COLLEGE FOOTBALL / DAILY REPORT : UCLA : Bruins in a Rush to Fill the Pro Void

The Raiders are in Oakland. The Rams are in St. Louis.

And the Bruins hope that puts UCLA and USC in the spotlight.

UCLA is about to begin an advertising campaign to emphasize that college football is now the only game in town. A picture of Bruin tailback Karim Abdul-Jabbar will soon be seen all over the Los Angeles area with the slogan: “I play because L.A. deserves big league football.”

Said Scott Mitchell, director of marketing, “We’re excited because not that many opportunities come around where you have 50,000 people who a) like football, and b) have the opportunity to buy tickets.”

The Bruins, coming off a 5-6 season, have sold 30,100 season tickets, roughly the same number they sold last season when they were coming off a Rose Bowl year.

Two weeks remain before the season opener.

UCLA officials are expecting a crowd of about 50,000 for the Bruins’ season debut Sept. 2 against Miami in the Rose Bowl, which holds about 96,000 for Bruin games.

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Skip Hicks was back on the practice field one day after arthroscopic knee surgery for torn cartilage.

However, Hicks was aided by a crutch. He doesn’t know when he’ll no longer need it.

“I’m just taking it day to day,” he said. “If I make it back, I make it back. If not, I’ll start my redshirt year.”

The Bruin coaching staff is hoping Hicks will return for the final six games of the season.

Hicks was philosophical about the injury, which occurred when he got hit while catching a pass in shorts and a T-shirt. “It could have happened to anybody,” he said.

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UCLA has nine returning players who have started on defense, but it’s a somewhat different defense to which they are returning.

In an effort to take advantage of their speed, the Bruins will be going with a 4-3 alignment more often than they have in the recent past.

Among those who have caught the eye of defensive coordinator Bob Field in the first few days of camp are junior safety Anthony Cobbs, freshmen linebackers Ramogi Huma and Michael Wiley and sophomore linemen Danjuan Magee and Vae Tata. The latter two are even in their bid to win the starting right defensive end position.