San Diego State guard Elzie Harrington undergoes lower leg surgery

Aztecs expect him back sometime in the fall

San Diego State Aztecs guard Elzie Harrington (3). | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Guard Elzie Harrington, the lone returning starter with the San Diego State Aztecs, has had surgery on a lower leg injury that sidelined him during crucial portions of last season. 

The school confirmed the surgery but offered no specifics, just as it never provided specifics after the injury first popped up midway through last season. Harrington moved into the starting lineup six games into his freshman year, but then missed six games during the heart of the Mountain West schedule, as the Aztecs moved on and off the NCAA Tournament bubble. He missed the regular-season finale plus all three games in the MW Tournament. 

There doesn’t appear to be a hard and fast timetable for when Harrington will return to workouts. He is the only starter returning from a team that failed to live up to preseason expectations and missed the NCAA Tournament for the first time in six seasons. 

What coach Brian Dutcher said

“The surgery went well, and he’s on the rehab train now,” coach Brian Dutcher told the San Diego Union-Tribune. “Hopefully that goes well and he’s back to full strength and full go in a couple months.”

Summer workouts begin in July, but Dutcher told the newspaper that Harrington probably won’t do live workouts in the summer and the expectation is that he’ll return by fall. 

“Once he starts to rehab and he starts hitting markers, then that will determine how quickly he’ll get back to full strength,” Dutcher told the Union-Tribune. 

Without knowing specifics of the injury and the surgery, it’s hard for fans and others to know what to really expect.

Big man Magoon Gwath had arthroscopic surgery on his right knee in late April 2025 and didn’t return until the third game last season. Gwath also missed time during the season that overlapped with Harrington’s injury absence, and failed to replicate his breakthrough freshman season. Gwath was one of six players to hit the transfer portal and signed with DePaul. 

Why this matters

Harrington, a 6-foot-5 guard from Long Beach, is one of the few key returnees from last year’s squad that finished 22-11 after losing to Utah State in the MW tourney title game and missing out on an NCAA bid. 

He was fifth in scoring at 8 points per game and fourth with 2.3 assists, in 21.1 minutes. 

Also back is forward Tae Simmons, who played in 32 games and made three starts,  and guard Latrell Davis. Davis redshirted last year and was so impressive in practice that Dutcher said the Aztecs would have been an NCAA team had he been on the active roster. 

Dutcher has rebuilt the roster by tapping into the European market for three players, as well as working the transfer portal. 

The Aztecs move into the reconfigured Pac-12 starting July 1.