With the fall semester beginning next week, San Diego State tight end Kahale Warring and cornerback Garrett Binkley will no longer have to worry about their upcoming school expenses for the academic year.

Aztecs head coach Rocky Long gave his final scholarships available for the 2017 season to the two redshirt sophomore walkons on Tuesday.

"Those were the two we thought were most deserving," Long said.

On the field, Binkley and Warring couldn't look any more different in pads but share similar traits that Long looks to have on his team such as energy, effort and commitment.

"We give it because of what kind player they are, what kind of dedication they have to the team, how unselfish they are, what kind of student they are," he said. "All that enters into it and there was no doubt they were the most deserving of the reward."

Warring is listed at 6-foot-6, 245 pounds but didn't begin playing football until his senior year of high school.

Describing Warring - his full name is Kahale Kuio Kalani Michael Wodehouse Warring - as raw upon his arrival was an understatement. But over the past two years he has bulked up, improved his blocking and performed in practice like a legitimate receiving threat at tight end.

"He's still a novice out there," Long said. "He's big and strong but you can tell he hasn't played much football."

Entering this season, he has three potential all-conference players ahead of him in David Wells, Darryl Richardson and Parker Houston on the depth chart, but he could very well see a lot of action on Saturdays.

Binkley, on the other hand, is a 5-9, 170 pound corner. He has always been technically sound at his position but his size can limit his effectiveness at times.

Regardless, he's arguably the most competitive, pound-for-pound player on the defense and his consistency is always recognized by his peers.

This season, cornerbacks coach Tony White will likely have Binkley as the forth option at corner behind starters Kameron Kelly, Ron Smith and Kyree Woods.

"He's a really good player," Long said. "If he was six foot tall everyone would be saying he was a great player."

Long announced the news to Binkley and Warring during a private team meeting this week, going against the recent trend of schools uploading well-produced videos of scholarship announcements to the web.

He prefers to keep it simple.

"We dont feel it's neccessary to put it out on a website like most schools do. It's just a team thing for us,' said Long. "So we were in a team meeting yesterday and I just told them both to come up and all I had to say was 'read this.' I handed them a sheet of paper that said we were giving them a scholarship.

"The team and both of them were very excited, really excited. I'm happy for them."