The Preps / Scott Howard-Cooper : Bonds Forgoes Baseball to Play Football at UCLA

It wasn’t as though Jim Bonds of Newhall Hart called a quarterback sneak, but it was a pretty good audible.

Last week, the No. 1 quarterback prospect in California said that he would probably end up choosing between USC and UCLA, although he would take a recruiting trip to Arizona anyway. He also made it clear that one of the hometown schools had a slight edge.

“Both will probably start junior quarterbacks next year, so playing time and the sitting-on-the-bench factor will probably be the same,” Bonds said. “I have a chance to play baseball at USC if I want, but not at UCLA, so that could be a big plus for USC.

“Basically, Terry Donahue said it’s impossible for a quarterback to come in and learn the system and play baseball in the spring. . . . I was just happy he was recruiting me, so I’m not about to make any demands.”

He still wasn’t making any demands Monday after returning from Tucson. But he did make a commitment--to UCLA and life without baseball.

“Jimmy told Donahue on the phone last night that he would attend UCLA,” Hart Coach Rick Scott said Monday. “I think he looked at depth at his position and saw that his best chance was at UCLA.”

Hart retired jersey No. 7 at its recent awards banquet in honor of Jim and Tom Bonds, the brothers who quarterbacked the Indians to their only two conference titles.

Jim, an All-Southern Section choice and the Northwestern Conference player of the year, will graduate in June. He threw for 3,225 yards last season, the second-best single-season mark in Southern Section history. In 1983, the school won the Coastal title with Tom, who will be a senior at Cal Lutheran in the fall.

Another highly touted quarterback, Ken Sollom of Canyon Country Canyon, the Coastal Conference co-player of the year, just returned from Purdue and will be at USC this weekend. He has already been to Michigan and Oregon State and figures to choose between the Boilermakers and the Beavers.

The Trojans hit the quarterback jackpot last season by signing Pat O’Hara of Santa Monica and Shane Foley of Newport Beach Newport Harbor, two of the top prospects in the state, in addition to Jason Schmidof Saddleback, the 1985 California community college player of the year. Schmid, however, has left USC and returned to Saddleback, where he has no eligibility left.

UCLA has a very good shot at signing Matt Darby of Virginia Beach, Va., rated as the No. 2 prospect in the country by the National High School Football Recruiting Service and a USA Today and Parade All-American.

Darby, who at 6-2 and 187 pounds played linebacker at Green Run High and is projected as a defensive back in college, has also visited Tennessee, North Carolina and, last weekend, Virginia.

It could come down to a decision between staying in the home state or returning to California. Darby was born in San Diego and still has relatives there. The UCLA trip, however, marked his first time in Southern California since he was 2.

“A lot of people want me to stay home so they can watch me play,” Darby said. “But I’ll see how I feel at Virginia, whether I feel more comfortable there than UCLA. Basically, all the schools are the same academically.

“I liked the atmosphere and the place (Los Angeles) in general. I got a real good feeling when I was there.”

His coach, Tom Rhoades, compares Darby to another former student--Kenny Easley, who starred for UCLA before going to the NFL.

Recruiting notebook: Lineman Tom Lasalette of West Covina, an All-Eastern Conference pick, announced Monday that he will play for UCLA. . . . Washington continued its raid on Southern California by getting a commitment from lineman Terrance Powe of Wilmington Banning. This after already getting the nod from defensive back Eugene Burkhalter of Long Beach Poly and linebacker Corey Brown of Inglewood Morningside, giving the Huskies three of the best defensive players in California. Last year, the Huskies picked up another standout, defensive lineman, Dennis Brown of Long Beach Jordan.

Banning defensive back Marvin Pollard was at USC last weekend, will visit Arizona State Friday and then figures to decide between the two. . . . Wide receiver Paul Richardson of L.A. University, the City 2-A co-player of the year, also visited USC and will finish with a trip to Hawaii. He has already been to Washington, California and UCLA. . . . Brian Kelly of South Torrance, one of the top offensive line prospects in the country, visited Arizona State over the weekend.

Four players from the Pasadena Muir team that went undefeated and won the Coastal Conference championship were at Hawaii--running back Ricky Ervins, quarterback Vince Phillips, defensive back Marcus Robertson and linebacker Tony Crutchfield.

“If we don’t play on the same team in college, we might as well take a trip together,” Ervins said.

But two of them, at least, could end up together. Phillips, the Coastal co-player of the year, and Ervins are both looking at USC.

Tight end Frank Jacobs of Newport, Ky., one of the top prospects from that state, arrived at UCLA Saturday. He has already been to Notre Dame, Kentucky and Boston College and will make his final visit next weekend to Penn State. Boston College has already been dropped from his consideration. . . . Receiver Patrick Rowe of San Diego Lincoln also visited UCLA. . . . Linebacker-fullback Erick Anderson, one of the top prospects in Illinois, said he will attend Michigan. He had visited UCLA last month.

Prep Notes The Los Angeles chapter of the National Football Foundation will hold its banquet, honoring 17 area players with a grade-point average of 3.24 or better, Thursday at the Sportsmen’s Lodge in Studio City. Dan Devine, a former college and pro coach, will be the speaker and Jayne Kennedy will present the awards. For more information, call (213) 472-0928.