COLLEGE FOOTBALL / DAILY REPORT : UCLA : Edwards May Sit Out Last Three Games

Coach Terry Donahue said he will not be shocked if linebacker Donnie Edwards, suffering the lingering effects of an upper back injury, doesn’t play in any of the Bruins’ last three regular-season games.

“My bet is he won’t play [Saturday against Arizona State],” Donahue said.

The situation has remained unchanged since doctors cleared Edwards to play three weeks ago. He has continued to experience pain, leaving him hesitant to test the injury under game conditions.

“You must remember, this is a broken back,” Edwards said. “People don’t remember that. I wake up in the morning sometimes and I can barely get out of bed.”

Edwards said that after he was hurt in the first quarter against Oregon, doctors didn’t immediately rule him out.

“They told me I could go back into the game,” he recalled. “They said it was up to me.”

Edwards will continue to participate in contact drills.

“Practice and going full speed in a game are two different things,” he said. “When you have a fullback coming at you at 100 m.p.h., you can’t be tentative. You want to drive through him like you know you can.”

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Defensive end Vae Tata, who tore two ligaments in his left knee Saturday, will have surgery as soon as the swelling subsides.