season, he passed for 3,521 yards with 35 touchdowns against seven interceptions.
The Vaqueros advanced to the San Diego Section playoffs his junior year, dropping a first-round game at Central Union, 20-16, and engaged St. Augustine High School in a high scoring 51-43 semifinal loss his senior year during which fans began to exit the stands at halftime due to the extremely low temperature.
Lindley threw for 458 yards with four touchdowns in the loss to St. Augustine. El Capitan concluded the 2006 season with an 11-1 record, including 4-0 in league play.
Lindley red-shirted his first year at SDSU but proceeded to light up scoreboards over the next four seasons.
His freshman season in 2008 proved to be a trial by fire as he passed for 2,653 yards with 16 touchdowns and nine interceptions as the Aztecs finished 2-10, including 1-7 in conference play.
He and his teammates made steady improvement from there.
Lindley passed for 3,054 yards with 23 touchdowns and 16 interceptions as SDSU finished 4-8 during his sophomore season in 2009.
He was in firm command of the offense his final two seasons at Montezuma Mesa.
Lindley passed for 3,830 yards with 28 touchdowns and 14 interceptions as the Aztecs finished the 2010 season with a 9-4 record in a major turnaround that saw the team land an appearance opposite Navy in the Poinsettia Bowl.
The Aztecs did not waste the opportunity as Lindley completed 18 of 23 passes for 276 yards with two touchdowns as SDSU downed the Midshipmen, 35-14, in front of 48,049 fans at Qualcomm Stadium.
The highlight reel game marked SDSU’s first appearance in a bowl game since the 1998 Las Vegas Bowl.
Lindley finished the 2010 season with a 149.4 quarterback rating — the highest in his college career.
The El Capitan alum led the Aztecs to an 8-5 record in 2011 that produced 3,135 passing yards, 23 touchdowns and eight interceptions. SDSU received a bid to the New Orleans Bowl but came up short, 32-30, on the field despite three TD passes by Lindley.
Lindley exited Montezuma Mesa with a career 128.8 passer rating. The Arizona Cardinals chose him in the sixth round of the 2012 NFL Draft and he made his first professional start later in the year on Nov. 25 against the St. Louis Rams.
He spent two seasons with the Cardinals, starting six of the nine games during he which he saw field action. He completed 89 of 171 passing attempts (52 percent) with no touchdowns and seven interceptions in six games his first year in Arizona and completed 45 of 93 passing attempts (48.4 percent) with 562 passing yards, two touchdowns and four picks his second season in 2014.
After being released by the Cardinals on Aug. 25, 2014, Lindley signed with the San Diego Chargers on Aug. 31 and was assigned to the team’s practice squad.
High School and San Diego State University before eventually navigating to the
NFL.
However, after a season-ending injury to Arizona starter Carson Palmer, the Cardinals resigned Lindley on Nov. 11.
He completed his first NFL touchdown to Michael Floyd in a Dec. 28 game against the San Francisco 49ers.
Lindley was back under center for a Jan. 5 NFL playoff game against the host Carolina Panthers. He was 16-of-28 passing for 82 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions as the Panthers prevailed by a 27-16 score.
The Cardinals posted just 78 yards in total offense, the fewest in NFL playoff history.
Lindley had two more shots at the NFL, signing with the New England Patriots during the 2015 preseason and appearing in one game with the Indianapolis Colts to cap the season.
He completed six of 10 passes for 58 yards with one touchdown in his final NFL game.
Lindley’s NFL career consisted of 10 games, a 1-5 record as a starter, 1,372 passing yards, three touchdowns and 11 interceptions and a 52.4 quarterback rating.
Lindley returned to the gridiron as an active player for the 2017 Canadian Football League season with the Ottawa Redblacks, appearing in 18 games with 391 passing yards, one touchdown, three interceptions and a 52.0 rating.
The former Vaquero and Aztec standout has since turned to coaching. He served as a graduate assistant coach at SDSU from 2017-18 and was later hired by the Cleveland Browns as a running backs coach in October 2018. In January 2019, Lindley was named the Browns quarterbacks coach.
He is now serving as an offensive analyst for the University of Utah.
