CUT BACKS: At least a dozen area...

CUT BACKS: At least a dozen area standout football players became the latest victims of scholarship reductions this week. To cut costs, the NCAA has reduced football scholarships from 95 to 85 from 1991-93. . . . “Four years ago, we might have taken three wide receivers in a year when we didn’t need wide receivers,” said UCLA assistant coach Gary Bernardi, who has recruited Valley players for 14 years for Arizona, USC and UCLA. “Now, in an off year, we’ll take one to two.”

ALTERNATE CHOICE: When Division I teams pass on promising talent, or athletes fail to achieve the minimum on the Scholastic Assessment Test, area junior colleges are more than happy to pick up the pieces. . . . “Especially this year. There’s a lot of good players out there that are getting overlooked,” Valley College Coach Jim Fenwick said.

TOTALLY TROJAN: USC won the bidding last week for Westlake High wide receiver Billy Miller (above), the Times’ Ventura County player of the year. The 6-foot-3, 210-pound recruit announced he was signing a letter of intent with USC at a lunch Wednesday at the Westlake Plaza Hyatt. Miller turned down Colorado, Washington and UCLA.

HOTBED OF TALENT: Although college recruiters weren’t interested in some of the good players, the region still produced more than 50 others who either signed letters of intent this week or plan to transfer from another college. Twenty-seven junior college athletes will be moving on to play at four-year colleges, while 25 high school players are nearly signed.

THE UNEXPECTED: Many players were surprised by how the last few weeks unfolded. While some sat at home wondering why recruiters stopped calling, others were startled when they did. Idaho, a Division I-AA team, had nearly bagged Village Christian kicker Ignacio Brache--until a UC Berkeley recruiter called. “I was almost sold on Idaho,” said Brache, who kicked 10 of his 16 field goals from 40 yards or more last year. “Then Cal called and said, ‘We need a kicker.’ ”