Ex-Purdue Quarterback George Considering UCLA

Jeff George, the quarterback who announced that he would no longer attend Purdue under new Coach Fred Akers, was in West Lafayette, Ind., Friday, getting his release from the university to free him to play at another school, possibly UCLA.

The most widely recruited high school quarterback in the nation last year, George is still undecided about which football program to join, according to his mother.

Judy George said her son will choose from among UCLA, Miami (Fla.), Illinois and Iowa, the schools that George considered before choosing Purdue for his freshman season.

“Right now, we’re kind of on hold,” said Mrs. George in a telephone interview from the family home in Indianapolis. “We don’t want to raise anybody’s hopes falsely and we don’t want to ruin anybody either.”

George is interested in programs that feature passing games, said Mrs. George, who expects a quick decision by her son so he can enroll by the time the school’s next semester begins. UCLA’s new quarter began last Monday.

The NCAA transfer rules require that George must sit out a season before playing. He would then have three years of eligibility remaining. Mrs. George said that no school has the inside track, although she did admit that George attended a Miami football practice before the Hurricanes played in the Sunkist Fiesta Bowl last Friday.

“We were in Florida for a vacation, so we went, but it was a closed practice and we left,” she said. “That was it. If we had been in Pennsylvania on vacation, we could have gone to watch Penn State practice, too.”

UCLA, which was thought to be George’s second choice after Purdue a year ago, already has a transfer quarterback, Troy Aikman of Oklahoma, who is ready to play as a junior next season.