Preciado, Shults Leave the Aztecs

Marcus Preciado, a dimeback who played mainly on special teams at San Diego State, and Bob Shults, a reserve offensive lineman last season, will not return to the Aztec football team, Coach Al Luginbill said Tuesday.

Preciado, who made the team as a walk-on freshman in 1990 and even started at free safety that year at UCLA, suffered a cartilage tear and a meniscus tear in his left knee and missed most of the 1991 season. The injury, combined with what SDSU trainer Brian Barry called “ligament instability,” made it too difficult for Preciado to return.

“It’s to the point now where it would be a serious enough injury--whether or not he had surgery--that he would not be able to function in Division I football,” Barry said.

Shults, Luginbill said, wants to play football at a lower division and will transfer to UC Davis. Shults, a sophomore, played mainly at center last fall.