UCLA Quarterback Situation Up in Air : Football: Donahue says the position will be evaluated weekly. Decision on Saturday’s starter will be made in midweek.

Most football coaches prefer established players at every position, especially quarterback, and UCLA’s Terry Donahue is no different.

But in the wake of his team’s 34-14 loss to Oklahoma Saturday at the Rose Bowl, Donahue and his staff are reassessing the quarterbacks.

Jim Bonds, a junior, started for the first time Saturday after backing up Bret Johnson last year. He played with mixed results, completing eight of 14 passes for 69 yards and throwing two interceptions.

Tommy Maddox, a redshirt freshman playing in his first game, replaced Bonds midway through the third quarter to give the team, as Donahue said, some sort of spark.

Like Bonds, Maddox had his good and bad plays, although his passing yardage was slightly better. He completed eight of 16 passes for 106 yards but also threw two interceptions. Maddox also threw an apparent touchdown pass that was dropped.

So, who will start against Stanford this Saturday at the Rose Bowl?

Donahue isn’t sure, saying a decision will be made at midweek.

“That position will be assessed on a weekly basis,” Donahue said. “I know philosophically that Homer Smith (offensive coordinator) has no concern moving a quarterback up and down. He doesn’t feel that should be a consideration.”

Asked if he believes that the quarterback position will be shared this season, with even Bert Emanuel, an option-type athlete, as a consideration, Donahue said:

“I think it’s too early to tell, but I’d say being around Homer a lot in the past, I would certainly say that Homer won’t sit pat with a quarterback who isn’t producing numbers.”

Last year, Johnson started all 11 games, but was relieved occasionally by Bonds.

In 1987 and 1988, Donahue didn’t have to make weekly decisions on his quarterback. Troy Aikman, a gifted quarterback, was the focal point of the offense. He later became the first player selected--by the Dallas Cowboys--in the NFL draft.

Tom Ramsey was UCLA’s starting quarterback for virtually every game from 1980 through 1982.

Then, because of injuries, or coaching decisions, Matt Stevens, David Norrie, Steve Bono and Rick Neuheisel shared the position from time to time until Aikman took over.

Now, it seems that the starting quarterback may be determined from week to week. As Donahue said, Smith is interested in numbers.

Donahue says that the quality of his team is not as good now as it was in other years, referring to the 1980s when the Bruins won seven consecutive bowl games.

He said, in essence, that UCLA hasn’t replaced quality players with those of equal skills.

Donahue said he hasn’t had a quarterback who performed as well as Aikman, or a tailback the caliber of Gaston Green, or a linebacker who could run like Carnell Lake.

That, of course, could be construed as recruiting failure, or having to settle for players available at the time, taking academic standards into consideration.

“The caliber (of our players) is not of years past,” Donahue said. “Who is responsible? I am.”

Nonetheless, Donahue says his team will improve as the season progresses, especially when injured players such as linebacker Roceen Keeton and wide receiver Scott Miller return, and he anticipates that UCLA will be better Saturday against Stanford than it was against Oklahoma.

Stanford opened the season last Thursday against Colorado at Boulder, and the heavily favored Buffaloes had to score in the closing seconds to beat the Cardinal, 21-17.

“I was surprised that Stanford was as good a football team as they are,” Donahue said, referring to the Colorado game.

“You know the good teams when you look at film. They are much better in the lines than they’ve been. Last year they punched us out (17-13) in the second half. They controlled the ball for 8 1/2 minutes. That’s a real concern.”

Stanford has an exciting halfback in Glyn Milburn, the former Santa Monica High School star who transferred from Oklahoma.

Milburn accounted for 158 all-purpose yards against Colorado, getting 73 of them on a punt return that set up a touchdown.

Donahue compares Milburn, a sophomore, to Darrin Nelson, Stanford’s versatile halfback of the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Of immediate concern to Donahue is finding someone who can catch punts without fumbling.

Sean LaChapelle muffed a punt in the first quarter Saturday and Oklahoma recovered the ball, setting up a short-yardage touchdown.

Then, in the second quarter, Reggie Moore backpedaled and muffed another punt, setting up another Oklahoma touchdown from the 10-yard line.

“Within the resources of UCLA, I have to find a punt catcher. That’s all there is to it,” Donahue said. “I’ll continue to look at the punt catchers we have--LaChapelle, Moore, Ricky Davis and Shawn Wills.

“We thought we had a good punt catcher in Scott Miller before he went down. It’s an area we have to work on today (even) if I have to keep the team out to midnight.”