Cal Freshman Boller Starts Against Arizona State Today

Kyle Boller came to California as one of the nation’s top quarterbacks out of high school. The Golden Bears are about to get their first long look at him, along with Arizona State.

Boller, from Newhall Hart High, moved ahead of sophomore Samuel Clemons to become the starter for Cal’s meeting today with the Sun Devils (1-1) in the Pac-10 opener for both schools.

“It’s pretty amazing starting a Pac-10 game when I was just playing high school ball last year, but that’s why I came to Cal, for this type of opportunity,” Boller said.

He is the first true freshman to start at quarterback for the Bears since Troy Taylor opened the fifth game of the 1986 season against Oregon State.

“We think he deserves an opportunity to get in there and show what he can do,” Cal Coach Tom Holmoe said. “He’s improved a lot from the day we first got him here and he’s done some good things in games.

“It doesn’t take away from Sam Clemons, but this is Kyle’s time to go. I think some of the offensive woes we’ve had, especially against Nebraska [a 45-0 loss], hopefully we’ll be able to remedy.”

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Florida Coach Steve Spurrier knows the days of beating Kentucky 73-7 and 65-0 are over.

With offensive-minded Coach Hal Mumme in his third year at the helm, “they’re going to score points and move the ball every game,” Spurrier said this week as his third-ranked Gators prepared to face Kentucky today. “They’ve got a good plan. They know what they’re doing.”

Under Mumme, the Wildcats’ efforts against Florida have been more respectable than the aforementioned debacles of 1994 and 1996. But they’ve still been losses--55-28 in 1997 and 51-35 last year.

It has been 13 years since the Wildcats (2-1, 0-0 Southeastern Conference) beat the Gators (3-0, 1-0) and six since they lost by less than double digits.

Though some Kentucky fans would probably be happy with a close loss, Mumme said margin of defeat means nothing to him.

“It’s not very important to have a close game,” he said. “It’s very important for us to win against them. If we don’t win, I don’t [care] whether it’s close or not.

“Close doesn’t help. Close doesn’t count.”

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A Central Florida player moonlighting as a bouncer was arrested and accused of knocking a man unconscious during a bar brawl in Orlando, Fla., that spilled into the parking lot.

David Wilson, a 6-foot-6, 310-pound tackle, was charged early Thursday with a felony aggravated assault for knocking Brian McCue unconscious and leaving him with a two-inch cut on his upper lip and injuries inside his mouth, according to an Orange County Sheriff’s Office report.