Valley College Kicker Harper to Play at Colorado

He was hampered by a leg injury during most of the 1989 football season, but Valley College kicker Jim Harper will sign a letter of intent with Colorado today.

Harper heads a list of five local junior college players who are expected to sign on the first day of the national signing period.

The others are Valley teammate Chaka Milby and the Glendale trio of Damon Hinton, Broderick Jenkins and Steve Ruedaflores.

Milby, a 6-foot-4, 229-pound linebacker from Cleveland High, said that he will play at Weber State College in Ogden, Utah. Offensive lineman Jenkins (6-3, 252) will sign with San Jose State, according to Glendale Coach John Cicuto.

Cicuto said that Hinton (6-4, 245), an All-Western State Conference Northern Division defensive lineman, and Ruedaflores (5-11, 220), an outside linebacker, will sign with Cal State Long Beach.

Harper, who made 28 of 29 extra-point attempts and 12 of 17 field-goal attempts as a freshman, had narrowed his choices to Colorado, USC and Long Beach.

“SC decided at the last moment not to go after a kicker this year,” said Harper, who had a troublesome thigh bruise last season. “So I didn’t have to make a choice between them and Colorado.”