COLLEGE FOOTBALL / DAILY REPORT : UCLA : Kennedy Gains Some Experience

UCLA had 78 offensive plays Saturday night against Tennessee, and Paul Kennedy lined up at right tackle for every one of them.

As the only senior in the offensive line, that wouldn’t seem unusual, but Kennedy is the least experienced of the five Bruin starters.

“I probably--no, I know I played more snaps Saturday night than in all my years here,” Kennedy said Wednesday. “It’s been a long time since I’ve had that feeling of walking on the field, knowing I was going to play.”

It has been since 1989, at McCallum High in Austin, Tex., where Kennedy was a defensive tackle. He had never started a game at an offensive position.

“When I was in the locker room before the game, well, I’ve had the feeling of psyching myself up and all, but it really hit me when I walked out on the field,” said Kennedy, who won the job from Mike Rohme. “I was nervous, but by the third and fourth quarters, I got comfortable and played like I knew what I was doing.”

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Running back Skip Hicks is saying that he is ready to play, though doctors are still administering tests to his left knee, which was blown out while he was competing in the long jump last spring.

Coaches are now saying he might play this season but they are reluctant, because Hicks has rehabilitated only six months, and the injury usually takes nine months or more to heal. Hicks continues to run, and on the sideline, while others practice, is cutting and catching passes in a sales pitch to doctors to let him play.

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After failing to score a touchdown on five of their trips inside Tennessee’s 28-yard line Saturday night--kicker Bjorn Merten was four for five in field-goal attempts--UCLA is spending extra time in practicing its goal-line offense. . . . Freshman Anthony Scotti from Loyola High continues a Southern California link to Southern Methodist’s punting game, replacing Larry Israel of Pacific Palisades.