BYU’s 6-9 Pollard Apparently Will Transfer to USC

Alan Pollard, a 6-9 sophomore basketball forward from Brigham Young University, apparently will transfer to USC and be eligible to play for the Trojans after sitting out one season.

USC Coach George Raveling declined to discuss Pollard’s situation Wednesday, but BYU announced Tuesday that Pollard is leaving, and Coach Ladell Andersen commented on it Wednesday.

“He came to me last Thursday and said he was considering transferring,” Andersen said. “Of course, we spent a lot of time telling him what a mistake it is to transfer. Most of the time, it doesn’t work out.

“But it fell on deaf ears because on Tuesday he told us that he’d definitely made a decision to transfer but he didn’t mention any place. However, he did say to my assistant that he was not considering anyplace in-state but that he was considering Southern California.”

Asked to comment on reports that Pollard will enroll at USC, Raveling declined.

“I don’t have any comment on it because I’m not sure what’s going on myself,” Raveling said. “I’ve only talked to their (BYU’s) athletic director.”

Anderson, however, said that he talked to Raveling Wednesday morning about Pollard.

“George Raveling and I go back a long ways, so I made a call to George this morning and we talked for a while regarding the total situation,” Andersen said.

“George told me that what he had done was when he received word from the parents, Mr. and Mrs. Pollard, asking about the possibility, he simply told them the rules--that (Pollard) must first become cleared before (Raveling) could become involved at all in it.”

To avoid charges of tampering, USC would have had to obtain clearance from BYU to talk to Pollard. That apparently has been done.

“Any required communication with BYU is behind us,” USC Athletic Director Mike McGee said when asked about Pollard.

Pollard played for two years with the Cougars but apparently became dissatisfied with his playing time last season, even though Andersen said he averaged 25 minutes a game.

Said Raveling: “I certainly would consider him, but at this point that’s the only thing I can tell you.”

USC Notes

Trojan Coach George Raveling appears likely to gain another scholarship if sophomore Ron Young succeeds in being declared medically unable to play. Young, a 6-6, 200-pound forward from Glendale, suffers from a “chronic back problem,” according to Athletic Director Mike McGee. Young has appealed to the Pacific 10 for “medical discontinuation of competition,” McGee said. . . . Freshman forward Mike Canada, meanwhile, said he no longer is considering transferring out of USC. “I talked to Coach Raveling the other day, and he seemed to think that the only reason I should leave was if I didn’t think I could play here or I was unhappy,” Canada said Wednesday afternoon. “I want very much to play here and I think I’ll be able to.” . . . Former coach Stan Morrison, now an associate athletic director, denied a report in Wednesday’s Daily News that he is a strong candidate to fill the coaching vacancy at Stanford, saying that he has not been offered the job and has not talked to anyone there. He added, however, that he would listen to offers, from Stanford or elsewhere.