Paus Sends Message During Scrimmage

Another slip-up off the field and Cory Paus is gone from UCLA’s football team.

On the field, though, the senior quarterback looks as if he’s ready to hang on to his starting job.

Paus, whose second drunk-driving conviction landed him in jail last January, continued to work his way out of Coach Bob Toledo’s doghouse Saturday with a commanding performance in UCLA’s intrasquad scrimmage at Drake Stadium that concluded spring practice.

Looking relaxed and confident, Paus directed the Blue team to touchdowns on all four of its possessions with him at quarterback. He completed nine of 13 passes for 211 yards and a touchdown with no interceptions, and scored on a 17-yard run.

“Cory Paus threw the ball extremely well,” Toledo said.

But Toledo said he still intends to put off naming a starter until he has time to assess incoming freshmen Matt Moore and Drew Olson in the fall.

“The thing [Paus] has to understand with me is that he has to stay out of trouble,” Toledo said. “If he gets in any trouble, he’s gone.”

Other standouts for the Blue team, which had the advantage of first-string players, were tight end Mike Seidman and running back Manuel White.

Seidman, a 6-foot-5, 245-pound senior, scored the first of the Blue team’s five touchdowns, catching a pass from Paus on a crossing pattern and running over a White team defensive back to complete a 54-yard play. Seidman’s one-handed grab on a 37-yard pass from Paus set up a one-yard touchdown run by tailback Akil Harris.

“He’s in the best shape of his life,” Toledo said of Seidman, who had three catches for 95 yards. “He’s grown a lot in the last four years. He knows it’s his time and it’s his job, and he’s taking advantage of that opportunity.”

White, a 6-3, 240-pound sophomore, gives the Bruins options because he can play tailback or fullback. He had 67 yards in six carries, including a six-yard touchdown. Harris, a junior regarded as the team’s other top runner, had 33 yards in four carries.

Wendell Mathis was the most impressive of UCLA’s three redshirt freshman running backs, scoring the Blue team’s final touchdown on a tackle-breaking, 61-yard run. He played on both teams and had 88 yards in four carries.

Senior linebacker Marcus Reese had an interception for the Blue defense, which shut out the White offense. Redshirt freshman John Sciarra, playing mostly with the White team, completed 11 of 22 passes for 178 yards with no touchdowns and one interception.

Sixteen Bruins sat out the scrimmage because of injuries but no one was hurt Saturday.